Benchmarks: CPU
The single-threaded PiFast test provides a quick indication of CPU performance and, as expected, the Zbox EI750 is right in line with Gigabyte's Brix Pro. The Core i7-4770R is capable of hitting 3.9GHz and is a very, very fast chip.
Cinebench tasks all available cores/threads for a longer period of time and it reveals a limitation in the Zbox EI750 configuration. During the benchmark run, the chip would start at 3.6GHz across all cores, but as temperature increased we found the processor automatically throttling to 3.2GHz. As a result of this unforeseen slowdown, the new Zbox is around seven per cent off the pace set by the Brix Pro.
Putting all that CPU power to good use, our HandBrake benchmark transcodes a large 4K video clip into an Android tablet-friendly format. This demanding workload keeps all CPU cores working at 100 per cent for a prolonged period, and again, we can see throttling in evidence: performance is down by approximately eight per cent. The Zbox is still mighty fast for a such a compact machine, yet it isn't realising its full potential.
