The Intel Compute Stick (Core m3-6Y30) Review
by Ganesh T S on June 27, 2016 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- Intel
- Core M
- Skylake
- HDMI Stick
- Compute Stick
HTPC Credentials
The Core m3-6Y30 Compute Stick is definitely a better candidate for home-theater duties compared to the previous ones in the family. The primary reason is that the BIOS allows the fan to be completely turned off. Video decoding is hardly taxing for the system - we even saw the power consumption with the desktop at idle being sometimes more than the power consumption while playing Netflix using the Windows 10 Store app. The second reason is the availability of full HD audio bitstreaming (including DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD), something that was missing in both the Bay Trail-T and Cherry Trail Compute Sticks.
Refresh Rate Accurancy
Starting with Haswell, Intel, AMD and NVIDIA have been on par with respect to display refresh rate accuracy. The most important refresh rate for videophiles is obviously 23.976 Hz (the 23 Hz setting). As expected, the Intel Core m3-6Y30 Compute Stick has no trouble with refreshing the display appropriately in this setting.
The gallery below presents some of the other refresh rates that we tested out. The first statistic in madVR's OSD indicates the display refresh rate.
Network Streaming Efficiency
Evaluation of OTT playback efficiency was done by playing back our standard YouTube test stream and five minutes from our standard Netflix test title. Using HTML5, the YouTube stream plays back a 1080p H.264 encoding. Since YouTube now defaults to HTML5 for video playback, we have stopped evaluating Adobe Flash acceleration. Note that only NVIDIA exposes GPU and VPU loads separately. Both Intel and AMD bundle the decoder load along with the GPU load. The following two graphs show the power consumption at the wall for playback of the HTML5 stream in Mozilla Firefox (v 47.0).
GPU load was around 16.26% for the YouTube HTML5 stream and 0.014% for the steady state 6 Mbps Netflix streaming case.
Netflix streaming evaluation was done using the Windows 10 Netflix app. Manual stream selection is available (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-S) and debug information / statistics can also be viewed (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-D). Statistics collected for the YouTube streaming experiment were also collected here.
Decoding and Rendering Benchmarks
In order to evaluate local file playback, we concentrate on EVR-CP and Kodi. We already know that EVR works quite well even with the Intel IGP for our test streams. The decoder used was LAV Filters bundled with MPC-HC v1.7.7.
In our earlier reviews, we focused on presenting the GPU loading and power consumption at the wall in a table (with problematic streams in bold). Starting with the Broadwell NUC review, we decided to represent the GPU load and power consumption in a graph with dual Y-axes. Nine different test streams of 90 seconds each were played back with a gap of 30 seconds between each of them. The characteristics of each stream are annotated at the bottom of the graph. Note that the GPU usage is graphed in red and needs to be considered against the left axis, while the at-wall power consumption is graphed in green and needs to be considered against the right axis.
Frame drops are evident whenever the GPU load consistently stays above the 85 - 90% mark. We find that MPC-HC with DXVA2 Native decoding can load up the GPU to more than 40%, while Kodi keeps everything around 20% at the maximum.
The Compute Stick has no trouble in playing back any of our test streams.
Moving on to the codec support, the Intel HD Graphics 515 is a known quantity with respect to the scope of supported hardware accelerated codecs. DXVA Checker serves as a confirmation.
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Ryan Smith - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
As I'm sure a lot of you are aware, ads are controlled by our publisher, Purch. So I don't have direct control over the situation.However feedback like this is immensely useful, and I'd like to note that I make it a policy to pass along all of this feedback to Purch so that they're made aware of what you guys think. Don't underestimate the value of feedback; even if it's not always visible, we're frequently looking at what you guys have to say.
redfirebird15 - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
I'd say drop the outbrain links. They are literally an eyesore, and I sincerely hope every Anandtech reader has the common sense not to click on them. Leave the garbage ads for WCCFtech or some other sellout website.Ads are fine, when they are relevant to the article. I've never seen an outbrain, or its eviller twin taboola, ad come close to the content of the article. And some of those images arent always "work friendly".
Ascaris - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
Oddly, the most relevant ads I see are still print ads in paper magazines that cater to a specific interest. Without javascript or cookies, they manage to be more relevant than anything tailored for me has ever been. How is that?Agent Smith - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
I use 'Block Bear' app, works very well and allows whitelist updates on your device.jann5s - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
Thanks for this comment Ryan, it is reassuring that you (plural) at least check the comments, especially because some can be quite hurtful and inconsiderate.Sushisamurai - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
Ohhhh... Is that what that stuff is? I'm on vacation and those ads aren't loading, so I've been getting this wall of non-loaded junk that I need to scroll through on my 5S before I get to the comment section.bug77 - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Most plugins work for Mobile Firefox. Including AdBlock and (untested by me) NoScript.Impulses - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
I can just see it now, the very first comment on the eventual GTX 1080 FE review will read "well, this is useless, custom cards are already out"... And then the second comment will be about the missing HTC 10 review. :pfanofanand - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
A cursory glance at the number of comments for each topic will clearly demonstrate where the readership's interest lies. The number of clicks can be deceiving, but those that will actually take the time to comment are far more engaged, and I would assume are far more valuable to the advertisers. There are hundreds of comments on each of the GPU articles, even pipeline stories. It would seem that nearly half of the comments on other articles are actually about the HTC 10, Galaxy S7, the GTX 1080/1070, and the lack of journalism regarding those products. It is quite clear what the audience is clamoring for. Josh literally spent months with the iPad pro, months! The corresponding number of comments on that article would indicate this time was poorly invested, as he could have easily churned out a half dozen articles on gadgets the readership is actually interested in, as opposed to the handful of Apple fanboys who frequent this site. Ryan, I know you read these comments, I know you see the numbers. Why on earth are products nobody is interested in, taking priority over the products we desperately want to read about? I don't care what other sites have said about the 1080, there is a reason I come to Anandtech and not TomsHardware. I value the analysis here far more, but if that analysis comes, I feel like a groom left at the altar, just waiting and waiting....fanofanand - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
if that analysis never comes. Sigh, stupid 2001 era commenting board :( give us an edit function!