Zotac Mini PC First to Market With Frore AirJet Cooling

News
By Mark Tyson
published

Tiny, silent Intel i3-N300 octa-core PC.

Zotac Zbox Pico PI430AJ Mini PC
(Image credit: Zotac)

Zotac has released its Zbox Pico PI430AJ Mini PC, a device that was originally revealed back at Computex this summer. Heralded as the world’s first Mini PC featuring the AirJet Solid-State Active Cooling system, the PI430AJ is about the size of a deck of cards and benefits users with an actively cooled PC system that operates silently.

Image 1 of 3
Zotac Zbox Pico PI430AJ Mini PC
(Image credit: Zotac)

Zotac has historically been no stranger to silent passive mini PCs. However, with the Zbox Pico PI430AJ and its twin AirJet Mini Modules by Frore Systems, you have a more powerful processor, namely the Intel i3-N300. This processor uses eight Alder Lake efficiency cores running at up to 3.8 GHz, plus integrated Intel UHD Graphics with 32 EUs.

Frore first announced the AirJet Minifanless cooling devices in 2022. A single module measures just 27.5 x 41.5 x 2.8 mm, weighs 11 grams, and consumes 1 watt or less. It can dissipate 5.25W, so two should be ample for the 7W Intel i3-N300. Further details and data sheets for the Airjet Mini and AirJet Pro can be grabbed directly from Frore Systems.

(Image credit: Frore)

There doesn't appear to be a product page available for the Zotac Zbox Pico PI430AJ Mini PC, but we have some key specs from today's news release and what we know from Computex. The aforementioned Intel i3-N300 is accompanied by 8 GB of LPDDR5 memory, and storage attached to an M.2 2280 slot. For its size, there are a respectable array of ports including a USB Type-C port and two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, HDMI and DisplayPort display outputs, and a full-sized Gigabit LAN port. Wireless connectivity can be had via the built-in Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.

Zotac says that the Zbox Pico PI430AJ Mini PC is now available for purchase in both Windows and barebone versions “in select regions.” We couldn’t find any pricing listed at the time of writing.

Last but not least, for those interested in Arm-based mini PCs, Zotac has also readied AirJet-cooled Zbox Pro systems based around the Nvidia Jetson Nano, Jetson Orin Nano, or Jetson Orin NX SoM.

Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
Freelance News Writer

Mark Tyson is a Freelance News Writer at Tom's Hardware US. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • w_barath

    There doesn't appear to be no product page available for the Zotac Zbox Pico PI430AJ Mini PC
    But come on down to the ranch y'all for some sweet tea.
    Reply
  • usertests
    We ain't find no pricing listed at the time of writing.

    CNX Software reported in May:
    ZOTAC expects to start selling the PI430AJ for $500 in Q4 2023. We don’t have the full specifications for the mini PC, but it looks like there may be a hundred dollars or so premium for integrating the Airjet chips into such a mini PC at this point in time, considering the actively-cooled Beelink EQ12 Pro sells for $349 with a similar Core i3-N305 processor, 16GB RAM, and a 500GB SSD.

    $500 would likely get you one with 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD, which are the top options they will ship. Not great, but not totally out of the realm of already pricey N300/N305 boxes (compared to N100).

    AirJet seems like it could have a colossal impact in the mini PC market. But they need to be able to dissipate more heat with future generations of the product. They say it will scale, but that remains to be seen.
    Reply
  • mac_angel
    w_barath said:
    But come on down to the ranch y'all for some sweet tea.
    I saw that and was gonna comment, too.
    LMAO.
    I'm guess it's a translation fail.
    I hope
    Reply
  • bit_user
    A single module measures just 27.5 x 41.5 x 2.8 mm, weighs 11 grams, and consumes 1 watt or less. It can dissipate 5.25W, so two should be ample for the 7W Intel i3-N300.
    If Toms actually bothered to test any of these N300 mini PCs, you'd know that's not true.

    Granted, this is a N305 and they tested system power @ the wall, but it's the best I can find right now:
    "We saw idle power consumption ranging from 11-12W in high-performance mode to 9-10W in power-saving mode in Windows 11 Pro. Maximum power consumption was 34-36W."

    source: https://www.servethehome.com/beelink-eq12-pro-review-intel-i3-n305-alder-lake-n-is-amazing/4/
    The bulk of that power is obviously being used by the CPU. Now, I'll grant that the N305 is rated for 15 W, but if you scale that down, we should expect the N300 to use up to 16-17 W.

