Zotac IQ01 Mini-PC - Quad-core in a Shoebox

A Bright Spot in a Dull Place

It has been said that Mini-PCs are the only "bright spot" in a shrinking PC industry. According to Lisa Graff who is vice president of Intel’s PC Client Group, sales of Mini-PCs have shot from nearly zero units in 2012 to over a million in 2013. This growth has been led by devices such as Intel’s NUC Mini-PCs, Zotac's ZBOX Mini-PCs, Gigabyte’s Brix Mini-PCs and Lenovo’s M93p Tiny Mini-PC.

These devices have appealed to consumers because of their compact size, small footprint, decent performance and relative affordability. In fact, Intel’s last NUC D54250WYB kit improves on its predecessor - the NUC DC3127BY kit - by offering even more performance and in an even smaller form factor.

However, Intel is not the only one capitalizing on the increasing popularity of Mini-PCs. Gigabyte has just refreshed its Brix Mini-PCs with the latest Haswell processors, and Zotac with its ZBOX line-up has always been active in the Mini-PC space.

Speaking of Zotac, we last reviewed their ZBOX nano ID65 which managed to cram more connectivity options at an almost similar footprint to Intel's compact NUC system, but was let down in performance and competitive positioning. However, the Hong Kong-based tech company has several Mini-PC options and it has just released its IQ01 Mini-PC that we've gotten for review. Although it is larger than some of the above mentioned ultra compact systems, we've chosen to take a look under its hood and see what else it might offer over its nano series and the rest of the competitive playing field.

Hardware & Design

What's interesting about the Zotac IQ01 Mini-PC is that it's easily one of the most powerful Mini-PCs in the market right now thanks to its Core i7-4770T processor. The Core i7-4770T is a quad-core processor that runs at 2.5GHz and has a generous 8MB of L3 cache. The "T" suffix means it is power optimized and has a relatively low TDP of 45W, but it is still a fairly beefy processor and is much more powerful than the dual-core Core i5-4250U found in Intel NUC D54250WYB. However, instead of Intel's newer and more powerful Iris Pro integrated GPUs, the Core i7-4770T comes with the older Intel HD Graphics 4600 integrated GPU. If anything, graphics performance should prove to be its weak link.

The Zotac IQ01 Mini-PC comes as a barebones kit, so users would have to provide their own memory and storage. The Zotac IQ01 features two SO-DIMM slots that supports up to 16GB of DDR3-1600MHz memory; and as for storage, it has a single SATA 6Gbps port that can accommodate 2.5-inch hard disk drives or SSDs and an mSATA port for mSATA SSDs. This gives users the ability to pair a super-fast mSATA SSD with a high capacity hard disk drive for the best of both worlds.

Thankfully, installation is very straightforward and mostly a tool-free process. The internals can be easily accessed simply by removing two thumbscrews and the panel, thereafter we can see that both the memory and storage components are easily accessible and dead simple to install. Memory modules can simply be slid into the SO-DIMM slots, and it is the same for mSATA SSDs too as it utilizes a tool-free catch to secure the drive in place. For 2.5-inch drives, an ingenious tool-free rack is used in conjunction with a single thumbscrew to ensure stability during operation. All in all, the Zotac IQ01 is one of the easiest Mini-PCs to install and setup.

Recognizing that Mini-PCs often offer limited ports and connectivity options, the IQ01 comes with no less than four USB 3.0 ports, a memory card reader, support for the latest Wireless-AC standard, two DisplayPorts, a dual-link DVI port, and not one but two Gigabit Ethernet ports. There might be no HDMI ports, but a DVI to HDMI adapter is thrown in so you can easily hook the Zotac IQ01 up to your televisions.

In terms of size, the IQ01 is noticeable larger than the Intel’s NUC and Gigabyte’s BRIX Mini-PCs, but still remains fairly compact. It also comes with a VESA mount so you can mount it behind your VESA compliant display. In terms of design, its chassis is mostly plastic, with two glossy black top and bottom panels and a matte silver mid-section. Also, a blue ring glows on the top panel when the system is turned on - a dash of pizzazz to an otherwise bland design. Here's the basic specs list of the IQ01 Mini-PC:-

Test Setup

Here’s the test configuration of our Zotac IQ01 Mini-PC:

• Intel Core i7-4770T (2.5GHz, 8MB L3 cache)

• 16GB DDR3-1600MHz SO-DIMM

• 128GB SSD

• Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit)

The list of benchmarks used:

• PCMark 8

• 3DMark 2013

• Far Cry 2

• Battlefield: Bad Company 2

• Tomb Raider

We are most keen to find out how the Zotac IQO1 will fare against the previous reviewed NUC Mini-PC kits and also the previously reviewed Zotac ZBOX nano ID65 Mini-PC. We have also included results of Sapphire’s Edge VS8, which is powered by an AMD Trinity APU. Furthermore, in light of its beefy processor, we are also including results from comparable AIOs such as HP’s Envy Recline 27 (which is also powered by the Core i7-4770T) and Lenovo’s IdeaCentre Horizon.

