ZBOX Sphere OI520 Plus: Zotac's Take on the NUC
by Ganesh T S on August 1, 2014 8:50 AM ESTPerformance Metrics - I
The ZBOX OI520 Plus was evaluated using our standard test suite for low power desktops / industrial PCs. We have recently revamped our benchmark suite (after the publication of the first Intel NUC review). We reran some of the new benchmarks on the original NUC also, but some of them couldn't be run on loaner samples. Therefore, the list of PCs in each graph might not be the same.
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.
Miscellaneous Futuremark Benchmarks
3D Rendering - CINEBENCH R15
We have moved on from R11.5 to R15 for 3D rendering evaluation. CINEBENCH R15 provides three benchmark modes - OpenGL, single threaded and multi-threaded. Evaluation of select PCs in all three modes provided us the following results.
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wintermute000 - Saturday, August 2, 2014 - link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9S...Do you call 729.95 the same price as 499?
To paraphrase a genius as yourself, IMHO I'd still opt for anything without the apple tax kthxbye
tim851 - Saturday, August 2, 2014 - link
599 at Apple.http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/mac-mini?product...
Has a better CPU and an internal PSU, which makes the form factor more convenient.
Glaurung - Saturday, August 2, 2014 - link
Huh. Newegg must be smoking something. The exact same machine goes for $599 on the Apple.com site: http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/mac-mini. And when they're in stock, you can get a refurbished one (identical to new except it comes in a plain white box) for $509: http://store.apple.com/ca/product/FD387LL/A/refurb...M/2 - Sunday, August 10, 2014 - link
I used to use the AppleTax word myself. I used to build my own machines. Having two minis running 24x7 , the new one for 3 years straight, the old one 4 years. Thus, I'm over both of those habits. If you compare them side by side, spec by spec, you may see the so-called AppleTax is minimal at best. ....OBTW, it's just a machine, not a religion. Both of mine are buried in the behind all my other AV gear. I rarely touch them, they just work.know of fence - Saturday, August 2, 2014 - link
You are absolutely right. The mac mini was the first to create this form factor in 2005, It was Apple's strategy to sell frequency constrained mobile parts as silent and eco-friendly. From tablets, ultrabooks to NUCs it's all just uninspired imitation.Buying a laptop is also always the better choice (same parts after all), which is why the minis aren't all that popular in the apple camp either.
Glaurung - Saturday, August 2, 2014 - link
"Buying a laptop is also always the better choice"Unless you're using it as a desktop or server and don't need or want to pay for the screen/keyboard/trackpad/battery.
know of fence - Sunday, August 3, 2014 - link
Thing is laptops can make great desktops or servers, but not vice versa. They don't look to shabby on the desk, the shelf or the living room either, and they come with an uninterruptable power supply build in.When everyone is on an electronic bugdet with almost omnipotent devices like smartphones, PCs, consoles all of which require replacement in perpetuity, is there room for a limited purpose blue skull, with a 281 $ Intel dual core?
There is a sensible TDP limit for eco-friendly PCs, but it ain't 15 W. There is also no pupose to cramming a stationarry PC into a little box, beyond "neat". "Neat" doesn't sell, either, or help anyone to improve their social status.
wireframed - Monday, August 4, 2014 - link
Laptops aren't designed for 24/7 usage, so no, they aren't great servers. Neither are they particularly expandable. Getting a few TB of storage into a laptop isn't cheap or easy. Neither is getting lots of RAM.As for desktops, sure, if you don't mind the premium. If you think the formfactor and screen come without a price, well...
Lastly, laptops typically make more noise running full-tilt, or else they throttle. While this system probably doesn't run completely silent either, at least you don't pay the full laptop premium. The footprint is also smaller than a laptop (because laptops are low and wide, even when the volume is identical).
bobbozzo - Saturday, August 2, 2014 - link
Hi,1. How's the thermal performance?
We'd probably leave it running 24/7 with a larger-capacity HDD installed
2. I don't think 'Credentials' is the best word, in the title of page 4
Thanks!
ozzuneoj86 - Saturday, August 2, 2014 - link
They need to stop calling these things boxes if they're going to continue to make them spherical.Just sayin...