Test Methodology
Comparison Systems |
| System Name |
Intel NUC DC3217IYE |
Zotac Zbox ID89 Plus |
PC Specialist Vanquish Prodigy |
| Processor |
Intel Core i3-3217U @ up to 1.80GHz |
Intel Core i5-3470T @ up to 3.6GHz |
Intel Core i5-3570K @ up to 4.4GHz |
| Cooler |
Intel NUC reference |
Zotac Zbox reference |
Corsair Hydro Series H40 |
| Motherboard |
NUC QS77 reference |
Zbox H61 reference |
ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe |
| Memory |
Nanya 4GB DDR3 (2x2GB) |
Samsung 4GB DDR3 (1x4GB) |
Kingston Hyper-X Beast 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) |
| Memory Speed |
9-9-9-24-1T @ 1,333MHz |
11-11-11-28-1T @ 1,600MHz |
11-13-13-30-2T @ 2,400MHz |
| Graphics |
Intel HD 4000 |
Intel HD 2500 |
Palit GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB |
| Sound Card |
Onboard audio |
Onboard audio |
Onboard audio |
| Primary Storage |
80GB Intel mSATA SSD (optional) |
Toshiba MQ01ABD050 500GB HDD |
120GB Kingston V300 SSD |
| Secondary Storage |
N/A |
N/A |
1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
| Optical Drive |
N/A |
N/A |
LG DVD Writer |
| PSU |
Intel NUC 60W |
Zotac Xbox 90W |
Corsair TX650W |
| Chassis |
NUC reference |
Zotac Zbox |
BitFenix Prodigy |
| Operating System |
Windows 7 Home Premium (optional) |
Windows 7 Home Premium (optional) |
Windows 8 |
| MSRP |
£230 |
£425 |
£899 |
Benchmarks |
| HEXUS PiFast |
Our number-crunching PiFast test is used to benchmark the computational power of each system's CPU. |
| Cinebench |
Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible. |
| PCMark 7 |
PCMark 7 combines various single- and multi-threaded CPU, Graphics and HDD tests to score overall system performance. |
| 3DMark 11 |
Run using the 'extreme' preset. |
| Temperature |
Noted for CPU idling and under Prime95 all-core load. |
| Power Consumption |
Noted for system idling and under Prime95 all-core load. |
| Noise |
A PCE-318 noise level meter is placed at the front of the chassis. Noted for system idling and under Prime95 all-core load. |
Notes
It's been a while since we tested a mini PC such as the Zbox ID89, so while we don't have an exact comparison at the £425 price point, we do have some interesting alternatives either side. We know Zotac's box will slot in somewhere between an Intel NUC and a full-blown desktop, but how close to the latter can it get?
