Introduction and Setup Impressions

ASRock has been one of the few motherboard vendors to focus on mini-PCs targeting the HTPC and portable gaming markets. Starting from the ION-based nettop days, they have consistently refreshed the mini-PC lineup in sync with Intel's product cycle. We reviewed the Haswell-based VisionX 420D last September. Instead of waiting for Broadwell / Skylake, ASRock has taken the opportunity of falling flash memory prices to bring out a mid-generation update in the form of the VisionX 471D.

In terms of external appearance, the VisionX 471D and the VisionX 420D are one and the same. However, there are two major updates under the hood. The Core i5-4200M is replaced by a Core i7-4712MQ, and the empty mSATA slot in the VisionX 420D now comes occupied by an ASint mSATA SSD. These two updates address some of the improvement aspects that we noted in our VisionX 420D review. In the rest of this review, we will see how the new VisionX 471D fares in our mini-PC evaluation routine. In particular, we will see if there are tangible improvements in real-life workloads, while also identify any caveats that arise due to the additional capabilities.

The specifications of the ASRock VisionX 471D are summarized in the table below.. The specifications of our review unit are summarized in the table below.

ASRock VisionX 471D Specifications
Processor	Intel Haswell Core i7-4712MQ (4C/8T x 2.30 GHz (3.30 GHz Turbo), 22nm, 6MB L2, 37W)
Memory	2 x 4GB ASint SSA304G08-EGN1B DDR3-1600
Graphics	AMD Radeon R9 M270X (1 GB GDDR5 VRAM) 775 MHz (core) / 1125 MHz (memory)
Disk Drive(s)	256 GB ASint mSATA SSDMSK256G-M1 2 TB Seagate Samsung Spinpoint M9T ST2000LM003
Optical Drive(s)	Lite-On Internal Slim DVD+/-RW Drive (DL-8A4SH-01)
Networking	1 x Gigabit Ethernet, 2x2 802.11ac mPCIe
Audio	Capable of 5.1/7.1 digital output with HD audio bitstreaming (HDMI)
Operating System	Retail unit is barebones, but we installed Windows 8.1 Pro x64
Pricing (As configured)	$999
Full Specifications	ASRock VisionX 471D Specifications

The VisionX 471D comes in a barebones configuration (i.e, no OS installed). However, the RAM and disk drives are already pre-installed. A DVD with the drivers and utilities is also supplied with the package. Usually, a USB key would be preferable. However, the unit comes with an optical drive, and that justifies the driver DVD. In any case, we ended up installing the latest drivers downloaded off ASRock's product support page. In addition to the main unit, the other components of the package include a 120 W (19V @ 6.32A) adapter, a power cord (customized to the country of sale), a MHL cable, a DVD to VGA adapter, a Media Center remote, an OEM version of CyberLink PowerDVD 10 and a quick-start guide. The internal setup also provides space for a second 2.5" drive. The package also includes appropriate SATA power and data cables as well as screws for mounting the optional drive.

The gallery below takes us around the hardware inside the unit.

The most interesting new component inside the unit is the ASint mSATA SSD. ASint seems to be more of an OEM supplier, given the fact that there is absolutely no reference to the SSDMSK256G-M1 model being used by ASRock anywhere on the Internet. Even ASint's product page doesn't carry the model as yet. In any case, thanks to easy accessibility, we were able to determine that the SSDMSK256G-M1 is based on the JMicron JMF667H combined with four IMFT 64 GB 20nm NAND chips. We have already carried out a detailed review of the reference kit with the new firmware. Readers now know what to expect - a decent performer that is also economical. While ASRock used to sell their premium Vision 3D PCs a couple of years back at $1000, we now have a 256 GB mSATA SSD integrated along with a Core i7 CPU at the same price.

In the table below, we have an overview of the various systems that we are comparing the ASRock VisionX 471D against. Note that they may not belong to the same market segment. The relevant configuration details of the machines are provided so that readers have an understanding of why some benchmark numbers are skewed for or against the ASRock VisionX 471D when we come to those sections.

