Nettop Round-Up: Four Tiny PCs, Benchmarked And Reviewed
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Page 1:Nettop Nirvana
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Page 2:Arctic MC001-BD
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Page 3:ASRock CoreHT 252B
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Page 4:Zotac Zbox AD03BR-PLUS
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Page 5:Giada i50 B5541
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Page 6:Test Systems And Benchmarks
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Page 7:Benchmark Results: Synthetics
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Page 8:Benchmark Results: Productivity
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Page 9:Benchmark Results: StarCraft II
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Page 10:Benchmark Results: Left 4 Dead 2
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Page 11:Benchmark Results: World Of Warcraft
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Page 12:Benchmark Results: Video Playback
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Page 13:Benchmark Results: Networking
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Page 14:Power, Temperature, And Noise Benchmarks
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Page 15:Have Nettops Transcended Productivity?
Benchmark Results: Video Playback
The following test from PCMark 7 measures how well these platforms play back a 1080p, H.264 video file at 24 FPS:
The Giada i50 suffers a little, likely the result of its entry-level HD Graphics engine. We’re a little surprised to see the Zbox fall behind as well, as we didn't choppiness during actual Blu-ray playback testing. As a matter of fact, it's surprising that none of these solutions manage to achieve a perfect 24 FPS. Despite this, HD video appears smooth in our tests on the Zbox, MC001-BD, and CoreHT.
Now let's look at video playback quality using the HQV 2.0 benchmark. Giada's i50 is left out of this test because it doesn't come equipped with a Blu-ray drive:
HQV Benchmark version 2.0 Results (out of 210 possible) | |||||||||||
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Zotac Zbox AD03BR-Plus and Arctic MC001-BD | ASRock CoreHT 252B | ||||||||||
Test Class 1: Video Conversion | 89 | 78 | |||||||||
Test Class 2: Noise and Artifact Reduction | 44 | 44 | |||||||||
Test Class 3: Image Scaling and Enhancements | 30 | 25 | |||||||||
Test Class 4: Adaptive Processing | 7 | 17 | |||||||||
Totals: | 170 | 164 |
The Zbox and MC001-BD share an identical 170-point score, which we expected since both solutions employ similar Radeon-based graphics hardware. The Intel HD Graphics 3000 chipset in the ASRock CoreHT scores slightly less, but still manages a fine result.
Blu-ray 3D Playback
The only one of these nettops advertised with Blu-ray 3D support is ASRock's CoreHT, and it performs this task well. This is our first experience with 3D over HDMI using an Intel graphics chipset, and its performance is surprisingly good thanks to hardware-based decode logic able to handle the otherwise taxing workload.
The Zbox and MC001-BD don't fare as well. Arctic's entry plays back Blu-ray 3D, but without MVC decode acceleration on its Mobility Radeon HD 5430, the resulting slide show is caused by the Atom D525 CPU trying to keep up. As for Zotac's Zbox, the E-350 APU is able to decode MPEG-2, VC-1, and H.264 in hardware. However, AMD didn't see fit to arm it with MVC decode acceleration, which is required for Blu-ray 3D playback. As a result, its two Bobcat cores struggle right alongside Intel's Atom, too slow for a usable experience.
Other Video Considerations
The ASRock, Arctic, and Zotac nettops all feature a Realtek 7.1-channel HD Audio codec and the ability to bitstream lossless audio data over HDMI. ASRock’s CoreHT 252B also features THX TruStudio PRO certification. While the Giada i50 does not have an optical audio output, it can deliver digital audio via a coax adapter that does not come with the bundle.
- Nettop Nirvana
- Arctic MC001-BD
- ASRock CoreHT 252B
- Zotac Zbox AD03BR-PLUS
- Giada i50 B5541
- Test Systems And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: StarCraft II
- Benchmark Results: Left 4 Dead 2
- Benchmark Results: World Of Warcraft
- Benchmark Results: Video Playback
- Benchmark Results: Networking
- Power, Temperature, And Noise Benchmarks
- Have Nettops Transcended Productivity?
Remote?
Thx, fixed!
They are small form factor PCs or home theatre PCs, but they are not nettops.
btw: Mac mini should be in this lineup.
Mac Mini should be in this lineup? Actually, a good idea. I'd love to see how it compares to similar Wintel boxes.
I'm through with these small boxes because they're a pain in the a$$ to service and the hardware isn't good for the price ($800?! gimme a break!), but I see value in them for people who are ready to pay more for the small size.
If I would build a small form-factor box myself, I'd use something like this new Lian Li case which was in Tom's news recently - it can fit proper PCI/PCI-E cards.
Again, lovely article. Keep it up.
P.S. The ASRock box is great.
I agree; I had to deal with E-350 (great mini-ITX Gigabyte board, btw, has everything) two weeks ago. It's a fail in Ubuntu, I barely got Compiz to work there without issues
I'd also like to see an ITX system marathon.
In that vain, it's difficult for me to even build a llano based system myself, at a low enough cost to justify doing so.
I completely agree -- this was a large omission as the Mac mini is actually the class leader in this segment. Surprisingly, it is even price competitive with the PC options listed above! (weird for Apple)
This comparison would be more valuable than typical PC/Mac because OS is largely irrelevant for a websurfing/netflix nettop. The lighter footprint of Mac OS would probably yield better performance.