Gigabyte Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200 Ultra Compact SFF PC Review

Name: Gigabyte Brix S
Brand: Gigabyte

by Marco Chiappetta — Friday, September 23, 2016, 12:13 PM EDT

The Gigabyte Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200 is roughly 4.5” square and less than 2” tall. The corners on the chassis are slightly rounded and there are vents, buttons, and ports of virtually every surface. The system has a matte black, finish and is mostly devoid of standout stylistic elements, but the vents and branding add some visual pizzazz, without cluttering up the overall aesthetic.

On the top of the system, all you’ll find is the Gigabyte branding in one corner and a triangular power button in another. The power button lights up when the system is powered on, but it is not terribly bright like some other SFF systems, and shouldn’t be a distraction in HTPC environments.

On the front of the system, you’ll find headphone and microphone jacks, next to a pair of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports. The small feet on the bottom of the system are also visible in this shot.

The right side of the system is home to another pair of USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot. Below the ports are two rows of vents to aid in cooling the system. The left side of the system has similar venting, but no additional ports.

There’s a lot more happening on the back of the Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200. There's some additional venting next to a Kensington Lock port. Then, starting from the left in the shot above, you’ll find an RJ45 LAN jack, a mini-DP output with Thunderbolt support, a USB 3.1 Type C port, an HDMI output, and the power jack,

The clean, laid-back external aesthetic of the Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200 carries over into its BIOS / UEFI as well. You can navigate the various menus with a mouse, but there are no rich graphical elements like most of today’s desktop motherboards. We should note that the latest BIOS for the system enabled Thunderbolt and NVMe support for some of the fastest solid state drive technology on the market currently.

Tags: SFF, Gigabyte, mini-PC, NUC, brix, Skylake, brix s

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com