Comparative PC Configurations
Aspect	ASRock VisionX 471D	ASRock VisionX 471DASRock Vision 3D 252BASRock VisionX 420DGIGABYTE GB-BXi7-4770R (2)GIGABYTE GB-BXi5G-760Zotac ZBOX EI750 Custom
CPU	Intel Core i7-4712MQ	Intel Core i7-4712MQ
GPU	AMD Radeon R9 M270X (1GB GDDR5)	AMD Radeon R9 M270X (1GB GDDR5)
RAM	ASint SSA304G08-EGN1B 11-11-11-28 @ 1600 MHz 2x 4GB	ASint SSA304G08-EGN1B 11-11-11-28 @ 1600 MHz 2x 4GB
Storage	ASint mSATA SSDMSK256G-M1 (256 GB; mSATA 6 Gb/s; 20nm; MLC)) Seagate Samsung Spinpoint M9T ST2000LM003 (2 TB; 2.5in SATA; 5400 RPM)	ASint mSATA SSDMSK256G-M1 (256 GB; mSATA 6 Gb/s; 20nm; MLC)) Seagate Samsung Spinpoint M9T ST2000LM003 (2 TB; 2.5in SATA; 5400 RPM)
Wi-Fi	Broadcom BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (2x2 802.11ac - 867 Mbps)	Broadcom BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (2x2 802.11ac - 867 Mbps)
Price (in USD, when built)	$999	$999

Performance Metrics - I

The ASRock VisionX 471D was evaluated using our standard test suite for low power desktops / industrial PCs. We revamped our benchmark suite early last year after the publication of the Intel D54250WYK NUC review. We reran some of the new benchmarks on the older PCs also, but some of them couldn't be run on loaner samples. Therefore, the list of PCs in each graph might not be the same.

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. In the case of the VisionX 471D, the AMD R9 270MX also pitches in for the OpenCL accelerated components. The end result is that the combination of the Core i7-4712MQ and the AMD R9 270MX GPU results in the VisionX 471D coming out on top for two out of the three PCMark 8 workloads. In certain workloads with more emphasis on single-threaded performance, the higher clocks in the Core i5 2C/4T CPUs result in the VisionX 471D coming in behind the VisionX 420D and the GIGABYTE GB-BXi5G-760.

Miscellaneous Futuremark Benchmarks

The PCMark Suite in PCMark 7 doesn't benefit much from OpenCL acceleration. This makes the higher-clocked Core i5-based systems take the lead. The Core i7-4770R-based GB-BXi7-4770R has a TDP of 65W and is clocked much higher than the other CPUs in the graph. So, it is no surprise that the BRIX Pro comes out on top in that benchmark.

The 3DMark benchmarks show that the main tussle is between the NVIDIA GTX 760 in the BXi5G-760 and the AMD R9 270MX in the VisionX 420D/471D.

3D Rendering - CINEBENCH R15

We have moved on from R11.5 to R15 for 3D rendering evaluation. 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. As described earlier, the higher clocked CPUs perform better in the single threaded mode. When it comes to mult-threaded performance, the 4C/8T i7-based systems take the lead, with the higher clocked 65 W TDP versions taking a significant lead.

The OpenGL run is definitely in favour of the NVIDIA GPU-equipped BRIX Gaming PC, but the VisionX versions definitely show a big increase in performance over the Iris Pro-equipped systems.

Performance Metrics - II

In this section, we mainly look at benchmark modes in programs used on a day-to-day basis, i.e, application performance and not synthetic workloads.

x264 Benchmark

First off, we have some video encoding benchmarks courtesy of x264 HD Benchmark v5.0. This is simply a test of CPU performance. As expected, the higher-clocked / higher-TDP Core i7-4770R-based systems perform better than the Core i7-4712MQ in the VisionX 471D. However, the significant upgrade over the Core i5-4200M in the VisionX 420D must be noted.

7-Zip

7-Zip is a very effective and efficient compression program, often beating out OpenCL accelerated commercial programs in benchmarks even while using just the CPU power. 7-Zip has a benchmarking program that provides tons of details regarding the underlying CPU's efficiency. In this subsection, we are interested in the compression and decompression MIPS ratings when utilizing all the available threads.

TrueCrypt

As businesses (and even home consumers) become more security conscious, the importance of encryption can't be overstated. CPUs supporting the AES-NI instruction for accelerating the encryption and decryption processes have, till now, been the higher end SKUs. However, with Bay Trail, even the lowly Atom series has gained support for AES-NI. The Core i7-4712MQ in the VisionX 471D does have AES-NI support. TrueCrypt, a popular open-source disk encryption program can take advantage of the AES-NI capabilities. The TrueCrypt internal benchmark provides some interesting cryptography-related numbers to ponder. In the graph below, we can get an idea of how fast a TrueCrypt volume would behave in the ASRock VisionX 471D and how it would compare with other select PCs. This is a purely CPU feature / clock speed based test.

