Yeah, for the same price, (well, actually quite less, but with "only" 16GB ram and a 256GB SSD) I put together a mini-ITX box with a proper desktop-class i7.... And thanks to the bigger size, it is quite silent.
The Zotac ZBox EN760 has GTX 960 graphics as well as the dual lan ports, and could easily be configured comparably to this. That probably falls in your "cheap Chinese mini PCs" category, though I think Zotac is Tawainese.
It's possibly on a lower quality tier than the Intel NUC or Gigabyte Brix. That said, I have the older version of it (EN860) and it works great as an HTPC box.
I have actually considered the Intel NUC for use with Thunderbolt pro audio. If you're pairing it up with thousands of dollars of studio gear the price seems less egregious. But if the Thunderbolt port is going to go unused, there's really no reason to choose that direction.
The discrete graphics adds additional heat and cost that isn't useful for a pfSense box. It essentially acts as a server/router, using one LAN port as a WAN directly from a modem, then routes packets out accordingly from the other LAN port(s).
Many Chinese fanless versions exist, but they use anemic celerons and atom CPUs. When you start using many extra features of pfSense, like squid (as a webproxy) the router's maximum throughput drops. Now this isn't an issue unless you have some kind of insane symmetrical 1gpbs up/down connection, where processor would fail to saturate the entire pipe.
I'd prefer to not have to worry, so I'd be all in for a fanless Mini-STX case and socketing in my own 6300T or something, but there are no fanless Mini-STX cases, and no Mini-STX motherboards with dual LAN. There are fanless thin Mini-ITX cases from Akasa, but I wasn't able to source a cheapish i3 + thin Mini-ITX mobo with dual LAN.
Had to post a second comment, comparing this to the Skull Canyon, which has a better GPU/CPU, better wi-fi, and a better SSD really hurts the Brix. $3 less for nearly every component being better except 16 GB of RAM vs 32 GB. What use case does this box have where 32 GB of RAM becomes a factor? Are people running dozens of VMs off a box like this? I don't know about profiteering, but I don't see them selling many of these.
I can't see running too many VMs. The i7-6500U performs worse than an i3-6100 (uses a lot less power, but still...). I know going into these reviews that the prices will shock me, yet I'm still shocked when I see them.
Right now VESA Adaptive Sync mode is an optional feature. See: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8008/vesa-adds-adapt... "Adaptive-Sync (not to be confused with NVIDIA’s Adaptive V-Sync), the eDP feature that allows for variable refresh monitors, has been added to the DisplayPort 1.2a standard as an optional feature."
Intel may or may not implement this feature at their discretion. I wouldn't really expect it for another year, to be honest, given that product releases are from heavily researched, tested, and fabricated products designed year(s) ago. Since Adaptive Sync is now an (optional) VESA standard feature, we might see Intel iGPU support maybe next gen, hopefully, and if not, the next gen after that.
I love my BRIX Projector, but it also cost $200 as a shell shocker years ago in i3 barebones form. After $100 in components and upgrading the wifi to .ac it's a great $300 media PC, but in all honesty isn't worth much more. The cost of these skylake nucs is ridiculous.
Regarding that this not the best HTPC system, I wonder when you guys will make another HTPC GPU's comparison.. the latest one you guys made is 5 years old and it was only for discrete GPU's... we desperately need a new comprehensive comparison...
They need to test Kodi on native Linux too instead of Windows, LibreELEC runs and performs much better as a dedicated HTPC.
A Braswell based NUC or Mini-ITX board is often all you'll need for HQ 4K playback, and for 1080p a Raspberry Pi3 is more than adequate for media consumption.
So many cheap whiners here. It is amazing. But those who value the Intel quality are paying, producing and collecting. Intel is the best to ever do it, bruh.
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cknobman - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
The price on these platforms is downright ridiculous.I know small has its price but at this point it just seems like Intel is profiteering.
powerarmour - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
That price is an utter joke.ddriver - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
More like mockery.nagi603 - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
Yeah, for the same price, (well, actually quite less, but with "only" 16GB ram and a 256GB SSD) I put together a mini-ITX box with a proper desktop-class i7.... And thanks to the bigger size, it is quite silent.JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
You know, I actually got rather excited when I saw it'd be a dual LAN mini PC on Skylake, as this would work out very well for a pfSense router-box.>$591.
>$1030 as configured.
No thanks... Might be better to stick with one of those cheap chinese dual lan mini-PCs instead...
barleyguy - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
The Zotac ZBox EN760 has GTX 960 graphics as well as the dual lan ports, and could easily be configured comparably to this. That probably falls in your "cheap Chinese mini PCs" category, though I think Zotac is Tawainese.It's possibly on a lower quality tier than the Intel NUC or Gigabyte Brix. That said, I have the older version of it (EN860) and it works great as an HTPC box.
