Pricing is key, but this looks very interesting to me. If Apple ever decided to use AMD for their CPUs, these RR APUs sure sound like they would be great in an updated Mac mini.
I'm not fully convinced about the vacuum cleaner dissipation system. The whole point of these things is to be silent, as much as possible, so I hope they are made so they actually operate with very low RPMs under normal conditions.
I’ve got one with an i7 that has one of those blowers and it is barely audible. Worst case it will probably sound like a laptop since most laptops have similar fans.
I can see that working with a 15 W i7 U model, but I expect 65 W to be borderline for silent.
"The whole point of these things is to be silent, as much as possible" I disagree - in that case manufacturers would make them bigger. Confining heat sources on as small a case as possible is not aiming for silence. Obviously they do care about cooling though, as otherwise such machines would be unusable.
Zboxes this size don't use mobile ULV CPUs, just like this version doesn't use Ryzen Mobile (but rather the 65W socketed desktop versions). As such, noise should be roughly equivalent (nongK i7s and i5a are 65W, i3s and down all drop off a bit down to 55-51W). Considering the size of the heatsink shroud and the fact that the fan looks like the Nvidia reference blower fan (makes sense, Zotac should have a ready supply from their GPU business, and they're cheap) this should be relatively quiet.
This is highly interesting. Of course depending on price (needs to be not much more expensive than a DIY ITX setup) and GPU performance (approaching GTX 1030 level, pretty please?) of these parts, but interesting nonetheless.
Also intriguing that there's no Ryzen 7 APU. Makes me wonder if AMD might be leaving that slot open for something with a bigger GPU?
I think there will be no Ryzen 7 APU, but there may be Ryzen 7 mobile variants with 6-8 cores (not just energy efficient U-series). And for desktop- AMD slides show APUs being only at R3 and R5.
Given AMD's aggressive pricing for these APUs, my bet is 300$ and up and that would be ok but not great- 99$ the 2200G and 200$ for tiny case+mobo+PSU so a bit much but somewhat acceptable if you need the form factor.
Ah, disappointed that there is only one network interface. The ZBOX systems I’ve used in the past have been good for little router boxes because they’ve always had two NICs.
Shouldn't be a problem. GbE is 1Gbit, USB3.0 is 5Gbit - however, depending on how the ports are set up there could be some minor issues. If the 4x USB3.0 is hung off a single controller then the max bandwidth shared is 5.0Gbit. So - hanging multiple dongles off the single USB3 headers could be problematic depending on what data is going where.
True enough though - you could hang a Startech 2x GbE off a single USB3.0 port and make a nice little virtualized router.
The great thing about having that big of a cooler is that it'll easily be able to cool 65w and be able to spin down to lower speeds for very low noise levels. Besides, when you're building it to fit a 2.5" drive, you have a minimum size anyhow. Better to be just a wee big bigger since it's a 'desktop' anyhow, and to be almost completely silent. Besides, since Zotac already builds GPUs, they probably had these lying around.
I'll wait and see. I'm not buying a new system for only 5-10% more performance. The IGP needs to be alot better than the Iris Pro 6200 to justify it. And by alot I mean +50%.
Well extrapolating from the Vega M GL in the Kaby-Lake G that handily beats a GTX1050, I'd expect performance in between a GTX1030 and GTX1050 (~1200SP vs ~700SP, 20CU vs 11). Don't forget you'll also have not craptastic drivers that are actually updated for games
Probably depends on what you're doing. IGP will likely be better under all circumstances, but the 5775C has that 128MB of eDRAM that some applications love. Then again, the OC potential of the 2400G could be really good - although not in this form factor.
Yeah, I'm not overclocking and mainly use it as a workstation for Photoshop and Illustrator doing graphics design as a freelancer. The IGP only needs to be powerful enough for playing the Borderlands series in 1080p, which the Iris Pro 6200 allready manages with low/medium settings. If I can ramp it up to medium/high settings without problems and have a little more CPU-power, then the 2400G will be worth a look, as it'll also come with improvements like DDR4 and newer motherboards with M.2 slots.