Agisoft Photoscan

Agisoft PhotoScan is a commercial program that converts 2D images into 3D point maps, meshes and textures. The program designers sent us a command line version in order to evaluate the efficiency of various systems that go under our review scanner. The command line version has two benchmark modes, one using the CPU and the other using both the CPU and GPU (via OpenCL). The benchmark takes around 50 photographs and does four stages of computation:

• Stage 1: Align Photographs
• Stage 2: Build Point Cloud (capable of OpenCL acceleration)
• Stage 3: Build Mesh
• Stage 4: Build Textures

We record the time taken for each stage. Since various elements of the software are single threaded, others multithreaded, and some use GPUs, it is interesting to record the effects of CPU generations, speeds, number of cores, DRAM parameters and the GPU using this software. One can reap significant benefits from the AMD R9 270MX in the OpenCL-accelerated second stage, as shown in the graphs below.

Dolphin Emulator

Wrapping up our application benchmark numbers is the Dolphin Emulator benchmark mode results. This is again a test of the CPU capabilities. Larger the number of available threads, the better is the performance. Within that set, systems based on CPUs with faster clocks / higher TDP compared to the Core i7-4712MQ perform better.

Gaming Benchmarks

The gaming credentials of the AMD R9 270MX are quite impressive. We already know what it is capable of, thanks to our coverage in the VisionX 420D review. We are looking at the same GPU configuration in the VisionX 471D. However, we do have a more capable CPU (Core i7-4712MQ vs. the Core i5-4200M) this time around.

For the purpose of benchmarking, we chose five different games (Company of Heroes 2, Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite and DiRT Showdown) at three different quality levels. 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.

Company of Heroes 2

In this title, there are benefits provided by the better CPU. But, it is debatable whether the difference is noticeable in real-world gameplay. In addition, the GB-BXi5G-760 performs much better than the VisionX 471D. However, the acoustic profile of the VisionX 471D is way better.

Sleeping Dogs

In this title, the three leading systems are much more evenly matched.The choice of CPU has almost negligible effect on the performance.

Tomb Raider

The situation for Tomb Raider is similar to that of Sleeping Dogs. The better CPU provides marginal gains and the GTX 760 and the R9 270MX provide almost equivalent performance.

Bioshock Infinite

In Bioshock Infinite, the GTX 760 is way ahead of the R9 270MX. Again, the acoustic profile of the two relevant PCs must be kept in mind.

DiRT Showdown

The VisionX 471D performs very well in DiRT Showdown compared to the other PCs. In fact, at lower resolutions, the unit manages a healthy lead compared to the GTX 760-equipped GB-BXi5G-760. At higher resolutions / quality, the performance of both units is very similar.

Networking 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 JMicron JMF667H performs exceedingly well with the IMFT NAND - actually, good enough to score the best numbers in PCMark 8's storage bench for both the score and raw bandwidth. Obviously, the SSD upgrade is a huge benefit over the pure HDD-based VisionX 420D.

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 VisionX 420D and 471D share the same Broadcom BCM4352 WLAN subsystem. It is a 2x2 802.11ac solution, and delivers better results compared to other 2x2 solutions such as the Intel AC7260 when used in conunction with the Broadcom-based Netgear R7000 router. Ideally, the 420D and 471D should deliver similar performance. The raw numbers are quite good for the 471D, but, for reasons probably related to antenna placement and system noise, they are a bit worse off compared to the 420D. On the subject of networking, it is also heartening to see the Intel I217-V Ethernet adapter enabling the Gigabit NIC.

HTPC Credentials

The VisionX 471D has a much better acoustic profile compared to the BRIX Pro and even the ZBOX EI750 (thanks to the larger chassis, which, in turn, allows for a better thermal solution). Subjectively speaking, I found it to be ideal for a gaming HTPC, but it is definitely no substitute for an actively cooled NUC or passive HTPC. On the performance side, the AMD R9 270MX should be capable enough for madVR, but we will try to identify the limits in this section. Prior to tackling that, we have two HTPC aspects to explore.

Refresh Rate Accurancy

AMD and NVIDIA have historically been able to provide fine-grained control over display refresh rates. The default rates are also quite accurate. Intel used to have an issue with 23 Hz (23.976 Hz, to be more accurate) support, but that was resolved with the introduction of Haswell. As expected, the ASRock VisionX 471D has no trouble with refreshing the display appropriately in the 23 Hz setting. The accuracy is not as much as what we could get with Haswell and Bay Trail-based systems.

