Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 Review - A Gaming mini-PC Done Right
by Ganesh T S on September 28, 2015 8:00 AM ESTGaming Benchmarks
The gaming credentials of the GTX 960 are quite impressive. Even though the tag indicates a desktop GPU, the internal hardware is still a mobile GPU - the GTX 970M. It is based on Maxwell GM204. The performance, however, should be similar to that of the desktop GTX 960.
For the purpose of benchmarking, we chose four different games (Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite and DiRT Showdown) at three different quality levels. In addition, starting with this review, we are also bringing three more benchmarks involving The Talos Principle and GRID Autosport. As someone focusing on HTPCs and multimedia aspects, I rarely get to process gaming benchmarks, even while evaluating GPUs. One of the aspects that I feared was spending lot of time in installing the same games again and again on different PCs under the review scanner. The solution was to go the Steam route. Unfortunately, Steam also likes to keep the game files updated. A quick online search revealed that Steam could make use of an external drive for storing the game executables and downloadable content. With the Steam drive on-the-go use-case being read-heavy, the Corsair Flash Voyager GS USB 3.0 128GB Flash Drive (with read speeds of up to 275 MBps) was ideal for use as a portable Steam drive.
Sleeping Dogs
Tomb Raider
Bioshock Infinite
DiRT Showdown
The Talos Principle
GRID Autosport
In the gaming benchmarks, the NVIDIA GTX 960 (GTX 970M) simply smokes the competition, particularly at the 1080p quality settings. The ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 more than makes up for the weak CPU with impressive gaming performance.
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SpartyOn - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
Apparently you either don't know what I'm talking about or have never used Steam In-Home Streaming. I'm not saying don't have a PC in the living room - in fact, I'm saying just the opposite - but make it an inexpensive media streaming box rather than a full-blown gaming system.I have two SFF media PC's, one in my living room and one in my basement, so I understand the need that these boxes fill. All I'm saying is that with Steam In-Home Streaming, that HTPC doesn't need to be a full-fledged gaming machine and your money can be better appropriated elsewhere.
donthatethesun - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
I think this is more for people that don't necessarily want to have a desktop or multiple systems. It can function as their go to in the living room and for when they travel.lmcd - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
Can't bring the desktop on a plane easily. There's your niche.tarak73 - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
I am waiting for the same solution with DDR4 setup...rtho782 - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
The 970m is a GM204 (desktop 970/980) with 1280 shaders instead of 1024 in the desktop 960 (gm206), 48 rops instead of 32, and, crucially, a 192bit memory bus instead of 128bit, so it should be a nice chunk faster than the desktop 960. The review seems to indicate that it being a 970m is a negative?KateH - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
Yeah I was confused by that too. The only advantage I can see of the 960 vs 970m is that GM206 supports hardware decoding of some additional codecs that GM204 doesn't.rhx123 - Monday, September 28, 2015 - link
The lack of DisplayPort is a deal breaker. Very silly omission, with 4 HDMI Ports, it's not like space was at a premium.lmcd - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
I likewise found this very disappointing. Particularly when none seem to be HDMI 2.0 (or am I wrong?).KateH - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
All GM20x GPUs support HDMI 2.0 AFAIK, so I presume they are.meacupla - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - link
Lack of DP is disappointing, but why is it a deal breaker?Did you want to use this with a G-sync monitor?