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
Power Consumption and Thermal Performance
The power consumption at the wall was measured with a 1080p display being driven through the HDMI port. In the graphs below, we compare the idle and load power of the Intel Core m3-6Y30 Compute Stick with other low power PCs evaluated before. For load power consumption, we ran Furmark 1.15.0 and Prime95 v28.7 together.
Compared to the Bay Trail and Cherry Trail Compute Sticks, the Core M one has higher idle and load power consumption numbers. Given the upgraded Wi-Fi and the presence of a Core-series CPU, the idle number can probably be justified. The load numbers point to the Core m3-6Y30 being operated in the cTDP-up mode.
Our thermal stress routine starts with the system at idle, followed by 30 minutes of pure CPU loading. This is followed by another 30 minutes of both CPU and GPU being loaded simultaneously. After this, the CPU load gets removed, allowing the GPU to be loaded alone for another 30 minutes. The various clocks in the system as well as the temperatures within the unit are presented below.
According to the official specifications, the junction temperature of the Core m3-6Y30 is 100C. The fan is able to keep it well below that temperature. The system essentially seems limited by the package power. We find that it is only able to sustain 6W for extended time durations, though we do see it spike up higher in the beginning.
Another important aspect to keep note of while evaluating PCs with such a small form factor is the chassis temperature. Using the Android version of the FLIR One thermal imager, we observed the chassis temperature after the CPU package temperature reached the steady state value in the above graph.
We have additional thermal images in the gallery below.
On the whole, the thermals don't give us much cause for concern, though the idling temperature of around 60C for the CPU package seems a little bit too high. It is possible that altering the the default BIOS options may help in improving this aspect.
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Murloc - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
irrelevant, video cards are one of the product categories that generate the most hype, if the reviewer isn't able to deliver anymore he could ship the card to somebody else.Still, if people come visit the site regardless of timely delivery of video card reviews, then it's not worth the effort.
prisonerX - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
They cancelled it due to the childish whining.Ryan Smith - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
It'll be a little bit longer, but it is coming.I have no excuses (none that would interest you guys, at least). But it is still a critical article, and one I intend to deliver soon.
In the meantime I have a request: could you guys please stop asking reviewers who aren't me where the 1080 review is? This is entirely my own doing, and harassing them isn't going to make it appear any sooner. In the meantime it's distracting from articles such as these, where the comments are supposed to be about the product.
Agent Smith - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Ryan, will your upcoming reviews of both the 1080 and 480 GPU's include their encode and decode capabilities?If so, will they include HVEC results?
Thanks!
Agent Smith - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Typo: meant HEVC (H.265)zlandar - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
I've been wondering the same thing. There have been multiple articles on niche products which the vast majority of people could care less about yet a major video card launch goes unnoticed.Vorl - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
Yeah, sadly, this has been going on for a while...There never was a review of the gtx 960, just a launch announcement. When I commented about it earlier this year I was told "it's coming" and here we are, waiting for the 1080 series...
I don't know what is happening with the video card reviews, but they sure aren't what they used to be or even remotely timely.
Anandtech used to release them the day of launch with full reviews, now it's weeks/months late, and sometimes never.
Michael Bay - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Well, maybe AT is just not a GPU site anymore.Furunomoe - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
Nowadays, I only visit AnandTech to read about interesting gadgets. I have TPU for all of my PC hardware needs now.more-or-less - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
It will come when it will come!They are short-stuffed, and that's obvious. Also the level of technical detail require time to write.