Zotac ZBOX CI523 nano Fanless Skylake-U mini-PC Review
by Ganesh T S on October 5, 2016 8:00 AM ESTPerformance Metrics - II
In this section, we mainly look at benchmark modes in programs used on a day-to-day basis, i.e, application performance and not synthetic workloads.
x264 Benchmark
First off, we have some video encoding benchmarks courtesy of x264 HD Benchmark v5.0. This is simply a test of CPU performance. As expected, the higher turbo frequency of the Core i5-5300U in the Logic Supply ML100G-30 pushes down the Zotac ZBOX CI523 nano to the second place amongst the PCs considered for comparison.
7-Zip
7-Zip is a very effective and efficient compression program, often beating out OpenCL accelerated commercial programs in benchmarks even while using just the CPU power. 7-Zip has a benchmarking program that provides tons of details regarding the underlying CPU's efficiency. In this subsection, we are interested in the compression and decompression MIPS ratings when utilizing all the available threads. Again, the higher turbo clock in the ML100G-30 helps it come ahead of the CI523 nano.
TrueCrypt
As businesses (and even home consumers) become more security conscious, the importance of encryption can't be overstated. CPUs supporting the AES-NI instruction can accelerate the encryption and decryption processes. The Core i3-6100U does have AES-NI support. TrueCrypt, a popular open-source disk encryption program can take advantage of the AES-NI capabilities. In the graph below, we can get an idea of how fast a TrueCrypt volume would behave in the ZOTAC ZBOX CI523 nano and how it would compare with other select PCs. This is a purely CPU feature / clock speed based test.
Agisoft Photoscan
Agisoft PhotoScan is a commercial program that converts 2D images into 3D point maps, meshes and textures. The program designers sent us a command line version in order to evaluate the efficiency of various systems that go under our review scanner. The command line version has two benchmark modes, one using the CPU and the other using both the CPU and GPU (via OpenCL). The benchmark takes around 50 photographs and does four stages of computation:
- Stage 1: Align Photographs
- Stage 2: Build Point Cloud (capable of OpenCL acceleration)
- Stage 3: Build Mesh
- Stage 4: Build Textures
We record the time taken for each stage. Since various elements of the software are single threaded, others multithreaded, and some use GPUs, it is interesting to record the effects of CPU generations, speeds, number of cores, DRAM parameters and the GPU using this software.
Dolphin Emulator
Wrapping up our application benchmark numbers is the Dolphin Emulator benchmark mode results. This is again a test of the CPU capabilities. Even though the ZBOX CI523 nano comes out on top, there is not much separating it from the Broadwell-U Core i5-based ML100G-30 and Haswell-U Core i5-based Core-ML320 industrial PCs from Logic Supply.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
35 Comments
View All Comments
Voldenuit - Thursday, October 6, 2016 - link
Inspiration for that box art:https://thedroidyourelookingfor.files.wordpress.co...
sephirotic - Saturday, October 8, 2016 - link
I have been saying this for years and I'll keep repeating: Fanless computers are idiotic. Semi Passive is the real answer. (Although in the cases of NUC and other very small PC form factors, there is some relevance only because of the volume constraint saved with no fan. But even a NUC could fit a very small fan that could increase its termal performance, just look at the Surface Pro 4, it is smaller than this nuc and still have a semi passive fan in it).The best of both words is a semi passive computer. One you can tune the fan only to turn on when the CPU is in hard usage. It can run passive for all mundane tasks like browsing the web, watching videos or even light gaming, but when needed it can turn on and you will won't sacrifice any performance at all. The best of all is that most big 12cms tower heatsinks have more than enough mass to cooldown the heat of modern energy efficient CPUs on their own. Theoretically you could make any regular pc with a 12cm tower heatsink into a semipassive pc, such that is true that MY computer is a small cougar MX500 with an old CNPS10X Flex Tower and it is 100 passive with a G2 EVGA and a MSI TwinFrozr V GTX 970. The advantages of a semi passive pc is not only noise, but also much reduced dust accumulation, longer lifespan of the fans and a slightly reduced energy consumption. I wished today's motherboards all had semipassive option in their fan controller's.
Of course, being passive and compact doesn't mean absolutely silence and optimal performance. Having a larger Full ATX case is preferable. (although it is perfectly possible to build a high performance semi passive PC in a middle tower case like I did. The difference is that the threshold for when the fans kick in will be lower. It is also important to have a large grill on top of it for the heat to slowly moves away). It is also important to understand that many motherboards have strong high pitched noise on their power phase controllers, and coil whine too even at lower usage of the CPU, So a 100% silent PC (more correct would be: below the background noise level) that eliminate those high pitched noises should also have some type of isolating foam inside it and around the metal covers to damper the spread of the high pitched sound. But even if that is not done the pc will still be more silent than any active coolled pc for obvious reasons. Anyway, the main point still stand and I have wondered why no big hardware site, even the dumb hardware channels in youtube ever covered that. Even the silentpc forum has hardly any articles about semi-passive pcs. I was waiting for my next pc build to make some photos and videos and post an article about that but I guess I'll have to do it in a blog without most pictures anyway...
johnny_boy - Sunday, October 9, 2016 - link
Not particularly compelling given those thermals and throttling. Would rather build a slightly larger ITX system with a Skylake T-series (35W TDP) and get better performance and have an upgrade path. Unless you have a REALLY small desk or home theatre cabinet, I don't see why anyone would buy this.8steve8 - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
please stop making SFFs with 15W CPUs.There are plenty of options for that, and not enough 45,55,65, or 95W CPU SFF systems.
1_rick - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Intel called wants to let you know about their Skull Canyon NUC. Which is absolutely awesome if you don't need high-end gaming.