Intel Atlas Canyon (NUC11ATKPE) and GEEKOM MiniAir 11 UCFF PCs Review: Desktop Jasper Lake Impresses

GPU Performance

In moving from Gemini Lake to Jasper Lake, the integrated GPU didn't get as much attention as the CPU did. While retaining the same microarchitecture, the shift to 10nm allowed for integrating more execution units and slight improvements in the maximum clocks. The systems we are looking at today come with different variants of the same GPU microarchitecture:

• Intel June Canyon (Gemini Lake): 18EU @ 750 MHz
• ECS JSLM-MINI (Jasper Lake): 32EU @ 850 MHz
• ZOTAC ZBOX CI331 nano (Jasper Lake): 24EU @ 850 MHz
• GEEKOM MiniAir 11 (Jasper Lake): 16EU @ 750 MHz
• Intel Atlas Canyon (Jasper Lake): 32EU @ 900 MHz

Based on these specifications alone, we expect the Atlas Canyon NUC to handily best the other systems in GPU performance. The weak GPU in the MiniAir 11 means that it could potentially perform worse than the June Canyon NUC of the previous generation. However, caveats related to power budgets and memory configuration apply. Therefore, the GPU performance has to be evaluated in the context of each workload. We put the systems through some standard 3D workloads to get an idea of what they have to offer for GPU-intensive tasks.

GFXBench

The DirectX 12-based GFXBench tests from Kishonti are cross-platform, and available all the way down to smartphones. As such, they are not very taxing for discrete GPUs and modern integrated GPUs. We processed the offscreen versions of the 'Aztec Ruins' benchmark.

The maximum EU count, coupled with the maximum operating frequency mean that Atlas Canyon NUC comes out on top by a huge margin. On the other hand, the lowest EU count in the MiniAir 11 can't be compensated with the higher power budget - the system comes in at the rear end of the pack.

UL 3DMark

Four different workload sets were processed in 3DMark - Fire Strike, Time Spy, Night Raid, and Wild Life.

3DMark Fire Strike

The Fire Strike benchmark has three workloads. The base version is meant for high-performance gaming PCs. It uses DirectX 11 (feature level 11) to render frames at 1920 x 1080. The Extreme version targets 1440p gaming requirements, while the Ultra version targets 4K gaming system, and renders at 3840 x 2160. The graph below presents the overall score for the Fire Strike Extreme and Fire Strike Ultra benchmark across all the systems that are being compared.

The EU count / operating frequency effect strikes here too. With 32EUs, the Atlas Canyon is on top, and with 16EUs, the MiniAir 11 comes in at the very end.

3DMark Time Spy

The Time Spy workload has two levels with different complexities. Both use DirectX 12 (feature level 11). However, the plain version targets high-performance gaming PCs with a 2560 x 1440 render resolution, while the Extreme version renders at 3840 x 2160 resolution. The graphs below present both numbers for all the systems that are being compared in this review.

Time Spy Performance sees the same EU count / operating frequency configuration play out again. However, Extreme finally sees the ZBOX CI331 nano making an appearance (it was unable to complete the other 3DMark components in our evaluation process) behind the MiniAir 11.

3DMark Wild Life

The Wild Life workload was initially introduced as a cross-platform GPU benchmark in 2020. It renders at a 2560 x 1440 resolution using Vulkan 1.1 APIs on Windows. It is a relatively short-running test, reflective of mobile GPU usage. In mid-2021, UL released the Wild Life Extreme workload that was a more demanding version that renders at 3840 x 2160 and runs for a much longer duration reflective of typical desktop gaming usage.

-The observations made for Time Spy hold true for the Wild Life workload also.

3DMark Night Raid

The Night Raid workload is a DirectX 12 benchmark test. It is less demanding than Time Spy, and is optimized for integrated graphics. The graph below presents the overall score in this workload for different system configurations.

Finally, we have a 3D workload that scales with power budget instead of EU count. Thanks to the much higher power budget, the GPU can operate with more power at its disposal in the MiniAir 11 compared to other mini-PCs. This allows the MiniAir 11 to perform just about as good as the June Canyon NUC with Gemini Lake (that operates at lower GPU base clock). So, Atlas Canyon and MiniAir 11 make up the top two spots.