If you put at least 16GB of fast RAM in there then you'd comfortably see enough performance to reach medium/high. Unfortunately that's not a cheap "if" right now!
Any chance it has IR and, if it does, has the ability to power on via it? I want to get a new, compact PC for the living room with native HEVC decoding, enough CPU and GPU to do some more modern emulation, and the ability to be powered on from S5 (off) via IR remote.
I was very excited by the Hades Canyon NUC since it would do all of that, but the price tag was a bit off putting. Something with Raven Ridge would definitely work for my needs, but I haven't seen anything other than a NUC that lets you power on via IR.
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36 Comments
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The Benjamins - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
In the article you have a typo. "(two DisplayPort 1.2, one HDMI 2.0)" it should be 1 DP and 2 HDMIAnton Shilov - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Thanks for sharp eyes, fixed!phoenix_rizzen - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
This line is backward:"...three display outputs (two DisplayPort 1.2, one HDMI 2.0) ..."
The table lists 2 HDMI and 1 DP. And the picture of the backpanel shows 2 HDMI and 1 DP port.
Anton Shilov - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Thanks for sharp eyes, fixed!MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
Pricing is key, but this looks very interesting to me. If Apple ever decided to use AMD for their CPUs, these RR APUs sure sound like they would be great in an updated Mac mini.jimjamjamie - Friday, January 19, 2018 - link
You'd be better off hoping that this zbox is suitable for a hackintosh build.spikebike - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
Looks quite nice. I've been looking for a Intel NUC like system with a better GPU. Here's hoping the pricing is competitive.YukaKun - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
I'm not fully convinced about the vacuum cleaner dissipation system. The whole point of these things is to be silent, as much as possible, so I hope they are made so they actually operate with very low RPMs under normal conditions.Other than that, they look really interesting.
Cheers!
sor - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
I’ve got one with an i7 that has one of those blowers and it is barely audible. Worst case it will probably sound like a laptop since most laptops have similar fans.dakishimesan - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
Can you tell me the model number of the one that you have? Thank you!MrSpadge - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
I can see that working with a 15 W i7 U model, but I expect 65 W to be borderline for silent."The whole point of these things is to be silent, as much as possible"
I disagree - in that case manufacturers would make them bigger. Confining heat sources on as small a case as possible is not aiming for silence. Obviously they do care about cooling though, as otherwise such machines would be unusable.
Valantar - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Zboxes this size don't use mobile ULV CPUs, just like this version doesn't use Ryzen Mobile (but rather the 65W socketed desktop versions). As such, noise should be roughly equivalent (nongK i7s and i5a are 65W, i3s and down all drop off a bit down to 55-51W). Considering the size of the heatsink shroud and the fact that the fan looks like the Nvidia reference blower fan (makes sense, Zotac should have a ready supply from their GPU business, and they're cheap) this should be relatively quiet.Valantar - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
This is highly interesting. Of course depending on price (needs to be not much more expensive than a DIY ITX setup) and GPU performance (approaching GTX 1030 level, pretty please?) of these parts, but interesting nonetheless.Also intriguing that there's no Ryzen 7 APU. Makes me wonder if AMD might be leaving that slot open for something with a bigger GPU?
neblogai - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
I think there will be no Ryzen 7 APU, but there may be Ryzen 7 mobile variants with 6-8 cores (not just energy efficient U-series). And for desktop- AMD slides show APUs being only at R3 and R5.jjj - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Given AMD's aggressive pricing for these APUs, my bet is 300$ and up and that would be ok but not great- 99$ the 2200G and 200$ for tiny case+mobo+PSU so a bit much but somewhat acceptable if you need the form factor.sor - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
Ah, disappointed that there is only one network interface. The ZBOX systems I’ve used in the past have been good for little router boxes because they’ve always had two NICs.0iron - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
Can't you plug-in USB to GE? It has 4 USB 3.0, shouldn't be a problem.bill.rookard - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Shouldn't be a problem. GbE is 1Gbit, USB3.0 is 5Gbit - however, depending on how the ports are set up there could be some minor issues. If the 4x USB3.0 is hung off a single controller then the max bandwidth shared is 5.0Gbit. So - hanging multiple dongles off the single USB3 headers could be problematic depending on what data is going where.True enough though - you could hang a Startech 2x GbE off a single USB3.0 port and make a nice little virtualized router.