    BTW, just because there's not a fan or blower doesn't mean this machine is silent. The air could still make a hissing sound, as it enters & exits the case. My desktop has all noctua fans and, although the fans are very quiet, you still hear a mostly whooshing sound. So, I'll be interested to hear how silent these are in practice.

    If it's as silent as it's being suggested, then I wish someone would make a Frore Airjet-based cooler for the Raspberry Pi 5.
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    bit_user said:
    The bulk of that power is obviously being used by the CPU. Now, I'll grant that the N305 is rated for 15 W, but if you scale that down, we should expect the N300 to use up to 16-17 W.
    Alternately, they could just slap a single one on and have the CPU thermal throttle down to 5 watts. : 3

    usertests said:
    CNX Software reported in May:

    "ZOTAC expects to start selling the PI430AJ for $500 in Q4 2023. We don’t have the full specifications for the mini PC, but it looks like there may be a hundred dollars or so premium for integrating the Airjet chips into such a mini PC at this point in time, considering the actively-cooled Beelink EQ12 Pro sells for $349 with a similar Core i3-N305 processor, 16GB RAM, and a 500GB SSD."

    $500 would likely get you one with 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD, which are the top options they will ship. Not great, but not totally out of the realm of already pricey N300/N305 boxes (compared to N100).

    This product seems a bit overpriced. What exactly is it intended to be used for that a $150-$200 N100-based miniPC couldn't do? Per-core performance will likely be similar, with 4-cores easily handling the vast majority of common desktop tasks, and if one were actually doing something that could benefit from the additional cores, they would benefit even more from getting a system with a somewhat larger form-factor and a desktop CPU.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    cryoburner said:
    Alternately, they could just slap a single one on and have the CPU thermal throttle down to 5 watts. : 3
    Meanwhile, it overheats your SSD, causing that to throttle, also!

    cryoburner said:
    This product seems a bit overpriced. What exactly is it intended to be used for that a $150-$200 N100-based miniPC couldn't do? Per-core performance will likely be similar, with 4-cores easily handling the vast majority of common desktop tasks, and if one were actually doing something that could benefit from the additional cores, they would benefit even more from getting a system with a somewhat larger form-factor and a desktop CPU.
    Agreed that the N300 is somewhat overpriced and this is an overpriced example of that! However, I went to check out the Beelink store on Amazon and most of their non-AMD models seem to be unavailable! The only one I found was a N95 for $200. On AliExpress, the N305 version of the EQ12 Pro is going for $304.

    At a $500 price point (according to @usertests ), the only reason not to go with a higher-end mini-PC (i.e. with a P+E configuration) would probably be noise. You don't need to go all the way to a desktop CPU, however. There are plenty of NUC-like mini-PCs that use a BGA laptop CPU, which is probably a win for noise & power.
    Reply
  • usertests
    cryoburner said:
    This product seems a bit overpriced. What exactly is it intended to be used for that a $150-$200 N100-based miniPC couldn't do? Per-core performance will likely be similar, with 4-cores easily handling the vast majority of common desktop tasks, and if one were actually doing something that could benefit from the additional cores, they would benefit even more from getting a system with a somewhat larger form-factor and a desktop CPU.
    If you compare it to the N100, it won't look good. 8-core N300/N305 already commands a steep premium over N100 that was signaled in advance by giving it the "Core i3" branding. Then you are paying another premium to be an early adopter of AirJet.

    Keep in mind, that $500 price is theoretical and they are only launching with 8 GB of RAM so far. It was originally reported that there would be a 16 GB option.

    Alder Lake-N is best kept dirt cheap, because when you think about it, ultra mobile silicon with 1-2 P-cores should be fulfilling some of its roles with much better single-threaded performance and a larger iGPU. And an AI coprocessor when Meteor Lake 2+8(+2) is out.

    Obviously, Alder Lake-U and Raptor Lake-U can be much more expensive, but some of the disabled SKUs could be great if they were priced right. For example, the half-disabled Pentium 8500/8505 with 1 P-core, 4 E-cores, 48 EUs. Compared to the N300/N305, it has superior graphics, almost 50% faster single-threaded, a slight loss in multi-threaded, and more L3 cache.
    Reply