Benchmarks: System and Gaming
Putting together the CPU, GPU and storage capabilities, PCMark 8 is used to examine overall system speed. The results reiterate the fact that performance is similar to a much smaller Intel NUC.
But what about the GeForce GT 740M? The synthetic 3DMark benchmark is our first port of call, and the Nvidia GPU returns an unremarkable score of 1,045. The result is lower than expected and can be attributed to the fact that the ET2321 is using a simplified GT 740M specification. Nvidia has designed the chip to run with either DDR3 or GDDR5 memory, and playing it safe, Asus has opted for the former. This means the small 1GB frame buffer operates at 1,800MHz, which in turn limits memory bandwidth to just 28.8GB/s.
Putting that 3DMark result into context, running the same benchmark with the GeForce disabled in favour of the Intel HD 4400 IGP resulted in a score of 680. The Nvidia chip certainly brings more performance to the table, but it arguably isn't enough of an improvement to justify the extra cost.
The Intel IGP will happily handle high-definition video content, so the GeForce's best usage scenario would be gaming, and the GT 740M doesn't have enough muscle to drive modern games at a 1080p resolution. When attempting to play Aliens vs. Predator with 2xAA, 4xAF and medium-quality settings, we managed an average of less than 10 frames per second. Understand that the Gigabyte Brix Pro uses the beefed-up IGP from an Intel Core i7-4770R chip and, as you can see, is almost twice as quick as the GeForce.
1080p Gaming Performance (Average FPS) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Image Preset | Asus ET2321INTH |
||
(Nvidia GeForce GT 740M) |
(Intel Iris Pro 5200) |
(Palit GeForce GTX 660) |
||
| BioShock Infinite | Very Low Quality | 26.9 |
51.0 |
- |
| Low Quality | 20.7 |
34.5 |
- |
|
| Medium Quality | 17.4 |
27.0 |
98.8 |
|
| High Quality | 14.8 |
23.4 |
89.5 |
|
| Max Quality | 9.3 |
11.0 |
54.4 |
|
| GRID 2 | CMAA, Ultra Low Quality | 45.7 |
77.0 |
- |
| 2xMSAA, Low Quality | 36.2 |
53.0 |
- |
|
| 4xMSAA, Medium Quality | 27.2 |
36.4 |
115.7 |
|
| 4xMSAA, High Quality | 20.8 |
31.0 |
103.5 |
|
| 4xMSAA, Ultra Quality | 12.8 |
17.4 |
57.5 |
|
| Total War: Rome II | Low Quality | 23.2 |
44.9 |
- |
| Medium Quality | 22.2 |
42.8 |
124.2 |
|
| Very High Quality | 12.1 |
22.5 |
56.1 |
|
| Extreme Quality | 9.1 |
16.0 |
25.3 |
|
Investigating further, we've run a trio of games at the ET2321's native resolution with varying degrees of image quality. The results confirm our initial suspicions: the GT 740M isn't geared for gaming at 1080p and only if you drop quality settings to an absolute minimum are you likely to see playable framerates.
