Is it just me or is a 250GB SSD is not enough for a gaming PC. I thought it would be enough a few years ago and quickly discovered that I was constantly shuffling games over to a HDD to make room. Most of the games from the past few years are about 40GB a piece. Looking at my current Steam folder, the Witcher 3 is 38GB and Shadow of Mordor is 42GB. With Windows 10 and a standard load of common apps and utilities, you are looking at 4 to 5 games installed. I suppose if you only use it for games it would okay.
Looks like a terrific little box. The visual comparison to the Nuc was especially helpful to get size context. Too bad they couldn't get the Pascal cards in on this version.
It's an interesting system. As already mentioned in another comment, the NUC size comparison is useful for putting things in perspective about just how much more physical space it takes to gain gaming performance.
I do question this line though:
"At this point of time, a premium gaming PC that can't be advertised as VR-ready can't get good market reception."
The monetary returns for companies producing VR hardware and VR-enabled software for consumer use isn't easy to find and we haven't had enough time or products out there to see any enduring trends about the latest round. All I've got is personal experience to work with here, but I see very little consumer demand because of the cost of entry and the unaddressed shortcomings that we saw with 90's era headgear being duplicated in current hardware.
Now that NVIDIA is making their mobile and desktop chips the same, maybe it's time for the MXM module to enter the DIY market in full swing. Hopefully MXM has standardized chip layouts so cooling components can be standardized to a degree. The only thing I hope is that if MXM does enter the DIY market, they won't cost an arm and a leg more (mobile versions of high end GPUs tend to run $800+ on eBay).
I would certainly like to go even smaller than my current <15L case.
Zotac should get a round of applause for bringing this to market. Then a kick in the 'nads for only supplying 4 rear USB ports. What a waste of all the HSIO lanes.
"We purposefully didn't disassemble it fully to ensure that its thermal design was not compromised."
Seriously? The most interesting part about this machine is how Zotac managed to shoehorn in a GTX 980 and keep everything cool, and you don't bother to show that?
Also, if you consider 70dB quiet, I don't want to know what you consider loud.
After 6+ years of reviewing equipment, I invariably find either readers or manufacturers wanting me to rerun one benchmark or the other. For straightforward systems, it is fine after reassembly, but, this one was quite different since I didn't have the time bandwidth to do a full teardown. In any case, Zotac has a nice graphic indicating how the CPU and GPU are placed on the board and how the watercooler / pump are arranged in this location:
As for 70 dB - note that it is at maximum stress, and with the microphone placed right on top of the unit. It is unlikely that the unit will be subject to that much load, and even if it is, it is probably some intensive game or the other - the audio from those titles will easily drown out the fan / pump noise.
It is also important to stress that it is a rough estimate - the readings were not carried out in a soundproof room and no special care was taken during the recording of the graph. I can say subjectively that is is much more silent compared to any other non-watercooled desktop PC I have seen or built. I encourage you to check it out in person if you can (or, you can pitch this to the SPCR guys and they will provide you a more reliable verdict that can be the final word - after all, that is their speciality).
An exploded block diagram of a system, provided by the hardware manufacturer, is hardly the same as an actual look at the hardware. It tells us nothing about the quality of components used and whether they're sufficient. Thankfully Linus has done a complete teardown of the system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qu7qckqulY
"As for 70 dB - note that it is at maximum stress, and with the microphone placed right on top of the unit. It is unlikely that the unit will be subject to that much load, and even if it is, it is probably some intensive game or the other - the audio from those titles will easily drown out the fan / pump noise.
It is also important to stress that it is a rough estimate - the readings were not carried out in a soundproof room and no special care was taken during the recording of the graph. I can say subjectively that is is much more silent compared to any other non-watercooled desktop PC I have seen or built. I encourage you to check it out in person if you can (or, you can pitch this to the SPCR guys and they will provide you a more reliable verdict that can be the final word - after all, that is their speciality)."
So you're saying the load noise reading that we need to see, the usual one, just isn't in the article. Instead, we were given an academic reading that doesn't really tell us anything useful?
Zotac caters for IT noobs with zero clue what is inside. Plenty out there so it might sell quite well. The rest can build 4K ready PC monster for that price.
Way too expensive given the components and it's barely smaller than a mITX case. But I guess someone must be buying these overpriced boutique systems since they keep making them.
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nathanddrews - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Revision 2.0 with Pascal and PCIe SSD should be interesting. The tiny design is really neat.Chaitanya - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
V2 with 1080 or 1070 has already been announced.nathanddrews - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
...ImSpartacus - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
That's going to be awesome. I hope they can cram some kaby lake in there as well as it'll surely have some minor improvements over Skylake.lament - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Not v2 though.. different model EN10: http://techreport.com/news/30526/zotac-magnus-en10...Morawka - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Tiny? this thing is huge. sure it's smaller than your typical M-ITX case but not far from it.Einy0 - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Is it just me or is a 250GB SSD is not enough for a gaming PC. I thought it would be enough a few years ago and quickly discovered that I was constantly shuffling games over to a HDD to make room. Most of the games from the past few years are about 40GB a piece. Looking at my current Steam folder, the Witcher 3 is 38GB and Shadow of Mordor is 42GB. With Windows 10 and a standard load of common apps and utilities, you are looking at 4 to 5 games installed. I suppose if you only use it for games it would okay.jamyryals - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Looks like a terrific little box. The visual comparison to the Nuc was especially helpful to get size context. Too bad they couldn't get the Pascal cards in on this version.fallaha56 - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
too bad? deal breaker more like! no point being this far behind the curve...gtx1060 would wipe floor wit at every levelBrokenCrayons - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
It's an interesting system. As already mentioned in another comment, the NUC size comparison is useful for putting things in perspective about just how much more physical space it takes to gain gaming performance.I do question this line though:
"At this point of time, a premium gaming PC that can't be advertised as VR-ready can't get good market reception."
