Zotac ZBOX-PI320-W2

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OBasel

Active Member
Dec 28, 2010
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Cheaper Intel compute stick. It has Win 8.1 with Bing installed already. 2GB ram 32gb emmc storage. I like it because it also has a 10/100 port.



Amazon $168.99 with prime: Amazon.com: Zotac ZBOX Pico series Intel Atom Z3735F 2GB Memory 32GB hard Drive with Windows 8.1 with Bing Preinstalled ZBOX-PI320-W2: Computers & Accessories
Newegg $164.99 - $5 with AFEX2W0027 + $4.99 shipping: Zotac Mini PC ZBOX ZBOX-PI320-W2 Atom Z3735F (1.33 GHz) 2GB DDR3 32GB eMMC SSD Windows 8.1 with Bing - Newegg.com

It says it supports VT-x. Anyone try linux on it? I'd guess it's a waste with Win 8.1 onboard though. I wish there was USB 3.0 because then you could have external SSD support.
 

neo

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Mar 18, 2015
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That would make a quiet, powerful and perfect Kodi/XBMC box
 

Cheddoleum

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Feb 19, 2014
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It says it supports VT-x. Anyone try linux on it? I'd guess it's a waste with Win 8.1 onboard though. I wish there was USB 3.0 because then you could have external SSD support.
These Z3735F SoC based systems are being cranked out in commodity lots by China these days. Search on geekbuying.com or banggood.com or aliexpress or any of the usual suspects. The price point is about $120 avg. I picked up one of these to play with a few weeks ago: VOYO Mini PC Windows 8.1 4K Media Player Intel Z3735F 2G RAM 64G ROM which differs from many of the others in that it has a more useful 64G eMMC.

There are several others around and they're all basically the same thing: a Bay Trail tablet without a screen: many designs (including the Voyo) include a small (1000mAh or so) battery so they don't have to redesign the power supply.

Until Intel reveals their driver stack for the Linux variant of the compute stick, audio's going to be a problem under Linux. One way or another this problem is in the process of being solved, but Intel's presumably going to get there first.

As for USB3, there are one or two variants out there that use the Z3735D chip, which does support 3.0 natively.
 

MiniKnight

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Mar 30, 2012
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@Cheddoleum mind fielding a question? How does the Win 8.1 w/ Bing work? Does it come pre-installed? Is there bloatware?

I do like this Zotac though for the wired Ethernet. USB wired ethernet is scary for me.
 

MiniKnight

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Mar 30, 2012
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on the dark side,

raspbery pi can run kodi without issue.. I am using OSMC.
I feel like this chipset is going to get supported really soon. I can't imagine people aren't trying to get all of these applications working on them.
 

Cheddoleum

Member
Feb 19, 2014
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@Cheddoleum mind fielding a question? How does the Win 8.1 w/ Bing work? Does it come pre-installed? Is there bloatware?
I can't speak for any but the one I've tried, but it's fine, nothing extra at all. After making a backup volume on an external drive, I checked out the system restore process (windows installations have a tendancy to self-destruct so it's always a good idea to make sure you'll be able to resurrect it it early on, before you start modifying things) and when booting from the restore partition the restore wizard was in Chinese. After selecting English, it was still in Chinese. Other than that it's fine: a full legitimate bog-standard (and yes, English language) Win8.1/Metro installation.

I do like this Zotac though for the wired Ethernet. USB wired ethernet is scary for me.
I agree; I only chose this particular toy because for a hundred clams a full, silent, quad-core PC the size and shape of a CD case appealed to me. I'd suggest looking into the Pipo X7 instead: same ~$12o price and it has wired RJ45 Ethernet, presumably the usual Realtek. Only 32GB storage but otherwise basically the same system, and better vented.

(Edit: Just checked and it looks like the Pipo X7 is an even better deal as it's based on the Z3736F, which will CPU burst to 2.16GHz rather than 1.83.)
 
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Triggerhappy

Member
Nov 18, 2012
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Not to thread jack but figured I'd pipe in my experience with these little boxes. I've got a pipo. Pretty little box. Installed plex app from Windows store and it chugs along nicely. Haven't done all the work necessary in order to make it a full media centre (I use Fire Tv's for that) but I bought it for the cottage where having the computer aspect is nice.

There's definitely some stupid things about the design though.

1) heat management inside is a disaster. This box can hit 80C under load with the standard setup. Taking it apart and putting a few ram sinks I had lying around on a few key components definitely helped.

2) the windows install identifies the box as a slate (probably because it is just tablet guts without a screen) so for some reason there is no power button on the start screen.

3) Ethernet connects through usb.

4) interface is nice and snappy. Windows updates are not.

5) windows key is stored in the bios.

6) lot more info on these boxes including hacks can be found on freaktab.com

7) came with a year of office 365 personal
 

canta

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Nov 26, 2014
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I feel like this chipset is going to get supported really soon. I can't imagine people aren't trying to get all of these applications working on them.
I have no doubt on that..

I love raspberry pi due on many people working on the board/IO/OS/connecting to arduino/more..
Imagine.. when you watch different genre, Raspberry pi will output different background color to ambient LED :p, and many more. I/O to external world from Pi can trigger many imagination.

still waiting until raspberry pi board to support 4K output:D, I am good on old raspberry pi B+
 

Cheddoleum

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Feb 19, 2014
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Out of curiosity, what's the power draw in Watts on these things?
Mine idles at just a bit under 4 watts, hits 9 or so when playing back media at, say,Vimeo rates. Haven't tried stressing it.

I'm holding out for a different OS before I really try using it for anything; it's more than up to the job in principle but in practice a stock Windows installation makes it slightly hinky: sure it's very smooth and snappy when it's got nothing to do but what you're telling it to do, but every now and then some process wakes up and tries to make it do something else at the same time; probably windows update or some other background job, and it can't cope with HD video streaming and random WTF disk and network-intensive services simultaneously without the occasional hurky jerk. I'll like it better with something like OpenELEC or a lightweight Arch Linux installation without any Redmond mystery meat.
 

neo

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2015
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on the dark side,

raspbery pi can run kodi without issue.. I am using OSMC.
You're right, it can. But I have never been tempted to run anything network heavy on a Rasp Pi due to it's ethernet interface routing through the USB bus.
 

canta

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Nov 26, 2014
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You're right, it can. But I have never been tempted to run anything network heavy on a Rasp Pi due to it's ethernet interface routing through the USB bus.
heavy on network on old raspberry pi B+?
on my experiences is not good, and good enough for HTPC replacement. power consumption is very minimal.
but.....
do you ever try on new raspberry Pi B version 2? that Ethernet speed is fast. the price is ~$35+ shipping, some sellers just mark-up the price due on hard to find PI version 2.