HABEY BIS-6922 Fanless Ivy Bridge Industrial PC Review
by Ganesh T S on August 13, 2013 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Industrial PC
- Ivy Bridge
- Passive Cooling
- Habey
Introduction
Industrial PCs come with stringent requirements that are not satisfied by generic PCs. It is customary for builders to use active cooling in order to ensure that the components are in proper working order. Ventilation slots are also provided to keep airflow up. Chassis size is also not always a concern. However, these flexibilities are not always possible in industrial PCs. Operating environments for such systems usually call for passive cooling, dust resistance, rugged nature and minimal size (read, mini-ITX).
We reviewed the Aleutia Relia last year. Today, we are adding another fanless Ivy Bridge PC to the list, the Habey BIS-6922. The unit was launched late last year. Unlike units meant for the traditional PC market, embedded and industrial units are more focused on long term support and reliability rather than the latest and greatest that the silicon vendor has to offer. So, it is not surprising that Ivy Bridge-based industrial computers are seeing a strong presence in the market only now, after long-term validation by the manufacturers. The high level specifications of the BIS-6922 are available in the launch piece. In the table below, we have a quick overview of the configuration of the review unit sent by Habey.
| Habey BIS-6922 Industrial PC Specifications | |
| Processor |
Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3720QM (4 x 2.60 GHz (3.60 GHz Turbo), 22nm, 6MB L2, 45W) |
| Chipset | Intel QM77 |
| Memory | 2 x 4GB DDR3-1333 |
| Graphics |
Intel HD Graphics 4000 650 MHz / 1.25 GHz (Turbo) |
| Disk Drive(s) | 60 GB Intel SSD 330 |
| Networking | 2 x Gigabit Ethernet |
| Audio |
Microphone and headphone/speaker jacks Capable of 5.1/7.1 digital output with HD audio bitstreaming (HDMI) |
| Operating System |
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (Retail unit has choice of OSes including barebones option) |
| Pricing (As configured) | ~$1500 (Varies depending on customization) |
| Full Specifications | BIS-6922 Specifications |
Our review unit came with the above internal configuration. In addition, we had the installation disk for a OEM copy of Windows 7 Professional x64, a 60 W DC power adapter, mounting plates with screws and a driver and utility CD. I wonder why companies bother with these optical discs when the product itself carries no optical drive. With Flash becoming more economical day-by-day, it might make better sense to bundle these in a USB stick instead of a CD or DVD.
The first section of the review will deal with the setup impressions and teardown of the system. We will take a close look at the thermal design. This is followed by results from our performance evaluation. The numbers will help up get an idea of the relative performance of the unit compared to other PCs with low power consumption. A separate section on thermal performance is also included.
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garadante - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
With the system running that hot, I would've liked to have seen temperatures for the other components, notable the SSD. I don't think SSDs are designed to run as hot and as long as CPUs/GPUs are. Same with the RAM.airmantharp - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
That'd definitely be nice, but I don't think it'd be much of a problem; RAM has a high thermal tolerance these days, and the SSD is pretty far away. I'd be much more worried about an mSATA drive and WiFi mPCIe card, though, and I'm kind of puzzled why those options weren't explored.garadante - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Well looking at the external temperatures of the case, it looks like some areas are hitting 70 degrees Celsius, which is above the working temperature for many SSDs I believe, which are rated for 60 degrees. generally? But not to mention every component in there is likely baking at around 70 C, I'd like to see an analysis on the actual temperatures inside there and the impact this would have on longevity.OCedHrt - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
Still waiting for one with eSATA output. Seriously.ganeshts - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
Pretty sure Habey would be ready to do a custom back panel for you if it is required in volume (for a price, of course). There are plenty of spare SATA ports on the motherboard.airmantharp - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
He could just cut a hole for one or two- where's your Dremel and sense of adventure?!?JimmiG - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Would be interesting to see what could be done with an ATX-sized case acting as a heatsink. There would be a *lot* of surface area to dissipate the heat..cjs150 - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Zalman did one a few years back. Very heavy and expensive but workedganeshts - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
You can take a look at our Streacom FC10 review (linked in the article). It performs well and obviously better than this one because of its size.Heartdisease - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
It sounds like this would be a perfect unit to put in a car behind the dash as a media hub for the Kiddo's. How is therice compared to a do it yourself non dust proof box?