Zotac Zbox EN760 "Epic Gaming" Mini PC

[Lucasfonoli]

Is this HDMI 2.0?

good question, I could answer that if I could acess the manifacture website, kkkk

[skywake]

What do you mean tech enthusiast with money to burn?

This only costs $700 for the non bare bones version according to Tomshardware.

For an i5 4200u, GTX 860M, 8GB ram, and 1TB HDD.

And if you hate the 5400RPM HDD you could go for the $550 barebones and buy your own ram and an SSD and/or HDD (would have to be msata to have both).

This isn't enthusiast level at all, or even expensive for that matter.

 

I didn't know the price when I made my comment but that's quite a bit of money to spend on what's likely to be a secondary machine. If you're happy to spend the cost of 2 PS4s, a new TV or a much nicer gaming PC for some couch gaming then you do have money to burn. And if you're happy to spend that much on a dedicated couch gaming device you probably have a wireless bridge behind your TV, powerline or even Cat5e/6 through the walls. It's a cool device but 2x Gigabit + WiFi-ac is a bit overkill and probably should be an optional thing for this sort of product. For a NUC I get the inclusion of WiFi because they could be deployed anywhere, this thing? It'll be under the TVs of techies. Period.

 

 

As this is a HTPC/SteamOS Box/Nvidia Shield streaming PC the dual NIC might make sense since one will be connected to the router and the other can connect to the host PC for game streaming or possible for direct access to media files from the NAS

Most people have one singular network so it's probably still unnecessary. Plus it's not the sort of device you'll have running all the time so it's not really useful as a port-saving thing either. That said the extra cost probably isn't that big at all and it sounds nice on the box. Still seems like an odd inclusion especially given that display port is missing.

[mvitkun]

good question, I could answer that if I could acess the manifacture website, kkkk

I accessed the cached site and all I found was HDMI and DVI.

Although that was their promo for it, not the product page since I couldn't find the product page.

[Lucasfonoli]

I think 60hz 4k is totally irrelevant for this type of machines. If you are trying to watch some movies, you only need 24hz. If you want to game, this machine can't handle it even on ultra low settings. If you wanna in home stream in 4k/60hz, why even you try to do that, for now it will be very lag.

[Silent_Xaxal]

A native solution will always be better. That said, is this one $1000 or less? The site was speaking German to me.

[Lucasfonoli]

deleted

[mvitkun]

I think 60hz 4k is totally irrelevant for this type of machines. If you are trying to watch some movies, you only need 24hz. If you want to game, this machine can't handle it even on ultra low settings. If you wanna in home stream in 4k/60hz, why even you try to do that, for now it will be very lag.

Productivity, 3D modelling and Video Editing, utilize the extra space from 4K quite well.

And sub-60hz is noticably less smooth.

[Lucasfonoli]

Productivity, 3D modelling and Video Editing, utilize the extra space from 4K quite well.

And sub-60hz is noticably less smooth.

you realy think that you will use THIS machine for 3D modelling and video editing? good try on that

 

 

I really want a TV with a HDMI 2.0 (samsung hu8550) for use 4k/60hz, but i will use with my 780 sli, not a gtx 860m...

[dragoon20005]

Most people have one singular network so it's probably still unnecessary. Plus it's not the sort of device you'll have running all the time so it's not really useful as a port-saving thing either. That said the extra cost probably isn't that big at all and it sounds nice on the box. Still seems like an odd inclusion especially given that display port is missing.

yea the deal breaker is the lack of DisplayPort

 

otherwise I might get it with a SSD and game on my TV already

[LorelynF]

Looks promising, but I would rather stick to my PC for 4k. :lol:

[mvitkun]

you realy think that you will use THIS machine for 3D modelling and video editing? good try on that

I did moderately intensive 3D modelling (Maya) and video editing (Sony Vegas and After Effects) on a Core 2 Duo E4700 and an 8400 GS for a long time before I built my pc.

And 4K monitors, if the Intel + Samsung partnership is to be believed, should be getting cheaper in the next year or so.

So I could see somebody using this machine for 1080p gaming and then using moderately intensive productivity applications in 4K.

But to be honest in writing this post I realized how ridiculous it would be that someone would have a 4K display for productivity and not have a better machine for it, although as I said above 4K panels might become more approachable.

[Lucasfonoli]

I did moderately intensive 3D modelling (Maya) and video editing (Sony Vegas and After Effects) on a Core 2 Duo E4700 and an 8400 GS for a long time before I built my pc.

And 4K monitors, if the Intel + Samsung partnership is to be believed, should be getting cheaper in the next year or so.

So I could see somebody using this machine for 1080p gaming and then using moderately intensive productivity applications in 4K.

But to be honest in writing this post I realized how ridiculous it would be that someone would have a 4K display for productivity and not have a better machine for it, although as I said above 4K panels might become more approachable.

I agree that it is posible, but might be under 0,1% of the atual users... As you said, now, a 4k display cost over 2, or even 3, times more than a machine like this.

 

 

When a good 4k display become more affordable, probably a machine like this become more powerfull to handle 3d modelling over 4k/60hz

[Silent_Xaxal]

you realy think that you will use THIS machine for 3D modelling and video editing? good try on that

 

 

I really want a TV with a HDMI 2.0 (samsung hu8550) for use 4k/60hz, but i will use with my 780 sli, not a gtx 860m...

 

Video Editing can be done, considering much weaker machines can be used for that (IE, this is in regards to Youtube videos and gameplay edits).

 

I'd pop open a beer if someone got this to run maya smoothly.

[Lucasfonoli]

Video Editing can be done, considering much weaker machines can be used for that (IE, this is in regards to Youtube videos and gameplay edits).

