Nettop Round-Up: Four Tiny PCs, Benchmarked And Reviewed
We're testing four nettops: Arctic Cooling’s MC001-BD, ASRock’s CoreHT 252B, Giada’s i50, and Zotac’s Zbox AD03BR-PLUS. All of these tiny, quiet systems take a very different approach to compact computing, and we fill you in on what makes them unique.
Test Systems And Benchmarks
These are very different systems with varying target markets. We need to compare performance though, so we’re putting them through a battery of tests that allow us to compare their strengths and weaknesses. We’re even benchmarking a bit of light gaming.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | ASRock Core100HT-BD | Giada i50 B5541 | Arctic MC001-BD | Zotac ZBOX AD03BR-Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-2520M (Sandy Bridge), Dual-Core, Hyper-Threaded 2.5 GHz (3.1 Turbo), 3 MB L3 Cache | Intel Core i3-430UM (Arrandale), Dual-Core, Hyper-Threaded 1.2 GHz (1.73 Turbo), 3 MB L3 Cache | Intel Atom D525(Pineview-D) Dual-Core, Hyper-Threaded 1.8 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache | AMD E-350(Zacate) Dual-Core, 1.6 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache |
| Networking | Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit Network Adapter (LAN)Atheros AR9287 2T2R wireless card (Wi-Fi) | Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit Network Adapter (LAN)Azurewave AW-NB037H(Wi-Fi, Bluetooth) | Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit Network Adapter (LAN)Ralink RT3070L 802.11 b/g/n PCIe card (Wi-Fi) | Realtek RTL8111DL Gigabit Network Adapter (LAN)Atheros AR9287 2T2R wireless card (Wi-Fi) |
| Memory | Asint PC3-10700, 2 x 2 GB, 665 MHz, CL 9-9-9-24-1T(dual-channel) | Kingston PC3-107001 x 4 GB, 400 MHz, CL 6-6-6-15-1T(single-channel) | Nanya PC3-10700, 2 x 2 GB, 399 MHz, CL 6-6-6-15-2T(single-channel) | Samsung PC3-107001 x 2 GB, 533 MHz, CL 9-9-9-24-1T (single-channel) |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 3000 (Integrated, shared RAM) | Intel HD Graphics (Integrated, shared RAM) | Mobility Radeon HD 5430 (512 MB dedicated RAM) | Radeon HD 6310 (Integrated, shared RAM) |
| Sound | Analog & Optical:Realtek ALC892HDMI:Intel Display Audio | Analog & Optical:Realtek ALC662 HDMI:Intel Display Audio | Analog & Optical:Realtek ALC892 HDMI:AMD HD Audio | Analog & Optical:Realtek ALC888 HDMI:AMD HD Audio |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Scorpio Black500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB cache, SATA 3Gb/s | Seagate Momentus 7200.4500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB cache, SATA 3Gb/s | Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB cache, SATA 3Gb/s | Samsung Spinpoint 250 GB, 5400 RPM, 8 MB cache, SATA 3Gb/s |
| Software and Drivers | ||||
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit | |||
| DirectX version | DirectX 11 | |||
| Graphics Drivers | Intel HD Graphics 15221, AMD Catalyst Control Center 11.7 |
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| PCMark 7 | Total System Score, Memories, TV And Movies, Gaming, Music, Communications, Productivity, Hard Disk |
| SiSoft Sandra 2011 | CPU Arithmetic, CPU Multi-Media, Memory Bandwidth, Network Bandwidth, and Network Latency benchmarks |
| HD HQV Benchmark | Blu-ray, Version 2.0 |
| Game Configuration | |
|---|---|
| StarCraft II | Version 1.4.0, Low Settings, Medium Textures, Tom's Hardware Guide Benchmark v2 |
| Left 4 Dead 2 | Version: 20.8.7, Lowest settings, model/texture level to medium, multicore rendering enabled |
| World of WarCraft | Version 4.2.2.14545, Fair graphics setting, FRAPS runs |
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Don Woligroski was a former senior hardware editor for Tom's Hardware. He has covered a wide range of PC hardware topics, including CPUs, GPUs, system building, and emerging technologies.