GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming UHD GB-BNi7HG4-950 mini-PC Review
by Ganesh T S on October 28, 2016 7:30 AM ESTBenchmarking the GPU
The GB-BNi7HG4-950 sports a GTX 950, but, it is very obvious from the size of the system as well as internal layout that we are not looking at the traditional desktop GTX 950. Our first task after setting up the system was to check out what GPU-Z thought of the GPU. At first glance, it did appear to be a standard desktop GTX 950.
However, a closer look revealed a few discrepancies. The first was the number of shaders - 1024 in the report, compared to the 768 in the standard desktop GTX 950. The second was the base/boost clocks (935/1150 MHz vs. 1024/1188 MHz), and, finally, the 4GB memory configuration (compared to the standard 2GB in the desktop version). A little more sleuthing into the AIDA64 report (that revealed a GM206M HD audio controller) led us to the GeForce GTX 965M. In effect, the 'GTX 950' in the GB-BNi7HG4-950 is nothing but a rebadged GTX 965M that can stay closer to the boost clocks for longer durations compared to notebook implementations. This is in part due to the form factor and thermal design of the system.
The GPU benchmark numbers are divided into two sections - in the first one, we will look at the gaming numbers compared to other mini-PCs that we have discussed in the previous sections. In the second, we will take a look at how the system compares to the various gaming notebooks in some selected benchmarks.
In the first section, we chose four different games (Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite and DiRT Showdown) at three different quality levels. Note that the main aim here is not to show that the 'GTX 950' can play the latest and greatest games at 1080p with high-quality settings (which it can do). Rather, it is to compare against other gaming-focused mini-PCs that we have evaluated before.
Sleeping Dogs
Tomb Raider
Bioshock Infinite
DiRT Showdown
The Talos Principle
GRID Autosport
The GTX 980-equipped Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN980 easily wins all the benchmarks. The 'GTX 950' / 'GTX 965M' comes second in most benches, except a few where the GTX 970M-equipped Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 comes out in front. That ZBOX is hobbled on the CPU-side by a U-series processor, which is probably the reason why the 965M-based BRIX is able to surpass its performance in most games.
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TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
well, size wise, the brix wins hands down. That isnt even up for debate.Samus - Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - link
I can't not look at the thing and just think Gigabyte was clearly inspired by the Silverstone FT03-mini with this thing.They made a "mini" FT03-mini.
fanofanand - Friday, October 28, 2016 - link
$1160 with single channel RAM. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.ganeshts - Friday, October 28, 2016 - link
That was the review configuration supplied. It is not limited by design, so the end-user can always add an additional SODIMM stick for around $50 or so.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
at that price, dual channel should be included by default. My gaming laptop cost less then this thing.Lolimaster - Friday, October 28, 2016 - link
They know that once Raven Ridge ZEN APU arrives, any small pc with discrete gpu is done.hojnikb - Saturday, October 29, 2016 - link
not really. raven will be at best at performance levels of a rx460, so plenty of room therewintermute000 - Saturday, October 29, 2016 - link
yeah but enough to make a GTX950 irrelevant IF that is the caseThe_Assimilator - Saturday, October 29, 2016 - link
GTX 950 is already irrelevant thanks to GTX 1050... which beats RX 460... which makes Raven Ridge obsolete before it's ever launched. Seems like a common theme for AMD.meorah - Friday, October 28, 2016 - link
gtx 1050 ti review anytime soon?