Zotac ZBOX CI540 nano Review: A Fanless Haswell-Y mini-PC
by Ganesh T S on October 31, 2014 11:00 AM ESTPerformance Metrics - I
The Zotac ZBOX CI540 nano was evaluated using our standard test suite for low power desktops / industrial PCs. We revamped our benchmark suite earlier this year after the publication of the Intel D54250WYK NUC review. We reran some of the new benchmarks on the older PCs 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. These scores are heavily influenced by the CPU in the system. The real tussle is between the CI540 nano, the BXBT-1900 and the ECS LIVA. Amongst these three, the CI540 nano and ECS LIVA are the only passive PCs. Given these constraints, it is indeed creditable that the unit performs the best amongst the three.
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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CrazyElf - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
To be honest, I'm not too crazy about this "super small" mentality. It seems like people are going super small as an end into itself more than anything else.The problem is that smaller means that more heat has to be put through a small space, as this example here shows. A slightly larger design here I think would have been an advantage.
jabber - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
Yes it seems you can go from a m-atx box to something minute. Doesn't have to be 'as small as you can make it'. Something the size of say a PS2 or a little smaller would be fine.Calista - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - link
Fully agree, even something in the 20x20x20 cm size doesn't occupy much more size then say a NUC once we include space for cables for power, monitor, keyboard and mouse.Alexvrb - Sunday, November 2, 2014 - link
Agreed. I can't imagine going smaller than a baby ITX box, if for no other reason than it's easier to upgrade or modify. :Djosue16 - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
Will you guys add LAN latency tests? That is if it can be reliably measured. Also, gigabit Ethernet tests would be nice too.knightspawn1138 - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
I like the thermal pictures. It looks like a space age furnace or reactor. Or like it's a box of lava. Not sure if I want to hang this on the VESA mount on the back of a $1500 TV set.bobbozzo - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
Can SSDs tolerate 75C?Shadowmaster625 - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
$500 for a notebook with no screen and no battery/UPS. What a great deal! Sign me up for 3. NOTzodiacfml - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - link
i agree. the notebook i'm using now is only 250 USD with probably the same performance of this low voltage cpu.kmmatney - Friday, October 31, 2014 - link
I've never had an "HTPC" (I have a windows home server and a WD live player) so I'm not an expert on this, but couldn't a laptop perform the same function? It's cheaper and a lot more capable. $350 gets you a core i5 laptop with HD4400 graphics not to mention a keyboard, screen, and OS. Maybe it takes a little more space, but having the screen would make it easier to setup.