The gallery below presents some of the other refresh rates that we tested out. The first statistic in madVR's OSD indicates the display refresh rate.

Network Streaming Efficiency

Evaluation of OTT playback efficiency was done by playing back our standard YouTube test stream and five minutes from our standard Netflix test title. Using HTML5, the YouTube stream plays back a 720p encoding, while Adobe Flash delivers a 1080p stream. Note that only NVIDIA exposes GPU and VPU loads separately. Both Intel and AMD bundle the decoder load along with the GPU load. The following two graphs show the power consumption at the wall for playback of the HTML5 stream and the Adobe Flash stream in Mozilla Firefox (v 35.0). The Flash plugin version used for benchmarking was 16.0.0.257. GPU load was around 7.06% for the HTML5 stream and 4.5% for the Flash stream.

Netflix streaming evaluation was done using the Windows 8.1 Netflix app. Manual stream selection is available (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-S) and debug information / statistics can also be viewed (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-D). Statistics collected for the YouTube streaming experiment were also collected here. GPU load in the steady state for the Netflix streaming case was 1.85%.

Decoding and Rendering Benchmarks

One of the major 'HTPC' drawbacks we had reported in our VisionX 420D review was the absence of hardware decode acceleration for 4K H.264 clips. Recently, ASRock released a new BIOS version (v 2.0), which added a new option to enable multiple monitors with the Intel iGPU. Intel's Quick Sync decoder is one of the best in the business, and, with Haswell iGPUs, it can decode 4K videos without any problems. We enabled this BIOS option, configured a new monitor (with an extended desktop) using the Intel HD Graphics GPU to drive it even in the absence of a physical display. This allows for Intel Quick Sync to be used with LAV Video Decoder in MPC-HC.

In order to evaluate local file playback, we concentrate on EVR-CP and madVR. We already know that EVR works quite well even with the Intel IGP for our test streams. Under madVR, we used the default settings initially. We also put together a 'madVR stress configuration' with the upscaling algorithms set to Jinc 3-tap with anti-ringing activated and the downscaling algorithm set to Lanczos 3-tap, again with anti-ringing activated. The decoder used was LAV Filters bundled with MPC-HC v1.7.7

ASRock VisionX 471D - Decoding & Rendering Performance
Stream	EVR-CP		madVR - Default		madVR - Stress
	GPU Load (%)	Power (W)	GPU Load (%)	Power (W)	GPU Load (%)	Power (W)
480i60 MPEG2	34.5	36.63	27.53	44.92	52.48	59.49
576i50 H264	30.06	36.72	35.15	46.45	53.25	61.64
720p60 H264	33.17	39.04	29.47	48.55	74.24	67.46
1080i60 MPEG2	29.48	44.14	40.59	51.19	53.71	60.33
1080i60 H264	31.21	44.73	38.80	51.65	54.78	61.02
1080i60 VC1	28.97	44.61	34.10	50.53	52.71	60.37
1080p60 H264	45.21	41.09	42.02	49.04	53.66	62.90
1080p24 H264	30.38	38.39	26.03	38.26	36.32	48.39
4Kp30 H264	23.33	40.51	33.26	55.50	91.02	75.87

The results present no marked departure from what we observed in the VisionX 420D review, despite decoding duties being take up by the Intel Quick Sync engine. 4Kp30 with stressful madVR processing for display on to a 1080p screen was not a pleasant exercise (too many dropped frames). One other aspect that helped in smooth playback of other streams was the setting of different internal queue sizes to the maximum possible values in the madVR settings.

Power Consumption and Thermal Performance

The power consumption at the wall was measured with a 1080p display being driven through the HDMI port. In the graphs below, we compare the idle and load power of the ASRock VisionX 471D with other low power PCs evaluated before. For load power consumption, we ran Furmark 1.12.0 and Prime95 v27.9 together. The numbers are not beyond the realm of reason for the combination of hardware components in the machine.

Due to the nature of the platform (a 4C/8T Core i7 processor and a power hungry GPU, coupled with a dual disk drive solution in the form of a separate hard disk drive and a SSD), the ASRock VisionX 471D comes in with the lowest ranking amongst all the comparative PCs in terms of power consumption. However, one must keep in mind that whatever is lost in terms of energy efficiency is gained in terms of excellent graphics as well as multi-threaded performance within a reasonable acoustic profile.

