Zotac ZBOX - All-in-One - ZBOX-BI320-U-W2

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Patrick

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I saw @Chuckleb's post earlier on the ECS LIVA

After doing a bit of research here is another interesting one: Amazon.com: Zotac ZBOX with Intel Celeron 2957U 64GB SSD, 2GB DDR3L-1600, Windows 8.1 ZBOX-BI320-U-W2: Computers & Accessories

Intel Celeron 2957U 2C/ 2T but with a 15w TDP. 2GB of RAM, 64GB mSATA SSD. And Windows 8.1 license. It is currently $219 and does not have wifi. Interestingly enough, it lists memory capacity of up to 16GB.



I am still thinking not worth it due to twice the cost, but the thought of being able to expand the memory and getting Windows 8.1 free is at least intriguing.
 

Chuckleb

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Actually, the regular price for the ECS LIVA is $169 so this isn't that much more of a premium in cost. It's definitely a bigger form factor, the ECS can be hidden anywhere. I do like the standard SSD so you can upgrade as well as the RAM. Wifi isn't needed and can be added on later. The Windows is a bonus, but sometimes you just want to throw Linux on and paying for the OS doesn't really add value. Wonder if the non-Windows version is available anywhere, it's on Zotac's website. Found it, $140. So Windows adds ~$80 ;) Also Newegg@eBay has it for $120. Don't make me regret ordering yet! At least I will know there are choices if the ECS doesn't work out for me.

The ECS is a Bay Trail CPU vs the Zotac at a Haswell, so the ECS may be faster and a bit newer. The Zotac runs hotter so requires a fan as well.

ARK | Compare Intel Products

I think both are good choices.
 

Patrick

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What I am thinking is I need to order a few of these for someone that wants to do a mini-round-up.
 

Patrick

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TBH - I do not even want to think about how slow these are but it is interesting to say the least.
 

HellDiverUK

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I think you'll be surprised, Patrick. Even the Celeron 847 (Sandy Bridge dual 1.1GHz)runs really quite well for light serving duties, and the 2957U is superior in every way.

I used to run a MSI uATX board with the Celeron 847 on it, running Server 2012R2 and it had absolutely no issues at all. I still run a Celeron 847 NUC with Debian Wheezy and it's perfectly fast enough for linuxy stuff (DNS, DHCP, etc) and it uses at peak 8W (2x2GB DIMMs and a 30GB Kingston mSATA SSD in a TranquilPC passive case and IV efficiency LiteON power brick).
 

Patrick

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I ended up ordering the Windows 8.1 Zotac ZBOX which should arrive later this week.

So Windows adds ~$80
BTW @Chuckleb I double checked. The $80 also gets you the 64GB SSD, 2GB of RAM and Windows 8.1. Not great but not terrible either.
 

MiniKnight

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To save people time:

there are -W3 and W4 versions which have different languages installed.
this is Windows 8.1 with Bing which is microsoft's answer to make licensing competitive with android

hope that helps ya'll
 

BackWoodsTech

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Hey there. I see that Newegg has it in barebones for $120. I got my hopes up for a minute when the advertisement said it had Wireless and BT, but the review indicated the opposite.
 

Marsh

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Following up on HellDriverUK post,
My yesterday's experiment:
Went to Central Computer ( local computer shop ) to buy a $40 Realan E-3 aluminum passive case with a 60w pico psu.
Few months back, when newegg had a sale of ECS KB1-1200 itx board with embed AMD E1-1200 cpu for $39, I purchased 5 pieces.
Installed couple of old 2 gb memory, and a old Intel 80gb SSD, Windows 8.1.
The surprise for me is Windows 8.1 idles at 8w, web surfing and watching a HD video bring it up to around 12w, Prime 95 load testing consumed around 13w.
It is not fast, but usable, no problem watching 1080p videos or Hulu.

Pros: Case is reusable , memory and SSD could be transplant to my next cheap pc, we use it to watch SlingBox, Hulu, and Youtube.
No moving part, no fan in this cheap pc.
Con: size is 8" x 10"


Added: ECS board have msata ssd slot. Lately, I start liking the msata ssd slot, it really help make the wiring easier in a tiny case. Save 2 cables.
 
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Patrick

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So I finally was able to take the ZBOX-BI320-U-W2 out today. I opened it up and there is a big 2.5" tool-less slot.

Zotac ZBOX-BI320-U-W2 Interior.jpg

Also, there are two standard SODIMM slots so getting a 64GB boot drive (with Windows pre-installed) and a rotating or SSD would be very easy. You could almost use these plus cheap 480GB SSDs to run clustered single-SSD NAS/SAN boxes.

Relatively quiet (cannot hear over the Synology DS1812+) while Windows 8.1 with Bing is starting up.
 

Patrick

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Also - the wife is a programmer. I am thinking of replacing her Core i7-3930K monster system (my old workstation) with this sucker and let her use VMs on the server.
 

Patrick

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Power Consumption:
5.4-5.8w Windows Desktop
11.8w maximum Cinebench 11.5 run
 

Patrick

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Got it to 13.1w running everything I could.

@Chuckleb Should we start figuring out a test suite if not UnixBench?

1.21 on Cinebench 11.5 which is pretty slow but runs circles around previous-generation attempts in this power envelope (e.g. the AMD E-350)
 

Patrick

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I tried Crucial and Kingston 1 and 2 SODIMM ECC DDR3L and I received beeps. I then installed an 8GB SODIMM for 10GB total and it works without issue.
 

Patrick

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More or less. I have an old 60GB SSD in it right now just to see what happens.