PCMark 8

PCMark 8 is the latest benchmarking utility from Futuremark and was designed to measure the performance of Windows 8 systems. We will be testing the system using four different scenarios, Home, Creative, Work and Storage, which simulates different workloads that a user might subject the system to.

Considering that the Zotac IQ01 has a fairly powerful quad-core processor and that our test system is outfitted with a generous 16GB of RAM and a fast 128GB mSATA SSD, it was not surprising to see that it churned out pretty impressive scores, especially on the Home, Work and Storage workloads. It did not do so well on the Creative workload because of its lackluster integrated graphics. We can also see that the Zotac IQ01’s scores were significantly better than the Intel NUC D54250WYK kit and that only the HP Envy Recline 27 AIO and Aftershock XG13 gaming notebook were capable of going toe to toe with it.

3DMark 2013

3DMark 2013 is the latest graphics benchmarking utility from FutureMark and we will be gauging the systems’ performance using the Cloud Gate and the more intensive Fire Strike benchmark.

On 3DMark 2013, we were somewhat surprised to see that the scores of the Zotac IQ01 and the HP Envy Recline 27 AIO were actually so close. We had expected the HP Envy Recline 27 AIO to perform better due to its discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M GPU. The Zotac IQ01 also outperformed the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon, which has a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 620M GPU; and also the new MacBook Air, which has the same Core i5-4250U processor and Intel HD Graphics 5000 integrated GPU as the Intel NUC D52450WYK kit Mini-PC.

Gaming Benchmarks (Far Cry 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Tomb Raider)

Next we move on to gaming performance using real world benchmarks and we begin with testing at 1080p resolution on Far Cry 2 and Tomb Raider. On Far Cry 2, the Zotac IQ01 managed a respectable 38 fps at 1080p resolution with the graphics settings tuned to Medium, but fell to a miserly 23 fps when we turned the settings up to "Very High". Here, it is easily beaten by all the other AIOs, which have very basic entry-level discrete NVIDIA graphics.

On Tomb Raider, it was again bested by the HP Envy Recline 27, but that was inconsequential as both systems were posting results that were well below the playable threshold of 30 fps. Clearly, for newer games, it is imperative to have a decent mid-range discrete GPU.

Now we turn to results at a more modest 1024 x 768 pixels resolution and the Zotac IQ01 emerged as the top performer, outscoring the Intel NUC D54250WYK kit Mini-PC handily on both Far Cry 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. On Far Cry 2, the Zotac IQ01 is ahead of the Intel NUC D54250WYK kit Mini-PC by around 50%; and on Battlefield: Bad Company 2, it was faster by around 24%. The Zotac IQ01 also trumps the less power Zotac ZBOX nano ID65 by over 200% on both benchmarks. So while graphics and gaming is not the Zotac IQ01's strongest suit, it has adequate computing power to handle older games like Far Cry 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Conclusion

If we were to look at the results of our benchmarks, the Zotac IQ01 is clearly one powerful Mini-PC. Thanks to the power of its quad-core Core i7-4770T processor, it was significantly faster than the Intel NUC D54250WYK kit Mini-PC that we reviewed just last November. And on general computing benchmarks, it could easily hold on its own against desktop AIOs and even powerful gaming notebooks such as the Aftershock XG13. However, we must remember that our test unit is fitted with a generous 16GB of RAM and has a fast mSATA SSD.

And even though Zotac IQ01 has a supposedly weaker integrated GPU, we found that its graphics and gaming performance was about on a par with the Intel NUC D54250WKY kit Mini-PC and its integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000 GPU. Nevertheless, graphics performance is easily the weakest link of the Zotac IQ01 as we found it to be barely adequate for gaming, especially if you are planning to play newer games since it cannot handle Tomb Raider at 1080p resolution satisfactorily. For gaming requirements, it would be advisable to limit the Zotac IQ01 to older games or dial down the resolution and graphics settings for newer ones. Maybe the Zotac IQ01 would be a better proposition if it had been outfitted with a Core i7-4770R processor instead, since that model comes with a more powerful Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 integrated GPU.

Pricing has always been a tricky issue for Mini-PC and the Zotac IQ01 comes in at S$879. While that seems attractive, remember you have to factor in the cost of both memory, storage and OS. If you are on a budget, 4GB of RAM and a 1TB HDD can be had for an additional S$150. However, if you want it to have comparable specifications as our test system, you would have to fork out an additional S$520 or so, bringing the total cost to a not inconsiderable S$1399.

Although the Zotac IQ01 has shown itself to be substantially more powerful than Intel’s offerings, it is also significantly more expensive, since the Intel NUC D52450WKY kit Mini-PC costs around S$900 inclusive of all components and OS. With prices beginning from S$788, Apple’s Mac Mini is a worthy alternative even if it is powered by the older Ivy Bridge processors since at this price it comes fully assembled with a working OS out of the box.

All things considered, the Zotac IQ01, like most Mini-PCs in the market now, remains to be a highly niche product for a select group of users and enthusiasts who might want it for their own special needs. However, what it does have going for is a fast processor, a wealth of connectivity options (such as quad USB 3.0 ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and more) including support for the latest Wireless-AC standard and also the ability to accommodate both an mSATA drive and regular 2.5-inch drive.