Zotac ZBOX EI750 Plus: A Feature-Rich Iris Pro mini-PC
by Ganesh T S on August 25, 2014 7:00 AM ESTIntroduction and Setup Impressions
Intel's Crystal Well parts (-R series) with integrated eDRAM have arguably been the most interesting products in the Haswell line-up. In the early stages, only Apple had access to these parts. However, since the beginning of 2014, we have seen other vendors roll out products based on the -R series processors. The BRIX Pro (BXi7-4770R) was one of the first products to roll out with Crystal Well in the PC space. With a design reminiscent of the NUC, the focus was more on designing a compact platform rather than providing more features on the hardware side. The -R series processors are all OEM-only, so users have to look to PC manufacturers to get systems based on it. Expandability in terms of adding PCIe cards (such as discrete GPUs and/or wired network adapters) is ruled out, and one has to rely on what the OEM designs into the motherboard. Zotac has taken their full-size mini-PC chassis (similar to the one in the Zotac ID89) and put in a motherboard sporting a Core i7-4770R inside it to create the ZBOX EI750.
Zotac provides both barebones and Plus models, as is customary with all their pre-built PCs. The Plus model comes with a disk drive as well as some DRAM bundled. Our review configuration was the Plus model with the following configuration.
Zotac ZBOX EI750 Plus Specifications | |
Processor |
Intel Haswell Core i7-4770R (4C/8T x 3.20 GHz (3.90 GHz Turbo), 22nm, 6MB L2, 65W) |
Memory | 1 x 8GB DDR3L-1600 |
Graphics |
Intel HD Graphics 5200 200 MHz / 1.3 GHz (Turbo) |
Disk Drive(s) | 1 TB Seagate 2.5" HDD + Spare mSATA Slot |
Networking | 2 x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x1 802.11ac mPCIe |
Audio | Capable of 5.1/7.1 digital output with HD audio bitstreaming (DVI-HDMI / 2x DP 1.2) |
Operating System |
Retail unit is barebones, but we installed Windows 8.1 x64 |
Pricing (As configured) | $780 on Newegg |
Full Specifications | Zotac ZBOX EI750 Plus Specifications |
The ZBOX EI750 doesn't come with any pre-installed OS, but we do have a read-only USB key with Windows drivers. In addition to the main unit, the other components of the package include a 120 W (19V @ 6.32A) adapter, a US power cord, plastic stand / base holder for the main unit, a single 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz antenna for the Wi-Fi module, a DVI-to-HDMI adapter, screws for 2.5" HDD installation, a Quick Start guide and an user manual. We installed Windows 8.1 Professional x64 for our evaluation purposes.
The stand-out aspects of the ZBOX EI750 compared to similar mini-PCs include the presence of two Display Port outputs, two GbE LAN ports and an optical SPDIF output. The gallery below takes us around the hardware in the unit.
In the course of our review, we found that the EI750 Plus came up with some disappointing benchmark numbers compared to the BRIX Pro. It was quite obvious that the single-channel memory in the ZBOX was pulling it down. To simulate a typical end-user situation, we augmented the unit with an ADATA mSATA SSD (SX300) boot drive and replaced the original single Crucial SODIMM with 2x 8 GB ADATA SODIMMs having the same CAS latency of 11. The rest of the review will present benchmark numbers for both configurations.
In the table below, we have an overview of the various systems that we are comparing the ZBOX EI750 against. Note that they may not belong to the same market segment. The relevant configuration details of the machines are provided so that readers have an understanding of why some benchmark numbers are skewed for or against the EI750 when we come to those sections.
Comparative PC Configurations | ||
Aspect | Zotac ZBOX EI750 Plus | |
CPU | Intel Core i7-4770R | Intel Core i7-4770R |
GPU | Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 | Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 |
RAM |
Crucial CT102464BF160B.C16 11-11-11-28 @ 1600 MHz 1x8 GB |
Corsair Vengeance CMSX8GX3M2B1866C10 10-10-10-32 @ 1866 MHz 2x4 GB |
Storage |
Seagate Momentus ST1000LM024 (1 TB, 2.5in SATA, 5400 RPM) |
Samsung SSD 840 EVO (120 GB, 2.5in SATA 6Gb/s, 19nm, TLC) |
Wi-Fi |
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 (1x1 802.11ac - 433 Mbps) |
Realtek 8821AE Wireless LAN 802.11ac (1x1 802.11ac - 433 Mbps) |
Price (in USD, when built) | $780 | $829 |
34 Comments
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Shadowmaster625 - Monday, August 25, 2014 - link
Scrolls down to price...Eight HUNDRED frickin dollars!?!?!??!?!??!!!!
Keeps scrolling...
SirKnobsworth - Monday, August 25, 2014 - link
Right? You could build a fairly powerful dGPU system for that much. Not nearly as small but still...Chapbass - Monday, August 25, 2014 - link
If the "not nearly as small" is not a big deal to you, then you shouldn't be looking at a system like this in the first place.8steve8 - Monday, August 25, 2014 - link
noise?BPB - Monday, August 25, 2014 - link
I think the model with the i5 and the nVidia mobile chip is a much better deal.Anonymous Blowhard - Monday, August 25, 2014 - link
Bingo. The EN760 (i5-4200U + GTX860M) will absolutely massacre this underpowered iGPU rig. And it's still whisper-quiet to boot.Death666Angel - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
Dual Core vs Quad Core? If you need the cores, there is no comparison. If you are looking for just a gaming enabled HTPC, the DC is fine.bitburger - Monday, August 25, 2014 - link
With 4K Ultra HD on the box, I would expect to see HDMI 2.0 with support for 4K@60fps.SirKnobsworth - Monday, August 25, 2014 - link
DisplayPort 1.2 has no trouble outputting that. I'm more wondering why they bothered including an outdated DVI port.icrf - Monday, August 25, 2014 - link
It might, but only at 2:0:0 like everything else claiming to be HDMI 2.0 these days.