GIGABYTE BRIX Pro: A First Look at the Intel i7-4770R with Iris Pro HD 5200
by Ganesh T S on January 7, 2014 8:00 PM EST
The presence of the Core i7-4770R in such a small form factor / chassis left us worried initially. We were wondering whether the unit would be able to properly cool down a 65W TDP processor within those constraints. Due to the size of the system, the fan had to be pretty small and rotate at high speeds for effective cooling. With a maximum speed of 4090 rpm, the sound from the unit was similar to what one would expect in a mini-server room (matching the noise from the Netgear GSM 7352S that we have running in our NAS testbed). While running various benchmarks, the speed topped out around 3900 rpm.
To stress the unit to the maximum, we unleashed our Prime 95 + FurMark stress test and recorded the following numbers.
At the outset, the idle numbers are impressive for a system with a 65W TDP desktop processor. Note that this is not a ULV CPU like what we had in the Intel NUC. The load numbers indicate a maximum power consumption of approximately 88W. I did see the instantaneous power consumption shoot up to 92 - 93W initially and attributed this to the Core i7-4770R's turbo mode (where the CPU clock can go up to as high as 3.9 GHz compared to the nominal 3.2 GHz). A look at the temperatures and HWiNFO throttling information, however, confirmed what we had feared.
Gallery: GIGABYTE BRIX Pro
The unit does seem to throttle under full load of both the CPU and GPU (an unrealistic workload, admittedly, but one which some of the other systems we have evaluated have passed with flying colours). Now, the results that we obtained for the four passes of our x264 benchmark run were pretty consistent. It might turn out that normal workloads don't trigger the throttling and it is something we hope to evaluate further down the road.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
98 Comments
View All Comments
kgh00007 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
Come on its been 3 weeks now, us this going to be like the Galaxy S4 where part two of the review just never happened?ryrynz - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
Taking far too long to get this second bit out. One word. SLACK.kgh00007 - Tuesday, February 4, 2014 - link
Hi, if you are still testing this system, could you please check if Hyperthreading can be switched off in the BIOS? Cheers!AngryCorgi - Saturday, February 8, 2014 - link
The reviewer ponders the logic of maybe using the 4950hq cpu instead. The problem being that the 4950hq retails at roughly twice the cost of the 4770r. So, no, I don't think that would make sense. Anandtech needs to review the new brix 8890 with dedicated R9 m275x GPU as soon as it's available. That could be a far wiser direction for gamers and potential steam box usage.funtasticguy - Monday, February 10, 2014 - link
When is the rest of the review coming? I have been eagerly anticipating the second half since early January.Antronman - Tuesday, February 11, 2014 - link
Still more expensive than configuring a better PC build, that runs way quieter. When I say better, I mean better performance in videogames, as I could include a pretty good GPU for the same price. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2RH3z <- the only reason it is more expensive is because it includes the cost of the OS and a CPU cooler. Factor that out, and you get a much better machine. CPU computing power equal to an i5 for 50USD less, OC capability with the H100i. Wayy better graphics that can run almost every modern game with the exception of a small handful (not BF4) on max settings at 60+ fps. Only disadvantage is the lack of an SSD.ryrynz - Saturday, February 15, 2014 - link
Thing is you can't factor those things out, its oart of the build. The great thing about this is portability.. the size for the performance is phenomenal. You don't need to splash out on a good cooler (though you might have to to get the nosie down...) No PSU.. No case. I'd actually save money buying one of these over the usual upgrade.. but it's noisy.. so meh.Gigabyte dropped the ball, they should have given this a silent option.
alpha754293 - Monday, June 16, 2014 - link
I'm using a Mac Mini to drive my 55" TV right now and it works REALLY, REALLY well. And as HTPC system, other than I can't do BluRay (which I've been told that there are workarounds for that) - it's cheaper and smaller and consumes less power than these systems.