Zotac ZBOX CI523 nano Fanless Skylake-U mini-PC Review
by Ganesh T S on October 5, 2016 8:00 AM ESTPerformance Metrics - I
The ZOTAC ZBOX CI523 nano was evaluated using our standard test suite for low power desktops / industrial PCs. Not all benchmarks were processed on all the machines due to updates in our testing procedures. Therefore, the list of PCs in each graph might not be the same. In the first section, we will be looking at SYSmark 2014, as well as some of the Futuremark benchmarks.
BAPCo SYSmark 2014
BAPCo's SYSmark 2014 is an application-based benchmark that uses real-world applications to replay usage patterns of business users in the areas of office productivity, media creation and data/financial analysis. Scores are meant to be compared against a reference desktop (HP ProDesk 600 G1 with a Core i3-4130, 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive) that scores 1000 in each of the scenarios. A score of, say, 2000, would imply that the system under test is twice as fast as the reference system.
We have not processed SYSmark 2014 on any of the passively cooled PCs that have been through our review process before. So, we only have the reference system for comparison purposes. It is interesting to see that a Core i3-6100U can almost match a desktop Haswell Core i3 with a much higher TDP
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 CI523 nano with a Skylake-U CPU is easily able to surpass all the other systems based on processors from the earlier generations.
Miscellaneous Futuremark Benchmarks
3D Rendering - CINEBENCH R15
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. In the CPU-focused benchmark, the Logic Supply ML100G-30 (based on a Broadwell-U Core i5, and having a higher turbo clock) is able to beat the CI523 nano (with a Skylake-U Core i3). However, the GPU improvements from Broadwell to Skylake ensure that the CI523 nano comes out on top in the OpenGL routine.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
35 Comments
View All Comments
Voldenuit - Thursday, October 6, 2016 - link
Inspiration for that box art:https://thedroidyourelookingfor.files.wordpress.co...
sephirotic - Saturday, October 8, 2016 - link
I have been saying this for years and I'll keep repeating: Fanless computers are idiotic. Semi Passive is the real answer. (Although in the cases of NUC and other very small PC form factors, there is some relevance only because of the volume constraint saved with no fan. But even a NUC could fit a very small fan that could increase its termal performance, just look at the Surface Pro 4, it is smaller than this nuc and still have a semi passive fan in it).The best of both words is a semi passive computer. One you can tune the fan only to turn on when the CPU is in hard usage. It can run passive for all mundane tasks like browsing the web, watching videos or even light gaming, but when needed it can turn on and you will won't sacrifice any performance at all. The best of all is that most big 12cms tower heatsinks have more than enough mass to cooldown the heat of modern energy efficient CPUs on their own. Theoretically you could make any regular pc with a 12cm tower heatsink into a semipassive pc, such that is true that MY computer is a small cougar MX500 with an old CNPS10X Flex Tower and it is 100 passive with a G2 EVGA and a MSI TwinFrozr V GTX 970. The advantages of a semi passive pc is not only noise, but also much reduced dust accumulation, longer lifespan of the fans and a slightly reduced energy consumption. I wished today's motherboards all had semipassive option in their fan controller's.
Of course, being passive and compact doesn't mean absolutely silence and optimal performance. Having a larger Full ATX case is preferable. (although it is perfectly possible to build a high performance semi passive PC in a middle tower case like I did. The difference is that the threshold for when the fans kick in will be lower. It is also important to have a large grill on top of it for the heat to slowly moves away). It is also important to understand that many motherboards have strong high pitched noise on their power phase controllers, and coil whine too even at lower usage of the CPU, So a 100% silent PC (more correct would be: below the background noise level) that eliminate those high pitched noises should also have some type of isolating foam inside it and around the metal covers to damper the spread of the high pitched sound. But even if that is not done the pc will still be more silent than any active coolled pc for obvious reasons. Anyway, the main point still stand and I have wondered why no big hardware site, even the dumb hardware channels in youtube ever covered that. Even the silentpc forum has hardly any articles about semi-passive pcs. I was waiting for my next pc build to make some photos and videos and post an article about that but I guess I'll have to do it in a blog without most pictures anyway...
johnny_boy - Sunday, October 9, 2016 - link
Not particularly compelling given those thermals and throttling. Would rather build a slightly larger ITX system with a Skylake T-series (35W TDP) and get better performance and have an upgrade path. Unless you have a REALLY small desk or home theatre cabinet, I don't see why anyone would buy this.8steve8 - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
please stop making SFFs with 15W CPUs.There are plenty of options for that, and not enough 45,55,65, or 95W CPU SFF systems.
1_rick - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Intel called wants to let you know about their Skull Canyon NUC. Which is absolutely awesome if you don't need high-end gaming.