 

I'd pop open a beer if someone got this to run maya smoothly.

even my 3570k+660ti (that is on the road to go away) cry to render 3D models on sketchup.... You can render with a dual core, but you will need to wait some hours for that, kkk. Drink a box of beers is a good option

[mvitkun]

Video Editing can be done, considering much weaker machines can be used for that (IE, this is in regards to Youtube videos and gameplay edits).

 

I'd pop open a beer if someone got this to run maya smoothly.

even my 3570k+660ti (that is on the road to go away) cry to render 3D models on sketchup.... You can render with a dual core, but you will need to wait some hours for that, kkk. Drink a box of beers is a good option

I made most of this scene on my old E4700 and an 8400GS. Again this was in Maya.

[Lucasfonoli]

I agree that this Tiny PC can handle games with more details than a PS4 can, but you have a serious problem. With a PS4, you have sure that you will play all games for over 6 years, but you certainly don't have this sure on this pc. Considering that you have almost 0 upgradabilty, you will be on a hard time in about 2/3 years trying to play on 1080p, even on low, some hard to handle games.

 

I always will be on the PC side of force, but it is undeniable that play on PC is always more expensive and less perdurable (with the same hardware)

 

The console was done for that. Delivery a mid-powerfull hardware for a very low price, aiming to delivery a great experience to all customers, even those who don't have the money or the patience to play on greats pc's

 

For me, the best scenario will be when PC and console act synergistically and on the same way. A console that can be upgrade to ramp up the resolution, or even packs of upgrade on ever 2 years. And a PC that is more practical to play, with more controllers support, or even a OS made entirely for gaming (with no unnecessary background softwares weighing my CPU work)

[Nandagopal]

En760 vs E1750

[BakaJaNai]

Registered to make sure my comment on youtube doesn't die unnoticed.

 

I call BS highly doubt you saying that  i5 4200u + GTX 860M combo can provide minimal(not average) FPS of 30 at 1080p all settings high with 2xMSAA (HBAO and physX off) to match PS4 image quality in Black Flag.

Notebookcheck and digitalfoundry test results agree with me. No wonder you didn't show any actual benchmarks - they would just prove you wrong.

Very disappointing and lazy work Linus, smells too much of clickbait garbage in classick "PC master race self masturbation" style that i hate so much being PC gamer with PS4 and WiiU (and probably xbone slim in future) only for exclusives.

 

P.S. Yes i know that 2xMSAA is debatable, because Ubisoft didn't say what kind of AA Black Flag uses, but it gives better image quality than FXAA, is definitely worse than 4xMSAA and is really close in resulting image quality to 2xMSAA.

[Silent_Xaxal]

I made most of this scene on my old E4700 and an 8400GS. Again this was in Maya.

 

I better get the beer.

[mully006]

I think in home streaming is the way to go for most existing pc gamers.  For that reason I would like to see a mini-pc that has a built in TV tuner so you can move the entire TV experience onto it.  That being said it would be very interesting if ASUS or Gigabyte came out with a console sized Steam Box that was non-modular.  I think if the cpu and gpu were integrated onto one pcb with combined power delivery, the resulting system would stomp on the current consoles.  

[ShadowCaptain]

Registered to make sure my comment on youtube doesn't die unnoticed.

 

I call BS highly doubt you saying that  i5 4200u + GTX 860M combo can provide minimal(not average) FPS of 30 at 1080p all settings high with 2xMSAA (HBAO and physX off) to match PS4 image quality in Black Flag.

 

Notebookcheck and digitalfoundry test results agree with me. No wonder you didn't show any actual benchmarks - they would just prove you wrong.

 

Very disappointing and lazy work Linus, smells too much of clickbait garbage in classick "PC master race self masturbation" style that i hate so much being PC gamer with PS4 and WiiU (and probably xbone slim in future) only for exclusives.

 

P.S. Yes i know that 2xMSAA is debatable, because Ubisoft didn't say what kind of AA Black Flag uses, but it gives better image quality than FXAA, is definitely worse than 4xMSAA and is really close in resulting image quality to 2xMSAA.

 

 

I thought that but there is also evidence to back up linus, I have known notebook checks FPS levels to be inaccurate. I use them religiously but I sometimes get different performance levels when playing games with the same hardware on my own gaming laptops. Sometimes worse sometimes better. Depends when they did the tests, on the drivers used, on the version of the game etc

 

Here is someone apparnetly plaiyng at 1080p very high with AA getting 30+ fps

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZua8NcGA3U

 

And here is an older 770 doing a similar job with FXAA (its in russian but you can sort of make out the settings)

 

 

EDIT: and another on high recording with shadowplay on high showing 30+ fos 

[LTTfan_ver.sincencix]

This thing is cheaper than 780ti haha

[theodoro]

That's a pretty cool tiny gaming PC. I usually like the "big powerful PC" but this can fit nicely next to the TV.  However i live alone and i don't even have a tv, so it's useless for me haha

[nick99n]

what's the price of this thing i can't find it anywhere

[spexiono]

I want one... It looks like it'd be a neat router or server PC but the GPU is overpowered for that.. I want a cheaper version without the GPU.. (though possibly a more powerful CPU?)

 

Also it seems possible that Zotac didn't feel the need to add Display Port because their goal for this device is to be used with TVs. How many TVs have DP? Although I guess that doesn't explain DVI...

 

 

what's the price of this thing i can't find it anywhere

 

 

"The pricing for the new ZBOX EN760 mini PC is $549.99 for the barebones version, and $699.99 for the "Plus" model. Both will be available in mid-June" According to Tomshardware