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

Performance Summary: The Gigabyte Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200 performed well throughout our entire battery of benchmarks. The low-power, dual-core Skylake Core i5-6200U processor with Intel HD 520 series graphics at the heart of the system isn’t a barn-burner, and generally finished about in the middle of the pack versus our reference systems in the CPU and GPU-bound tests, but overall system responsiveness and performance is good. The Brix S finished near the top of the charts on the PCMark benchmarks, and our general experience with the system was very positive. When outfitted with fast RAM and a speedy M.2 SSD, like the components we used from Kingston, the Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200 provides a good user experience. The system boots in a blink, browsing around on-line is plenty fast, office-type tasks and apps are no problem at all and multimedia viewing and streaming is smooth as silk.

The Gigabyte Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200 - Find It At Amazon

We really like the Gigabyte Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200. There are some obvious compromises you need to make, in terms of ultimate performance and upgradability / expandability, with an ultra-small form factor system of this type that’s based on low-power mobile hardware. However, for the vast majority of people who assemble or buy a mainstream PC and never touch its internals, devices like this can make for an attractive, low profile option. For all but the most demanding tasks, the Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200 offers plenty of performance. We also like the understated design language, and the system is quiet (though, not silent) and power friendly.

The barebones Gigabyte Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200 is available for about $380. Add some RAM and an SSD and the price will jump to about $550 (or more) depending on the capacities. You’ll also have to provide an operating system. In that price range, you can absolutely find more powerful and higher-performing full-sized systems, but if you want an ultra-small form factor and dig the features and overall aesthetics of the Brix S GB-BSi5HT-6200, it is absolutely worthy of consideration.


Tiny, Good Looks Built-In Card Reader Thunderbolt and USB 3.1 802.11ac WiFi or Gigabit Ethernet	Pricier Than Full Sized Systems Not A Great Option For Gamers

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