Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 Review - A Gaming mini-PC Done Right
by Ganesh T S on September 28, 2015 8:00 AM ESTNetworking and Storage Performance
We have recently started devoting a separate section to analyze the storage and networking credentials of the units under review. On the storage side, one option would be repetition of our strenuous SSD review tests on the drive(s) in the PC. Fortunately, to avoid that overkill, PCMark 8 has a storage bench where certain common workloads such as loading games and document processing are replayed on the target drive. Results are presented in two forms, one being a benchmark number and the other, a bandwidth figure. We ran the PCMark 8 storage bench on selected PCs and the results are presented below.
The OCZ Vector drive we used in our setup has been EOL-ed by OCZ, but there are plenty of similarly performing drives with similar costs in the market.
On the networking side, we restricted ourselves to the evaluation of the WLAN component. Our standard test router is the Netgear R7000 Nighthawk configured with both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. The router is placed approximately 20 ft. away, separated by a drywall (as in a typical US building). A wired client (Zotac ID89-Plus) is connected to the R7000 and serves as one endpoint for iPerf evaluation. The PC under test is made to connect to either the 5 GHz (preferred) or 2.4 GHz SSID and iPerf tests are conducted for both TCP and UDP transfers. It is ensured that the PC under test is the only wireless client for the Netgear R7000. We evaluate total throughput for up to 32 simultaneous TCP connections using iPerf and present the highest number in the graph below.
In the UDP case, we try to transfer data at the highest rate possible for which we get less than 1% packet loss.
The numbers are similar to what we obtained for other systems with the Intel AC-3160 WiFi 802.11ac PCIe WLAN card. The external antenna helps in provideing better performance.
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Winterblade - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
I have to agree with milkod2001, specially if you compare it with the base alienware alpha that cames with storage, OS and even a Xbox controller for half the price of the Magnus barebones.In order to make the Magnus compeling I would like a Quad-core CPU (even if it is a mobile part) and about $150 discount of the barebones price, then I would be all over it.
smorebuds - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
The Alpha that you're referring to that's half the cost has a 2 year old i3 cpu, 860M gpu, spinning hard drive, and 4 gb of ram. So yes, the Magnus is a more powerful, smaller device, and it costs more money. What's your point?Winterblade - Sunday, October 4, 2015 - link
That 2 year old CPU is a desktop part, should be about the same performance compared to the 5200U, and the GPU is a 860M OCed, so it will handle 1080 gaming just fine, also it has Windows already installed and even an xbox controller, it is ready to use out of the box and it is half the price, that's my point, 400-500 USD is the price these gaming mini PC's have to hit to truly compete with gaming laptops and DIY gaming PC.Jauffins - Saturday, October 17, 2015 - link
The Alienware Alpha can be equipped with any size 2.5" SSD, up to 16GB RAM, and a 2.9 Ghz desktop Core i5 (or i7), all for less than the price of this barebones kit. And my 4590T runs at 65-70c full load, not 100+. The only downfall is the 860m, and I must say I've been very impressed with what it can do, and have yet to run into an issue. As long as you don't expect either of these systems to run The Witcher 3 on Ultra, you're good.meacupla - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
FYI, mITX PC can get quite heavy, easily tipping past 7kg, and they are, at least, 4x as large.My RVZ01 build is 14L and around 8kg.
Compared to a SFF that's 2.23L and probably not even 2kg fully equipped.
schizoide - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
FINALLY, a very small form factor gaming box with a GPU fast enough to handle all 1080p console ports for the current generation!Unfortunately, the price remains dramatically just way too high. If this came in around $500 like the Alienware Alpha, I would buy it instantly. Of course that would be an 80% discount so obviously Zotac isn't at all interested in fighting on price.
That's what I really want-- an Alienware Alpha with a 970M GPU, as the 860M it comes with just isn't fast enough for solid 1080p gaming. Keep hoping the next-generation Alpha hits that performance level.
smorebuds - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
Ok but the Magnus has much better parts than the Alpha so why would it be the same price? The Alpha with the "comparable" specs is about the same price as the Magnus. And by "comparable" I mean the Alpha has a shitty spinning hard drive and a 2 year old Haswell cpu and 860M gpu...schizoide - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
Nope. The CPU doesn't matter for gaming and the Alpha GPU is much slower.smorebuds - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
What're you saying nope to? So what if zotac made an sku with an i3, 960M, 500gb HDD, and 4gb ram and sold it for $499 would you be happy? That's your alpha in 2015 except in a smaller package which is the whole damn point of this.Jauffins - Saturday, October 17, 2015 - link
I want to see the adoption of MXM. My Alpha is the perfect SFF system (2.9Ghz desktop i5, 16GB RAM, SSD) but in a few years, the 860m will start to show its age. Why nVidia isn't pushing this form factor, where I can spend maybe $200-250 to get an MXM form factor desktop 760 or 960, I don't understand.