GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming BXi5G-760 mini-PC Review
by Ganesh T S on September 15, 2014 2:30 PM ESTGaming Benchmarks
The gaming credentials of the GTX 760 are quite impressive, but it is simply impossible for such a GPU to be put in a mini-PC with the BRIX form factor. A detailed analysis of the various features of the GTX 760 reveal that the GPU is nothing but a rebranded GTX 870M. In order to sell itself in the desktop market, the mobile-targeted GK104 part has been rechristened as the GTX 760 targeting small form factor machines. The GTX 870M is pretty good, finding a place in high-end gaming laptops such as the Razer Blade. In this section, we will see how it performs when provided with a little bit of additional thermal headroom.
For the purpose of benchmarking, we chose five different games (Company of Heroes 2, Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite and DiRT Showdown) at three different quality levels. As someone focusing on HTPCs and multimedia aspects, I rarely get to process gaming benchmarks, even while evaluating GPUs. One of the aspects that I feared was spending lot of time in installing the same games again and again on different PCs under the review scanner. The solution was to go the Steam route. Unfortunately, Steam also likes to keep the game files updated. A quick online search revealed that Steam could make use of an external drive for storing the game executables and downloadable content. With the Steam drive on-the-go use-case being read-heavy, the Corsair Flash Voyager GS USB 3.0 128GB Flash Drive (with read speeds of up to 275 MBps) was ideal for use as a portable Steam drive.
Benchmark Numbers
Company of Heroes 2
Sleeping Dogs
Tomb Raider
Bioshock Infinite
DiRT Showdown
It goes without saying that the tussle is between the AMD Radeon equipped VisionX 420D and the BXi5G-760. The BXi5G-760 handily wins most benchmarks, with the Sleeping Dogs and DiRT Showdown games showing a much closer fight. In the big scheme of things, the BXi5G-760 manages to emerge in pole position when talking about the gaming capabilities.
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kgh00007 - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
Nice review, I hope you guys get in the Alienware Alpha for review. I think that's going to make a really nice HTPC depending on what GPU is announced for it!WatcherCK - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
Or as another possibility for a heating solution would be to hack on an external radiator ala R295x2, you will loose some of the convenience of the form factor with the addition of an external cooler but given the thermal load of the components it would be more than adequate for cooling this wee box :)SuperVeloce - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
6GB gddr5 ? are they for real?hojnikb - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
They are probobly targeting novice users that dont know better.And 6GB of graphics memory sound real nice.
TheinsanegamerN - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
With the heat and throttling problems this BRIX has, how long until it BRIX itself (ba dum tiss).Seriously though, why not use a slightly bigger enclosure along with a geforce 860m? that would have been cheaper, cooler, and quieter.
Laststop311 - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
Rather build a micro atx tower with a MSI gaming twin frozr cooler GTX 770 and i5-4690k tower 70 + psu 60 + 150 mobo + 100 ram + gtx 770 320 + i5-4690k 250 + 120GB crucial m500 70 + Noctua u14s heatsink +75 + 3x noctua fans to replace case fans 60 = 1135 so for the measly sum of 160 extra dollars you can build a MUCH more powerful PC that is much quieter. The msi gpu is one of the quietest twin frozr is excellent the u14s noctua heatsink is actually quieter than water cooling and even surpasses the 120mm close loops and is about equal to the 240mm closed loops in performance. Since all the case fans are noctua and there is no hard drive the only noise you are going to hear is power supply noise and gpu noise and the power supply fan only kicks on when under heavy load, Such performance such silence. Sure the size is bigger but a micro atx tower isn't THAT bad and I'm not hurting for space.Laststop311 - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
1155 it equals forgot to update that valueBob Todd - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
1) In general I agree. I'd just build something much more powerful that was larger.2) Tiny builds have always had a significantly worse power/price ratio, so the "I'd just build X that is Y times the size" could be a template response to any of these SFF machines.
There is at least some back of the napkin math that shows these companies that there is enough of a market for these types of machines at these types of price points that they will be beneficial to their bottom line. Personally I think a cheap NUC form factor box with an A10-7800 @ 45W would be more interesting. Sure it could only do 720p gaming with low settings, but it could be comparatively cheap. But if I'm going to spend "desktop money" on one of these machines, I'd rather do a nice mITX build in a case with enough room for a full size graphics card. I guess that was a long winded way to say that your post was so obvious it doesn't add value...but that I agree.
SirPerro - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
"Small gaming PC" concept is stupidPeople looking for a gaming PC are not Apple fans willing to pay more for something stilish
Make this thing twice the size and it will be simply better.
dmacfour - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
I completely disagree.People looking for gaming PC's range from home builders to noobs that'll pay for a pre-built computers with flashy LED lights, windows, sparkly paint, and unnecessary aftermarket coolers.
They'll absolutely pay more for style. It's just a different kind of style.