Systems
Single-board computers in the 3.5-inch form-factor have become extremely popular for embedded applications involving a mix of high performance requirements as well as extended peripherals support. Typical use-case scenarios include digital signage, edge inferencing solutions, retail applications, and IoT gateways. The requirements in these segments call for processors and components that can operate in a wide temperature range. The chassis and cooling solution handle other duties such as ruggedness and avoidance of moving parts. The Supermicro X13SRN-H-WOHS is a 3.5-inch SBC with a soldered-down Intel Core i7-1370PE - a Raptor Lake-P embedded processor with vPro support. It has plenty of I/O support, including a SlimSAS PCIe expansion slot. Supermicro also offers a ready-to-deploy solution using the SBC in the actively-cooled SYS-E102-13R-H box PC. This...
Intel Unveils Panther Canyon NUC11 Family: Tiger Lake Comes to NUCs
As part of its CES 2021 announcements, Intel officially unveiled a number of NUCs based on their Tiger Lake SoCs. Intel's initial NUCs were all based on 100mm x...
43 by Ganesh T S on 1/18/2021CES 2021: Zotac MAGNUS ONE Gaming mini-PC Flagship Charges Up Comet Lake with Ampere
Zotac's mini-PC lineup received a new flagship as part of its CES 2021 announcements - the MAGNUS ONE. It features a Comet Lake CPU (Core i7-10700) along with NVIDIA's...
13 by Ganesh T S on 1/14/2021Zotac ZBOX CI662 nano Fanless mini-PC Review: Second Stab at Silencing Succeeds
Zotac is one of the major players in the SFF PC space, having marketed ultra-compact form-factor machines even before the NUCs took off. The growth in that segment has...
16 by Ganesh T S on 1/5/2021ASRock DeskMini H470 Review: A No-Frills LGA 1200 mini-PC Platform
The mini-STX form-factor was introduced by Intel in 2015 to provide additional options in the burgeoning small form-factor (SFF) PC space. Since then, vendors such as ASRock, ECS, and...
26 by Ganesh T S on 12/29/2020ECS LIVA Z3 Plus Review: Compact Comet Lake NUC Clone Cuts Corners
ECS is a well-known OEM in computing circles, known for building motherboards, computers, and industrial / embedded systems for other vendors. Some of their motherboards and small form-factor PCs...
15 by Ganesh T S on 12/22/2020Hands On: ASRock 4X4 BOX-4800U Out-of-Band Management using Realtek DASH
Many computing use-cases require out-of-band management. For example, rack-mounted servers have dedicated LAN ports that connect to a baseboard management controller (BMC) chip for this purpose. PCs used in...
9 by Ganesh T S on 12/16/2020Razer's First Modular PC, The Tomahawk: A Fully Custom NUC 9 Extreme
Razer, a company that styles itself as 'by gamers, for gamers', has today unveiled its latest product, a modular NUC dubbed the Tomahawk. Available as both a barebones package...
61 by Gavin Bonshor on 12/3/2020ASRock Brings Zen 2 NUC : 4X4 BOX-4800U Renoir Mini-PC Reviewed
AMD-based ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) systems are slowly gaining market acceptance, with the Zen architecture slowly catching up with Intel on both the performance as well as power consumption front...
53 by Ganesh T S on 11/25/2020Akasa Turing Fanless Case Review: Unrivalled Noiseless NUC
Silent computing systems are preferable for a multitude of use-cases ranging from industrial applications (where dust and fans make for a troublesome configuration) to noiseless HTPCs (particularly for audiophiles)...
28 by Ganesh T S on 10/26/2020Test Driving SPECviewperf 2020: A Look At The Latest In Workstation GPU Benchmarks
Over the years, the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation's SPECviewperf benchmark has become the industry standard for workstation GPU benchmarking. Owing to the fact that, unlike video games, there's little...
27 by Ganesh T S on 10/16/2020ASRock Industrial's NUC 1100 BOX Series Brings Tiger Lake to UCFF Systems
Intel's introduction of the Tiger Lake U-series processors with support for a range of TDPs up to 28W has resulted in vendors launching a number of interesting systems with...
13 by Ganesh T S on 10/13/2020GIGABYTE Unveils BRIX PRO Mini-PCs with Tiger Lake-U
Intel's Tiger Lake launch was focused on ultrabooks and notebooks, as various SKUs with TDP ranging from 7 to 28W were launched. The performance of Intel's low-power parts (U-...
43 by Ganesh T S on 9/29/2020MinisForum Unveils EliteMini H31G: 65W CPU & 75W GPU in a Compact Mini-PC
MinisForum has been making some interesting moves in the last few months with their computing platforms, ranging from the DMAF5 based on the Ryzen 3000H-series SoCs to the Ice...
3 by Ganesh T S on 9/29/2020ASRock Industrial 4X4 BOX-V1000M Ryzen Mini-PC Review: Finding Zen In The Small Things
The miniaturization trend triggered by the ultra-compact form factor NUCs from Intel has emerged as a key driver in the growth of the PC market. Processor power efficiency is...
37 by Ganesh T S on 9/28/2020The Armari Magnetar X64T Workstation OC Review: 128 Threads at 4.0 GHz, Sustained!
Blitzing around a race track in a fast car only ever convinces you of one thing: I need to go around the track even faster. I need a better...
97 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 9/9/2020ASRock Industrial's 4x4-BOX UCFF PC Series Goes Premium with Ryzen 4000U Renoir APUs
ASRock Industrial has been at the forefront of AMD-based UCFF PCs, being one of the first to bring out systems based on the Ryzen Embedded APUs in mid-2019. In...
36 by Ganesh T S on 9/8/2020ASUS PN50 Mini-PC, with Ryzen Mobile 4000 APUs, Coming September
AMD launched its Ryzen Mobile 4000 ‘Renoir’ processors in January, and one of our questions was around the appetite for AMD to push mini-PC designs. Processors that have both...
66 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 8/3/20205G in a Fanless Industrial PC from GIGABYTE IPC
One of the key verticals in the integration of 5G we are told is in the industrial space – having machines on a shop floor communicate wireless to a...
30 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 7/15/2020Intel Ghost Canyon NUC9i9QNX Review: NUC 9 Extreme Realizes the SFF Dream
Small form-factor PCs and gaming systems have emerged as bright spots in the mature PC market over the last decade or so. Intel's NUC form-factor introduction was the turning...
109 by Ganesh T S on 4/16/2020Maingear Releases New RUSH System With Extremely High-End Specs
The latest among a surprisingly busy week for PC hardware, Maingear has released a new and improved version of its RUSH gaming system. Catering to the high-end gaming market...
14 by Gavin Bonshor on 3/31/2020