Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080 SFF PC Review: A Premium Gaming Powerhouse
by Ganesh T S on December 19, 2016 8:30 AM ESTGaming Notebooks Compared
One of the most common comments posted in response to mini-PC reviews is that the value proposition of an equivalent notebook is much higher than that of the PC. While there are plenty of factors that might make this comparison invalid, we thought it would be interesting to see how the Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080 fares against premium gaming notebooks. Towards this, we borrowed a few benchmarks from our notebook reviews and processed them on the EN1080. In the graphs below, we also have the gaming mini-PCs on which the benchmarks were processed. First, we will look at some artificial benchmarks before moving on to the games themselves.
3DMark Revisited
GFXBench
Dota 2
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
The takeaway from these results is that the performance of the ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080 is beaten only by the Clevo desktop replacement (DTR) notebook that uses the same GPU, but, with a 91W Core i7-6700K, instead of the 65W Core i7-6700. This gives the Clevo DTR an edge in the benchmarks that also depend on the CPU performance.
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Michael Bay - Monday, December 19, 2016 - link
There was a nice trend of posting size comparison pics with a can of soda and a cig pack.I really wish it came back.
BrokenCrayons - Monday, December 19, 2016 - link
I want to oogle Ganesh's cans via review photos. :DOooh! Maybe we should start a GoFundMe to soak up the cost of purchasing a can so there's no out-of-pocket expense. If we pull it off, it might be possible for the readers to get a look at everyone's cans.
cm2187 - Tuesday, December 20, 2016 - link
Unfortunately a can of coke is not an international measure:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverage_can#Standar...
Renagade - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
how bout a tape measure, ruler, yard stick - something - perhaps with both metric and american markings? This way - EVERYONE wins and the international measure standards are coveredK_Space - Monday, December 19, 2016 - link
I think those belonged to either Ian or Brandon (the cola can I think).... No one else got em!¬_¬
cknobman - Monday, December 19, 2016 - link
Cool system but IMO since a GTX 1080 is not quite enough for full blown 4k gaming then why waste all that money getting it.The best buy is the ZOTAC ZBOX MAGNUS EN1070 Gaming Mini PC, Intel Skylake Core i5-6400T which only costs $1200.
GTX 1070 is powerful enough to handle anything 2k and below which is all you could really do comfortably with the 1080 version so most of that extra $800 would be going to waste.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M3062Z5/ref=psdc_1389...
TheinsanegamerN - Monday, December 19, 2016 - link
It isnt enough for 4k, but it is enough for 1440p, or for 1080p for years from now. You could buy this with the knowledge that, at 1080p, say with a g sync monitor, you would not need to replace it for 5+ years.also, the 1070 is not enough to consistently max out 1440p, or do 1400p or 1080p consistent at 144 hz refresh rates. the 1080 isnt quite enough either, but its a heck of a lot closer.
cknobman - Monday, December 19, 2016 - link
LOL no card can max out 1440 @144hz consistently (you even put it in your own post) so why waste $800 getting a 1080 when a 1070 is enough to get 60+fps in 1440 everywhere and will do any game @1080p (even lesser cards than that are more than enough for 1080)?Again IMO save $800 and get the 1070 config.
zenonu - Monday, December 19, 2016 - link
My Titan X (P) hits 1440p 144Hz in a significant amount of games. The 1080 doesn't need to hit 1440p 144Hz consistently either to provide a significant amount of value from between 60Hz and 144Hz. There is a place for this product, and your own financial valuation of this product is generally only relevant to you.LordanSS - Monday, December 19, 2016 - link
1080p60 with SuperSampling. There.