The internal thermal design is no different from that of the ASRock VisionX 420D. We have a fan behind the front panel (right in front of the hard drive) to keep that segment cool. The CPU-GPU cooling apparatus is the same as that of the previous discrete GPU-equipped mini-PCs from ASRock that we have evaluated before. Given that the VisionX 420D aced our thermal tests easily, we expected something similar from the VisionX 471D.

Our thermal design evaluation procedure starts off the system at idle, followed by 30 minutes of pure CPU loading with Prime 95. This is followed by another 30 minutes of both CPU and GPU being loaded simultaneously. After this, the CPU load gets removed, allowing the GPU to be loaded alone for another 30 minutes.

Our review sample shipped with BIOS v 2.0. Unfortunately, with our thermal design evaluation procedure, the system entered a thermal runaway stage within 10 minutes of the CPU and GPU getting loaded together. This resulted in the system becoming unresponsive and the display blanking out. A hard reset was the only way out. Fortunately, BIOS v 2.1 fixed this problem.

Under pure CPU loading, the CPU manages to sustain the peak turbo frequency for a very short duration. Beyond that, the temperature settled down to an average of around 2.75 GHz. After the beginning of the GPU load, we find the R9 270MZ running at 775 MHz for quite some time before settling down to slightly less than 500 MHz. The CPU frequency continues to scale down slowly to keep the thermals within the expected limit..

The temperature graph shows that the cores are between 97 - 99 C at the peak of CPU and GPU loading. The system did manage to ensure that the CPU wouldn't reach the juntion temperature (100 C). Other temperature and frequency parameters are only of academic interest. Corresponding to the time interval above, we also have the power consumption numbers at the wall.

The graph above shows idling around 25 W initially, followed by the maximum turbo frequency CPU loading at around 90 W. In the steady state, pure CPU loading consumed around 80 W. With both the CPU and GPU active, this number shot up to more than 120 W, before settling down slightly below 120 W. In that mode, the power consumption number slowly slopes down - a marker of throttling at play to keep the thermals under check.

All in all, it looks like cooling a Core i7 CPU with the same methodology as that of a Core i5 CPU is fraught with danger. The temperatures under 'power virus' loads are too close to the junction temperature for comfort.

Final Words

The VisionX 471D addresses a couple of improvement aspects that we had discussed in our VisionX 420D review. ASRock was one of the earliest vendors to jump on to the mini-PC bandwagon and they currently own one of the most comprehensive mini-PC lineups in the market. However, the absence of a truly high-end CPU-equipped model was disappointing. The VisionX 471D lays that to rest by integrating a Core i7-4712MQ. SSDs have also become more affordable, and ASRock actually had no excuse to avoid creating SSD-equipped models in their mini-PC lineup. The VisionX 471D includes a 256 GB mSATA SSD that actually performs really well. With the latest firmware for the JMicron JMF667H, performance consistency as well as long-term durability are not a major concern. BIOS updates to the VisionX Haswell models has also ensured that consumers can utilize the media capabilities of the Intel iGPU such as Quick Sync (for hardware-accelerated decoding and transcoding).

The VisionX series crams a lot of functionality into a small chassis. The SD card reader, multiple audio outputs and Intel NIC are nice to have features. The AMD GPU (Radeon R9 270MX) is also a top notch choice for gaming in this form factor. The MHL port (along with the supplied MHL cable) is a unique feature of the unit. It allows users to mirror the display of a supported smartphone while also charging it. The WLAN component (Broadcom-based 2x2 802.11ac) is the best amongst all the mini-PCs that we have evaluated so far.

On the other side, we are a bit surprised by the absence of a Blu-ray option for this configuration (either go with no ODD, or include one befitting a premium mini-PC). It is also definitely time for ASRock to reconsider the bundled MCE remote. In its place, a mini-keyboard / trackpad combo would be a better option.

The main concern we have with the VisionX 471D is the thermal design. Temperatures close to Tjmax are easier to reach on the VisionX 471D compared to the VisionX 420D. We reported this to ASRock, but they claim that temperatures only reached slightly above 90 C (we were seeing 97 - 99 C) with the 'power virus' test. In any case, these sort of power viruses are not reflective of typical usage - so it is not really a show-stopping issue.

Consumers looking for a non-DIY gaming mini-PC which doesn't skimp on features and has a reasonable acoustic profile will find the VisionX 471D is a very good choice. As the mini-PC market becomes crowded, innovative features that can distinguish products from the competition could become a major marketing point. With the updates in the VisionX 471D, ASRock seems to be on the right track.