GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming BXi5G-760 mini-PC Review
by Ganesh T S on September 15, 2014 2:30 PM ESTGaming Benchmarks
The gaming credentials of the GTX 760 are quite impressive, but it is simply impossible for such a GPU to be put in a mini-PC with the BRIX form factor. A detailed analysis of the various features of the GTX 760 reveal that the GPU is nothing but a rebranded GTX 870M. In order to sell itself in the desktop market, the mobile-targeted GK104 part has been rechristened as the GTX 760 targeting small form factor machines. The GTX 870M is pretty good, finding a place in high-end gaming laptops such as the Razer Blade. In this section, we will see how it performs when provided with a little bit of additional thermal headroom.
For the purpose of benchmarking, we chose five different games (Company of Heroes 2, Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite and DiRT Showdown) at three different quality levels. As someone focusing on HTPCs and multimedia aspects, I rarely get to process gaming benchmarks, even while evaluating GPUs. One of the aspects that I feared was spending lot of time in installing the same games again and again on different PCs under the review scanner. The solution was to go the Steam route. Unfortunately, Steam also likes to keep the game files updated. A quick online search revealed that Steam could make use of an external drive for storing the game executables and downloadable content. With the Steam drive on-the-go use-case being read-heavy, the Corsair Flash Voyager GS USB 3.0 128GB Flash Drive (with read speeds of up to 275 MBps) was ideal for use as a portable Steam drive.
Benchmark Numbers
Company of Heroes 2
Sleeping Dogs
Tomb Raider
Bioshock Infinite
DiRT Showdown
It goes without saying that the tussle is between the AMD Radeon equipped VisionX 420D and the BXi5G-760. The BXi5G-760 handily wins most benchmarks, with the Sleeping Dogs and DiRT Showdown games showing a much closer fight. In the big scheme of things, the BXi5G-760 manages to emerge in pole position when talking about the gaming capabilities.
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flyingpants1 - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
Nooooope, they should have tested noise levels.bernstein - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
yeah kind of silly... the only thing i was interested to hear... but then i expect this little box to sound like a hair-dryer... i just dont understand why it's not passively cooled @ twice the size...The_Assimilator - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
I was hoping for some shots of the CPU and GPU. :(SleepyFE - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
I am also interested to see where the GPU sits.ganeshts - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
It is in one of the gallery pictures on the first pageGunbuster - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
Seems like lazy engineering. Why on earth would they use two of those little high RPM demon fans?Could have made a larger slower and quieter fan across the top or bottom of the case and used some type of shroud to direct the airflow...
junky77 - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
Something about the gaming benchmark is a little strange, isn't it?Some result s look really strange - the M270/M275, even with GDDR5, should be considerably slower than a 870M.
Moreover, in other tests, the 870M gets arounf 50FPS on bioshock highest settings benchmark @ 1080p (notebookcheck 870M tests and 860M too - like the GTX 750 Ti)
Maybe some heavy throttling took place?
That's true in other cases too.
Pissedoffyouth - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
Wow, for that kind of money considering its a custom build why didn't they do laptop style heat pipes from the CPU, to underneith where the GPU is, and then to a heatsink instead where the little screamer fans are?? And then have a quiet 12cm fan on the top of it or under it?Considering it's supposed to be VESA mounted the screen would defend the low hum of a 12cm fan...
Tikcus9666 - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
An laptop AMD FX 7600P APU,35W would surely be a better fit for a Box like this or even a 65W desktop A8 7600 (can be configured to 45W)no GPU needed (for almost 1080p gaming), and a fraction of the cost, however you wouldn't be able to fry an egg on it,
PixyMisa - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
They have a model with an A8-5545M, and one with an A8-5557M and a Radeon R9 M275X.