I have actually considered the Intel NUC for use with Thunderbolt pro audio. If you're pairing it up with thousands of dollars of studio gear the price seems less egregious. But if the Thunderbolt port is going to go unused, there's really no reason to choose that direction.
JoeyJoJo123 - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
The discrete graphics adds additional heat and cost that isn't useful for a pfSense box. It essentially acts as a server/router, using one LAN port as a WAN directly from a modem, then routes packets out accordingly from the other LAN port(s).Many Chinese fanless versions exist, but they use anemic celerons and atom CPUs. When you start using many extra features of pfSense, like squid (as a webproxy) the router's maximum throughput drops. Now this isn't an issue unless you have some kind of insane symmetrical 1gpbs up/down connection, where processor would fail to saturate the entire pipe.
I'd prefer to not have to worry, so I'd be all in for a fanless Mini-STX case and socketing in my own 6300T or something, but there are no fanless Mini-STX cases, and no Mini-STX motherboards with dual LAN. There are fanless thin Mini-ITX cases from Akasa, but I wasn't able to source a cheapish i3 + thin Mini-ITX mobo with dual LAN.
fanofanand - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
$1030 using an iGPU. Pass.fanofanand - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
Had to post a second comment, comparing this to the Skull Canyon, which has a better GPU/CPU, better wi-fi, and a better SSD really hurts the Brix. $3 less for nearly every component being better except 16 GB of RAM vs 32 GB. What use case does this box have where 32 GB of RAM becomes a factor? Are people running dozens of VMs off a box like this? I don't know about profiteering, but I don't see them selling many of these.kmmatney - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
I can't see running too many VMs. The i7-6500U performs worse than an i3-6100 (uses a lot less power, but still...). I know going into these reviews that the prices will shock me, yet I'm still shocked when I see them.GhostOfAnand - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
Any news on when Intel iGPU will support VESA adaptive sync?JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
"will support" is a bit of an overstatement.Right now VESA Adaptive Sync mode is an optional feature. See:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8008/vesa-adds-adapt...
"Adaptive-Sync (not to be confused with NVIDIA’s Adaptive V-Sync), the eDP feature that allows for variable refresh monitors, has been added to the DisplayPort 1.2a standard as an optional feature."
Intel may or may not implement this feature at their discretion. I wouldn't really expect it for another year, to be honest, given that product releases are from heavily researched, tested, and fabricated products designed year(s) ago. Since Adaptive Sync is now an (optional) VESA standard feature, we might see Intel iGPU support maybe next gen, hopefully, and if not, the next gen after that.
Flunk - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
I believe they announced that support was coming with Kaby Lake.Samus - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
I love my BRIX Projector, but it also cost $200 as a shell shocker years ago in i3 barebones form. After $100 in components and upgrading the wifi to .ac it's a great $300 media PC, but in all honesty isn't worth much more. The cost of these skylake nucs is ridiculous.RadiclDreamer - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
I would pick up a lenovo mini with 1 lan port and add another via USB3 before buying this vastly overpriced attemptpowerarmour - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
Indeed, having an extra $10 port is hardly a selling point. Even a USB2 adaptor would do, or a cheap switch.Ro_Ja - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
What? The Price of NUC6i7KYK is still cheaper.Ro_Ja - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
Not to mention the i7-6500U's performance is bad per dollar :\Xajel - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
Regarding that this not the best HTPC system, I wonder when you guys will make another HTPC GPU's comparison.. the latest one you guys made is 5 years old and it was only for discrete GPU's... we desperately need a new comprehensive comparison...u.of.ipod - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
They say in the review that since Haswell all GPUs from AMD, nvidia, and Intel are pretty much on par.Ro_Ja - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
It's true. Infact, the Intel Iris Pro Graphics HD 6200 is on par with GT 750M in most benchmarks.powerarmour - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
They need to test Kodi on native Linux too instead of Windows, LibreELEC runs and performs much better as a dedicated HTPC.A Braswell based NUC or Mini-ITX board is often all you'll need for HQ 4K playback, and for 1080p a Raspberry Pi3 is more than adequate for media consumption.
Vlad_Da_Great - Friday, September 23, 2016 - link
So many cheap whiners here. It is amazing. But those who value the Intel quality are paying, producing and collecting. Intel is the best to ever do it, bruh.zodiacfml - Saturday, September 24, 2016 - link
Too expensive for any firewall/router task.Xajel - Sunday, September 25, 2016 - link
naaah, not good enough for HTPC.. and cost too much also@Anandtech... still waiting for this new generation GPU shootout for HTPC applications, which is better now latest gen. dGPU or latest gen. iGPU ?