ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-1260P and 4X4 BOX-5800U Review: Alder Lake-P and Cezanne UCFF Faceoff
by Ganesh T S on August 5, 2022 8:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- AMD
- Intel
- UCFF
- Mini-PC
- ASRock Industrial
- Cezanne
- Alder Lake-P
GPU Performance
Both Intel and AMD refrained from making significant changes to the integrated GPUs when moving from Tiger Lake to Alder Lake / Renoir to Cezanne. Process maturity allows both vendors to clock the GPUs slightly higher than the previous generation, but the number of EUs / shaders remain the same compared to the equivalent products in the previous generation. GPU performance evaluation typically involved gaming workloads, and for select PCs, GPU compute. Prior to that, a look at the capabilities of the GPU in the two systems is warranted.
The AMD Radeon Graphics in Cezanne (Ryzen 7 5800U) has 8 CUs, while the Intel Iris Xe Graphics in the Core i7-1260P has 96 EUs. The performance of the Iris Xe iGPU is miles ahead of previous iGPUs from both Intel and AMD, as the benchmarks below show, and is more than capable of surpassing the performance of the iGPU in Cezanne.
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.
As expected, the reworked architecture from Intel handily bests the AMD offering, delivering around 20% to 30% better numbers.
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.
| UL 3DMark - Fire Strike Workloads | |||
The NUC BOX-1165G7 has a higher power budget compared to the NUC BOX-1260P. Since the GPU configurations are the same, the former comes out ahead of the Alder Lake-P system.
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.
| UL 3DMark - Time Spy Workloads | |||
The Cezanne iGPU is able to put up a much better fight in Time Spy, and delivers performance that is almost equivalent to the Intel Iris Xe Graphics in this workload. The TGL-U system with the higher power budget continues to remain on top.
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.
| UL 3DMark - Wild Life Workloads | |||
This workload sees the Ryzen iGPU slip down again, with the leaderboard seeing the TGL-U system followed by Alder Lake-P. This is primarily dictated by the power budget.
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.
The Ryzen iGPU fares much better in this workload, and comes out on top despite the NUC BOX-1165G7 and the NUC BOX-1260P having higher power budgets.
Overall, the iGPU in the Alder Lake-P system has a slight edge over the one in Cezanne, but there are certain specific workloads where the Cezanne configuration can flex its muscles to come out on top.
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AdrianBc - Saturday, August 6, 2022 - link
Regarding the height of the case, there is no need to increase it. Intel has proved, already many years ago, that it is possible to cool without problems even a CPU with PL1 = 45 W, without increasing the volume over the classic high variant of NUC, i.e. with a volume under 0.7 L (as proven by the Skull Canyon NUC, which unfortunately did not have any successor, because Intel replaced it with much larger "NUC" computers intended for gaming).For better cooling in the same case, it would be enough to remove the possibility of installing a 2.5" HDD/SDD, while keeping the same size for the case.
The freed height could be used for a taller cooler, with enough capacity to cool even a 45 W CPU, not only a 28 W CPU.
AdrianBc - Saturday, August 6, 2022 - link
I want to add that even in the coolers of the same height the quality can vary a lot, presumably depending on price.I have a couple of the "8th generation" NUCs, and those had much better coolers than all the older NUCs that I have used, but also, from what I have heard or read, much better than the coolers of newer NUCs, which presumably have reverted to some cheaper coolers.
Those NUC8 coolers, not only are completely silent in normal use, but at maximum load on a Coffee Lake U i7 CPU with PL1 = 30 W and PL2 = 50 W, i.e. with a PL1 default value that is higher than the 28 W nominal value, there is absolutely no thermal throttling regardless how long the computer works at the maximum power consumption of 30 W and the junction temperature never exceeds 90 Celsius degrees.
So a more expensive cooler might also provide an improvement even when it is not taller.
plonk420 - Thursday, August 18, 2022 - link
3dprint one?AdrianBc - Saturday, August 6, 2022 - link
For some reason, the Thunderbolt connector has not been certified yet.Because of that, it cannot be advertised yet.
However, I have seen multiple reports that it works without problems, including in this article.
fishingbait15 - Friday, August 5, 2022 - link
So wish we could get these things running ChromeOS. I wonder if ChromeOS Flex would at least allow the Linux crosvm to run ...PeachNCream - Sunday, August 7, 2022 - link
Thinking that would be good also. What about Android x86 as an alternative? Both should still be well embedded in Alphabet's ecosystem and feature the end user monitoring, data collection, and commercialization recommendations that Google is so good at in terms of how it partners with advertisers to get you relevant, interesting ad content.You could also probably install Linux on bare metal if all you want is vanilla Linux though you aren't going to benefit from having your compute activities observed for better product placement that you would with Google distros of Linux.
iranterres - Friday, August 5, 2022 - link
Nice to see the core i6 in the benchmarks.MrCommunistGen - Friday, August 5, 2022 - link
I'd really love to see HDMI 2.1 ports on these machines since both AMD and Intel platforms should theoretically be able to support the newer standard from their iGPUs.If either supported HDMI 2.1 I'd consider using one as a multimedia box hooked up to a TV.
nandnandnand - Friday, August 5, 2022 - link
https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/01/05/intel-alde...https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/4/22855915/intel-1...
Intel only integrated HDMI 2.0b support. I guess another chip has to be added to get HDMI 2.1, like in this:
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/85259/gigabyte-brix...
Rembrandt supports HDMI 2.1, as will the iGPU in Raphael. Raptor Lake will add it according to this leaked slide:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Raptor-Lake-S-...
So it will become more common to see HDMI 2.1 support in 2023-2024. DisplayPort 2.0 as well.
Igor_Kavinski - Saturday, August 6, 2022 - link
Excellent review, Ganesh! Really enjoyed seeing the battle between these two CPUs. Some of the wins for the Intel Alder Lake were surprising, like the iGPU and in some benchmarks like 7-zip, 5800U is a monster! Hope to see more "reviews done right" from you soon!