Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 Review - A Gaming mini-PC Done Right
by Ganesh T S on September 28, 2015 8:00 AM ESTFinal Words
The Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 provided us with the opportunity to take a look at what mobile Maxwell coupled with a Broadwell-U CPU could bring to the gaming mini-PC market. Simply put, this is the most powerful mini-PC we have evaluated so far for gaming workloads.
There are certain things that prospective consumers need to keep in mind. The M.2 slot in the unit supports only PCIe x2 devices and not x4 ones such as the Samsung SM951. The discrete GPU drives up the idle power, meaning that one can't have the cake and eat it too. It would be nice to have something similar to what is done in the notebook space to be implemented here - i.e, being able to use the integrated GPU as well when not gaming, or when attempting to use Quick Sync. Finally, we would like to see a higher performance CPU in the system - there are other CPUs at this TDP worth considering.
One of the aspects for which Zotac can't be blamed directly is the advertising of the NVIDIA GTX 970M as GTX 960 when they are completely different for HTPC uses. NVIDIA's rebranding scheme makes very little sense, at least in this situation. The 'NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960' in the ZOTAC ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 is a MXM card, and as such, can't be purchased standalone. As an OEM exclusive, it is only available in pre-built systems like the MAGNUS EN970. Despite being placed in a SFF system, the GTX 970M can provide roughly the same performance as that of a bonafide desktop GTX 960 - just not for HTPC workloads.
Excellent thermal design and a robust cooling mechanism make the MAGNUS EN970 one of the quietest gaming mini-PCs that we evaluated. To provide some rough numbers, a HTC One M7 running the Android Sound Meter Pro app recorded just 50 dB when placed directly outside the outlet vent during the benchmarking of GRID Autosport. With the GB-BXi5G-760, we recorded 65 dB under similar circumstances. During gameplay, or even 5 - 6 ft. away, the noise profile of the unit is simply not a concern at all.
The barebones version of the ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 is available for $800 on Amazon. For $100 extra, the PLUS version adds a 120GB SATA SSD and an 8GB SO-DIMM. The pricing is quite reasonable when the costs of the competing products are considered. On the whole, the plus points of the ZOTAC ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 far outweigh the issues. There is still scope for improvement that we have pointed out in this review, but it still makes an interesting mini-PC purchase.
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Teknobug - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
How is the Alpha's i3 4130T slower than a mobile i5 5200U? i3 2.9Ghz vs i5 2.2-2.7GHz and i3 having a slighly faster IPC which matters for games.meacupla - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
I think he said that the GTX 860M was slower than the GTX970M.For gaming purposes, GPU > CPU
smorebuds - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
I guess it depends on what you value more from your living room gaming device... i3-4130T is a bit faster, but also uses more than twice the power, meaning it'll need bigger/noisier fans and a bigger enclosure.Teknobug - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
The CPU and GPU combination doesn't really make sense here.barleyguy - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
For the thermal constraints it makes perfect sense. Zotac had an i7 ZBox, but it had the fan noise of a jet engine. For 1080p gaming in a small quiet box, the lower power i5 and GeForce 970m is a good choice IMO.boe - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
I'd love to see something in this general design but optimized for home theater - no fans - big heat radiators if necessary, HDMI 2.0a well suited for 4K, DTS-X and Dobly Atmos. I'm not terribly concerned about gaming.angrypatm - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
Audio is always overlooked by manufacturers and reviewers. Power consumption, short of a high end gaming rig that sucks power like a refrigerator, seems irrelevant to me. Example; does anyone really take power consumption int account when buying a tv? "This one has a better picture but that one uses less power, so we'll take the more energy efficient model." --?!boe - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
Is there any way to get the writers to consider an article on HT PCs? I think building HT servers is pretty standard but building quiet HTPC to play the streamed media can be expensive as the cases I've found can run up to $1500. Technically the entire HTPC could probably be done for about $450 but I haven't found anything that really is SILENT, and has HDMI 2.0a, and supports high end audio. Doesn't mean they don't exist, I'm just not sure who makes them.DanNeely - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
Anandtech does review a lot of HTPCs. If you're looking for a DIY build guide, they seem to be very infrequent even for general use systems (vs sites like Arstechnica doing them yearly). A general build your own guide might be interesting; but I wonder if this wouldn't be a better subject for a future Build-a-Rig competition.http://www.anandtech.com/tag/htpc
SpartyOn - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
I built a Steam streaming PC/HTPC with this embedded solution which seems to fit your requirements: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/N3700-ITX/Just put it in a fanless chassis or a really good box with a silent fan and you're good to go. Doesn't meet your high-end audio requirement per se, but there is an open x1 slot for adding whatever audio solution is needed.
I've been rocking this for the last month and a half and it's been a great game and video streamer (though I'm not doing 4K output - don't have a 4K TV).
I think I paid $200 for the parts (board & CPU, 8GB ram, 64GB SSD, case w/ incl. PSU).