GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming BXi5G-760 mini-PC Review
by Ganesh T S on September 15, 2014 2:30 PM ESTBXi5G-760 as a HTPC
Thanks to its discrete GPU, the BXi5G-760 has to tackle a much higher thermal workload with its cooling mechanism. To accommodate this, a few extra fans have been thrown in compared to the BRIX Pro. It goes without saying that the acoustic profile is not entirely suitable for most HTPC applications (unless the gaming aspect gets precedence). Despite this, the HTPC credentials deserve coverage. We didn't take the trouble to look into the refresh rates. NVIDIA has one of the best custom resolution / refresh rate creation tools in the industry, and even minor deviations from the expected refresh rates in one's particular setup can be worked upon for more accuracy. We concentrate on two aspects - network streaming efficiency and decoding / rendering benchmarks.
Network Streaming Efficiency
Evaluation of OTT playback efficiency was done by playing back our standard YouTube test stream and five minutes from our standard Netflix test title. Using HTML5, the YouTube stream plays back a 720p encoding, while Adobe Flash delivers a 1080p stream. The power consumption at the wall as well as the GPU usage while playing them on Mozilla Firefox are provided in the table below. Note that NVIDIA exposes GPU and VPU loads separately. This indicates whether any playback issues are due to the post-processing aspects (GPU) or the video decoding block's inability to handle the stream (VPU). Netflix streaming evaluation was done using the Windows 8.1 Netflix app. Manual stream selection is available (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-S) and debug information / statistics can also be viewed (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-D). Statistics collected for the YouTube streaming experiment were also collected here.
| GIGABYTE BXi5G-760 Network Streaming Efficiency | |||
| OTT Stream | GPU Load (%) | VPU Load (%) | Power (W) |
| YouTube - HTML5 | 15.54 | 10.43 | 31.68 W |
| YouTube - Adobe Flash | 12.71 | 26.26 | 30.25 W |
| Netflix - Windows 8.1 App | 5.66 | 27.18 | 30.18 W |
Decoding and Rendering Benchmarks
In order to evaluate local file playback, we concentrate on EVR-CP and madVR. We already know that EVR works quite well even with the Intel IGP for our test streams. Under madVR, we used the default settings for one of the passes. In addition, we also set up a 'madVR stress configuration' with the upscaling algorithms set to Jinc 3-tap with anti-ringing activated and the downscaling algorithm set to Lanczos 3-tap, again with anti-ringing activated. The decoder used is from the LAV filters integrated in MPC-HC v1.7.6.
An important point to note regarding the GPU loading is that the values reported by NVIDIA's drivers don't take the clock speed into consideration. For example, the 20% GPU loading reported for 1080i60 H.264 with EVR-CP is at a higher clock rate compared to the 45% reported for the 1080i60 MPEG-2 stream. The power consumption at the wall is the true metric of how much the system is stressed. The loading factors should be used only to determine if the stutters in playback are due to the hardware's incapability.
| GIGABYTE BXi5G-760 - Decoding & Rendering Performance | |||||||||||
| Stream | EVR-CP | madVR - Default | madVR - Stress | ||||||||
| GPU Load (%) | VPU Load (%) | Power (W) | GPU Load (%) | VPU Load (%) | Power (W) | GPU Load (%) | VPU Load (%) | Power (W) | |||
| 480i60 MPEG2 | 49.19 | 4.08 | 34.30 | 11.07 | 2.00 | 56.45 | 27.88 | 2.00 | 72.54 | ||
| 576i50 H264 | 46.44 | 10.18 | 33.14 | 11.17 | 5.00 | 57.61 | 29.61 | 5.00 | 77.39 | ||
| 720p60 H264 | 42.64 | 38.94 | 34.98 | 34.37 | 27.58 | 52.29 | 53.99 | 25.03 | 66.87 | ||
| 1080i60 MPEG2 | 44.93 | 26.29 | 48.41 | 24.05 | 17.72 | 63.12 | 37.56 | 17.10 | 75.90 | ||
| 1080i60 H264 | 20.69 | 29.53 | 54.99 | 24.99 | 27.14 | 65.36 | 38.58 | 27.12 | 77.97 | ||
| 1080i60 VC1 | 75.49 | 54.14 | 44.11 | 24.38 | 23.86 | 63.75 | 38.1 | 24.46 | 77.70 | ||
| 1080p60 H264 | 49.66 | 84.95 | 37.12 | 38.05 | 64.17 | 49.37 | 54.25 | 65.34 | 59.92 | ||
| 1080p24 H264 | 20.22 | 34.77 | 32.99 | 40.3 | 44.18 | 36.83 | 54.72 | 37.36 | 39.01 | ||
| 4Kp30 H264 | 22.73 | 74.73 | 45.02 | 57.33 | 57.95 | 76.37 | 92.48 | 57.75 | 96.85 | ||
The results show that the BXi5G-760 is the most powerful madVR-capable HTPC we have reviewed in its form factor. The only stream that it couldn't handle was the 4Kp30 H.264 clip when played on a 1080p display with the stressful madVR options.
In the gaming benchmarks, we found it tough to make a call between the AMD R9 270X-equipped VisionX 420D and the GTX 760-equipped BXi5G-760. In the HTPC benchmarks, though, the GIGABYTE model emerges a clear winner. However, if acoustics are a concern, the ASRock VisionX 420D may make a better choice.
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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.