The Zotac ZBOX CI660 nano Fanless mini-PC Review: A Promising HTPC Platform
by Ganesh T S on April 16, 2019 8:15 AM ESTClosing Thoughts
The Zotac ZBOX CI660 nano proved to be an interesting system to review for a multitude of reasons. Zotac has traditionally presented affordable options to consumers in search of fanless PCs, and at roughly $700, the CI660 nano PLUS follows in those footsteps with a reasonable affordable price tag (in relative terms, obviously, when compared to other fanless PCs with similar performance potential).
However, it does have its share of issues: While the system contains no moving parts, a dull whine can be heard if you were to keep your ears close to the top of the system. In addition, occasional noises similar to the grating of fingernails over the fins of the heat sink could be heard. All said, though Zotac can claim that the system is fanless and passively-cooled, it is not an entirely noiseless system. The other issue is that of HDR support when using the HDMI display output port. Zotac claims that it works in their R&D labs, while we were unable to get it working properly with two different display sinks. Finally, the idle power consumption with the default BIOS configuration is a bit too high for our liking.
The three complaints aside, the ZBOX CI660 nano is actually an impressive system in terms of performance. The 4C/8T Core i7-8550U processor and 25W TDP configuration allow it to ace real-world benchmarks such as BAPCo's SYSmark 2018 and UL Futuremark's PCMark 10. The numbers are noteworthy, particularly when stacked against those obtained from actively-cooled systems with a similar form-factor.
Meanwhile high-speed I/O is also a high-point for the CI660, with Zotac giving the system a good amount of bandwidth to work with thanks to the availability of two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C ports based on the new ASMedia ASM2142 bridge chip (we saw it deliver excellent performance in the Hades Canyon NUC). Dual gigabit Ethernet ports (based on Realtek controllers) open up some interesting applications, even though we believe Intel controllers would be more attractive in that particular segment. The new industrial design is also good, but, a little more metal in place of some of the plastic components wouldn't hurt.
As for buyers interested in taking the CI660 nano in to the tradiitonal SFF PC domain of the living room HTPC, the media playback credentials are more than good enough for the average HTPC user. The HDMI 2.0 / HDCP 2.2 port enables UHD Blu-ray playback after connecting a USB UHD Blu-ray drive to the system. Kodi and its add-ons have plenty of processing power at their disposal in the ZBOX CI660 nano.
At $700 for the PLUS configuration, the Zotac ZBOX CI660 nano is on the affordable side of the spectrum for fanless systems. The platform is promising, and the board area will allow Zotac to innovate further in the future. Thunderbolt 3 ports and a more powerful Wi-Fi solution for the flagship configuration are probably some of the low-hanging fruits in future iterations.
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eastcoast_pete - Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - link
Thanks Ganesh! Two comments, one question - question first:Was your choice of a SATA SSD based on the ability of the ZBOX to support (not support) an NVMe SSD, or based on what parts were available?
As a comment, use of slower vs. faster storage (SATA vs NVMe) will obviously affect a number of performance benchmarks. Why not standardize on one unless the unit tested won't support the better option?
My other comment is about the pricing of the ZBOX (bare bone): not a good value proposition for HTPC use, given that the current i7 NUC is cheaper, with a superior CPU/GPU. The presence of two gigabit ethernet connections in the ZBOX might be a plus in certain situations, but otherwise it's overpriced compared to the NUC.
ganeshts - Wednesday, April 17, 2019 - link
No NVMe SSD support in the CI660 nano. I had to use a SATA drive, and chose the best one available at my disposal from a cost viewpoint (at the time I configured the review sample - sometime in early Q4 2018).You are right about standardizing the storage drive. However, we tend to choose a drive available in retail for a reasonable cost at the time of configuring the review sample. Since we review a system or two each quarter, it becomes difficult to use the same drive across a large number of reviews. That said, you can find that we either use Crucial SATA SSDs (MX200 / BX300) or Samsung / WD NVMe SSDs (950 PRO / WD Black / SanDisk Extreme Pro) unless the sample comes pre-configured with different SSDs by the vendor (eg. - Hades Canyon).
The CI6xx nano platform is suitable for HTPCs, though, the i7 model might be a bit too pricey for that sole purpose. As one of the other commentators noted, Zotac does have i3- and i5- models in the series.
mooninite - Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - link
$865 is $300 too much. Looks like most of this cost is tied up with the use of an i7, which is completely unnecessary in this form factor. CPU power is not the limitation here. The GPU is.I can't see this as a big seller over a NUC.
mooninite - Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - link
Also, I wish Zotac had come out with their AMD mini-pcs with Vega graphics. Such a shame... that would have sold. I wonder why they backed out.Haawser - Wednesday, April 17, 2019 - link
Agreed, I'd rather have a 15W Ryzen 7 3700U in this form factor. Because UHD620 is going to be a severe limitation for anything beyond the most basic low res, minimum settings gaming. Whereas at 720p/med fullscreen, Vega 10 should play pretty much anything.No idea why Zotac don't offer a Ryzen APU version. Intel 'discounts' maybe ? Or rather, threats of removing them if Zotac don't play ball ? Wouldn't put it past them to offer 'inducemets' like that. Their history being what it is.
lukethedrifter - Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - link
There are i3 and i5 versions as well, ci620 and ci640 respectively.This is a niche product for those who want something NUC-sized but fanless, for which there are relatively few options.That's the selling point, not that it's price competitive with regular NUCs.
Beaver M. - Monday, April 29, 2019 - link
Or an Nvidia Shield, which is still the best and cheapest way to get what an HTPC is supposed to do.mikato - Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - link
Noise question here... Ganesh, you said you were disappointed in the fan noise of the Intel NUC8i7BEH though I didn't see much detail. How bad was it (idle and when streaming something), and is this ZBOX far better noise-wise because it's fanless?ganeshts - Wednesday, April 17, 2019 - link
The Bean Canyon NUC's fan is problematic because it is small and high-pitched when there is sudden load on the CPU. At idle, not that much. But, network streaming and even Kodi playback sometimes makes the unit hot enough for the fan to turn on. It is audible from 10 ft away, particularly during quiet scenes in the movie. The ZBOX noise is inaudible at that range - so, for the HTPC user who isn't very picky, it might work.That said, there are some passive chasses for the Bean Canyon NUCs in the market. Those might be worth a look. However, that is not a 'ready-out-of-the-box' solution.
mikato - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
Thanks! Please keep include noise as a concern in these mini PCs.