GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming UHD GB-BNi7HG4-950 mini-PC Review
by Ganesh T S on October 28, 2016 7:30 AM ESTPerformance Metrics - I
The GIGABYTE GB-BNi7HG4-950 was evaluated using our standard test suite for mini-PCs targeting the gaming market. Not all benchmarks were processed on all the machines due to updates in our testing procedures. Therefore, the list of PCs in each graph might not be the same. In the first section, we will be looking at SYSmark 2014, as well as some of the Futuremark benchmarks.
BAPCo SYSmark 2014
BAPCo's SYSmark 2014 is an application-based benchmark that uses real-world applications to replay usage patterns of business users in the areas of office productivity, media creation and data/financial analysis. Scores are meant to be compared against a reference desktop (HP ProDesk 600 G1 with a Core i3-4130, 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive) that scores 1000 in each of the scenarios. A score of, say, 2000, would imply that the system under test is twice as fast as the reference system.
SYSark 2014 is mostly a test of CPU capabilities. Even though the Core i7-6700HQ in the BRIX Gaming UHD and the Core i7-6770HQ in the Skull Canyon NUC are clocked similarly, the latter is equipped with eDRAM, which represents an additional caching level for compute workloads also. The BRIX also utilizes only one memory slot out of the available two (due to the way our review unit came pre-configured). The use of a SATA drive in the BRIX compare to a PCIe NVMe SSD in the NUC also has some effect on the scores.
Futuremark PCMark 8
PCMark 8 provides various usage scenarios (home, creative and work) and offers ways to benchmark both baseline (CPU-only) as well as OpenCL accelerated (CPU + GPU) performance. We benchmarked select PCs for the OpenCL accelerated performance in all three usage scenarios. These scores are heavily influenced by the CPU and GPU in the system. In these workloads, the BRIX and the NUC are much closer. However, the extremely powerful GPU (GTX 980) in the Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN980 earns it top honors in all the tests.
Miscellaneous Futuremark Benchmarks
3D Rendering - CINEBENCH R15
CINEBENCH R15 provides three benchmark modes for evaluation of 3D rendering capabilities - OpenGL, single threaded and multi-threaded. Evaluation of select PCs in all three modes provided us the following results.
As expected, the GTX 980-equipped ZBOX handily wins the OpenGL bench. For the CPU modes, the Skull Canyon NUC outscores the BRIX slightly in the multi-threaded case, likely due to the presence of eDRAM in the former, and the absence of dual-channel memory in the BRIX. The single-threaded scores for the two PCs are similar.
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BrokenCrayons - Monday, October 31, 2016 - link
Presumably it's in the hopper with the RX 470 and RX 460. AT already struck an Polaris deep dive off the list due to a lack of information, but there should be a GPU review or two coming in the future. Until then, a lot of other sites have already posted their 1050 review. AT's parent compay, Purch, also owns Tom's Hardware Guide and they have a pretty good review of the 1050 and the Ti variant.powerarmour - Friday, October 28, 2016 - link
$1000?, what a complete rip off.1_rick - Saturday, October 29, 2016 - link
Nonsense. Miniaturization always costs more, and if for some reason you don't want a big tower case on your desk, this fits the bill quite nicely. The small size makes it portable too, if you feel the need to bring it places.powerarmour - Saturday, October 29, 2016 - link
Seriously, I could build a much more powerful Mini-ITX system for way less money.It's a complete joke.
Notmyusualid - Sunday, October 30, 2016 - link
Miniaturization is a joke? Or costs no extra money, which is it?"I could build, I could build." Yeah well, get building, hand it over the Anand, and let us see how your review compares.
Otherwise its just pipe dreams.
1_rick - Sunday, October 30, 2016 - link
Exactly. I bought a Skull Canyon NUC, and dropped a 500GB SSD and 16GB of RAM. It kicks butt at anything but high-res gaming. It's a huge step up over my work PC, so I even carry it in to the office most days and work on it instead of my work PC.With this Brix, I could game at lunch, too.
powerarmour - Monday, October 31, 2016 - link
Well good for you and your underpowered soap box. For an extra 1cl, you can save half the price and have something that isn't out of MacWorld masturbation weekly.1_rick - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
If you think the Skull Canyon's underpowered, you're quite simply delusional.I can run two separate 6GB VMs with MSSQL apps simultaneously and still game. I mean, I'm not sure why I'd want to, but I can. Oh, but I don't meet Rando Calrissian's use case, so I'm an idiot.
Sure thing, buddy, you've devastated me. I'll console myself with my paycheck.
powerarmour - Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - link
Your definition of 'gaming' on an Intel IGP (even the Iris Pro) and mine live on completely different planets.1_rick - Thursday, November 3, 2016 - link
I get that your entire "argument" such as it is, is "this doesn't meet *my* use case, therefore it's useless," but that's a stupid "argument".