The monetary returns for companies producing VR hardware and VR-enabled software for consumer use isn't easy to find and we haven't had enough time or products out there to see any enduring trends about the latest round. All I've got is personal experience to work with here, but I see very little consumer demand because of the cost of entry and the unaddressed shortcomings that we saw with 90's era headgear being duplicated in current hardware.
Karthik Subramani - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
I agree. We are still a little behind viable consumer high end VR experiences for such a claim.Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
$1600. Hahahhahahah. Put down the crack pipe man.lament - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Seriously.. barebones was earlier reported to be $800 or $900.xenol - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Now that NVIDIA is making their mobile and desktop chips the same, maybe it's time for the MXM module to enter the DIY market in full swing. Hopefully MXM has standardized chip layouts so cooling components can be standardized to a degree. The only thing I hope is that if MXM does enter the DIY market, they won't cost an arm and a leg more (mobile versions of high end GPUs tend to run $800+ on eBay).I would certainly like to go even smaller than my current <15L case.
Tchamber - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
This is a nice little system. It would be more compelling if it were configurable, though.The_Assimilator - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Zotac should get a round of applause for bringing this to market. Then a kick in the 'nads for only supplying 4 rear USB ports. What a waste of all the HSIO lanes."We purposefully didn't disassemble it fully to ensure that its thermal design was not compromised."
Seriously? The most interesting part about this machine is how Zotac managed to shoehorn in a GTX 980 and keep everything cool, and you don't bother to show that?
Also, if you consider 70dB quiet, I don't want to know what you consider loud.
ganeshts - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
After 6+ years of reviewing equipment, I invariably find either readers or manufacturers wanting me to rerun one benchmark or the other. For straightforward systems, it is fine after reassembly, but, this one was quite different since I didn't have the time bandwidth to do a full teardown. In any case, Zotac has a nice graphic indicating how the CPU and GPU are placed on the board and how the watercooler / pump are arranged in this location:https://www.zotac.com/download/files/overview/en98...
This has been linked in the text too.
As for 70 dB - note that it is at maximum stress, and with the microphone placed right on top of the unit. It is unlikely that the unit will be subject to that much load, and even if it is, it is probably some intensive game or the other - the audio from those titles will easily drown out the fan / pump noise.
It is also important to stress that it is a rough estimate - the readings were not carried out in a soundproof room and no special care was taken during the recording of the graph. I can say subjectively that is is much more silent compared to any other non-watercooled desktop PC I have seen or built. I encourage you to check it out in person if you can (or, you can pitch this to the SPCR guys and they will provide you a more reliable verdict that can be the final word - after all, that is their speciality).
fanofanand - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
This response gets the Family Feud seal of approval. "Good answer! Good answer!"Morawka - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Your link is bad. Access denied is what i get when i click on it.The_Assimilator - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
An exploded block diagram of a system, provided by the hardware manufacturer, is hardly the same as an actual look at the hardware. It tells us nothing about the quality of components used and whether they're sufficient. Thankfully Linus has done a complete teardown of the system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qu7qckqulYOxford Guy - Saturday, August 27, 2016 - link
"As for 70 dB - note that it is at maximum stress, and with the microphone placed right on top of the unit. It is unlikely that the unit will be subject to that much load, and even if it is, it is probably some intensive game or the other - the audio from those titles will easily drown out the fan / pump noise.It is also important to stress that it is a rough estimate - the readings were not carried out in a soundproof room and no special care was taken during the recording of the graph. I can say subjectively that is is much more silent compared to any other non-watercooled desktop PC I have seen or built. I encourage you to check it out in person if you can (or, you can pitch this to the SPCR guys and they will provide you a more reliable verdict that can be the final word - after all, that is their speciality)."
So you're saying the load noise reading that we need to see, the usual one, just isn't in the article. Instead, we were given an academic reading that doesn't really tell us anything useful?
mr_tawan - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
I think I saw some youtuber (Linus, if I'm not mistaken) dissemble this system.The_Assimilator - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Thanks, it's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qu7qckqulY - much more informative.fanofanand - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
$1845 for last year's tech. *Yawn*milkod2001 - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Zotac caters for IT noobs with zero clue what is inside. Plenty out there so it might sell quite well. The rest can build 4K ready PC monster for that price.Wineohe - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Yes the effort put forward for this review should have been saved for a Pascal variant.kyuu - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Way too expensive given the components and it's barely smaller than a mITX case. But I guess someone must be buying these overpriced boutique systems since they keep making them.AnnonymousCoward - Saturday, August 27, 2016 - link
My mid-tower is significantly quieter, cooler, faster, cheaper, and has 1TB SSD. (well duh, but it's worth saying)Btw Page 1 could have used a picture with a known object like a soccer ball to show relative size.
Calista - Sunday, August 28, 2016 - link
What's the point in creating a tiny box if it demands a huge external power brick?Namisecond - Monday, August 29, 2016 - link
Would LOVE to see Anandtech review and compare these machines with the most recent iteration of the Alienware Alpha.