Kaggy - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - link
Looks like it could have been smaller.Would probably wait for the newer desktop APUs as it seems like the cooling is meant for a much higher TDP cpu.
haukionkannel - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
The good thing is that this version in quieter because cooling is ”too big”. So there is good points of having bigger.bill.rookard - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
The great thing about having that big of a cooler is that it'll easily be able to cool 65w and be able to spin down to lower speeds for very low noise levels. Besides, when you're building it to fit a 2.5" drive, you have a minimum size anyhow. Better to be just a wee big bigger since it's a 'desktop' anyhow, and to be almost completely silent. Besides, since Zotac already builds GPUs, they probably had these lying around.MrSpadge - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
These are hte desktop APUs: 65 W and maximum CU count in the Ryzen 5. Mobile has the 15 W limit and 10 CUs in the biggest model.ryrynz - Thursday, January 25, 2018 - link
Yeah, this is a full desktop class @65 watts not some 15W job, this'll blow away any processor at that output.jrs77 - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Waiting for the review and test of the R5 2400G and see if it's much better than my current i7-5775C.Spunjji - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Spoiler alert: Yes, it will be. Finally! :Djrs77 - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
I'll wait and see. I'm not buying a new system for only 5-10% more performance. The IGP needs to be alot better than the Iris Pro 6200 to justify it. And by alot I mean +50%.wintermute000 - Saturday, January 20, 2018 - link
Well extrapolating from the Vega M GL in the Kaby-Lake G that handily beats a GTX1050, I'd expect performance in between a GTX1030 and GTX1050 (~1200SP vs ~700SP, 20CU vs 11). Don't forget you'll also have not craptastic drivers that are actually updated for gamesSpunjji - Thursday, May 31, 2018 - link
The GPU in this is comparable to the Nvidia 1030, but variably so and only if you make sure to use fast RAM. Still plenty good enough.nathanddrews - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Probably depends on what you're doing. IGP will likely be better under all circumstances, but the 5775C has that 128MB of eDRAM that some applications love. Then again, the OC potential of the 2400G could be really good - although not in this form factor.jrs77 - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Yeah, I'm not overclocking and mainly use it as a workstation for Photoshop and Illustrator doing graphics design as a freelancer. The IGP only needs to be powerful enough for playing the Borderlands series in 1080p, which the Iris Pro 6200 allready manages with low/medium settings.If I can ramp it up to medium/high settings without problems and have a little more CPU-power, then the 2400G will be worth a look, as it'll also come with improvements like DDR4 and newer motherboards with M.2 slots.
Spunjji - Thursday, May 31, 2018 - link
If you put at least 16GB of fast RAM in there then you'd comfortably see enough performance to reach medium/high. Unfortunately that's not a cheap "if" right now!Sergio526 - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Any chance it has IR and, if it does, has the ability to power on via it? I want to get a new, compact PC for the living room with native HEVC decoding, enough CPU and GPU to do some more modern emulation, and the ability to be powered on from S5 (off) via IR remote.I was very excited by the Hades Canyon NUC since it would do all of that, but the price tag was a bit off putting. Something with Raven Ridge would definitely work for my needs, but I haven't seen anything other than a NUC that lets you power on via IR.
mjeffer - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
It’s hard to find anything in this form factor other than a nuc that even has IR. Which is surprising since these are perfect dor htpcsheffeque - Wednesday, January 17, 2018 - link
Almost all Zotac boxes have IR and a remote.mikato - Thursday, July 12, 2018 - link
I just learned that Zotac talked about the ZBOX MA551 at Computex recently-https://www.zotac.com/us/news/zotac-puts-gaming-fo...
I've really been interested in the possibility of a Ryzen APU mini-PC since Ryzen came out so I hope that these are available for purchase soon!
coutch - Wednesday, August 29, 2018 - link
guess I'll move to plan B .. thanks Zotachttps://www.reddit.com/r/ZOTAC/comments/9af6by/zot...