Zotac ZBOX Nano AD10 Plus U Mini SFF PC Review

Name: Zotac ZBOX Nano AD10 Plus
Brand: Zotac

by Marco Chiappetta — Friday, October 28, 2011, 10:00 AM EDT

To test video decode and playback capabilities of the Zotac Zbox Nano AD10 Plus, we attempted to play back a 1080p H.264-encoded QuickTime clip, numerous 1080P MKV files, and HD Flash videos. We then fired up Windows Task Manager take a look at CPU utilization in all instances.

HD Video Playback and CPU Utilization

HD Video Decode Performance

When we first took a look at the AMD E-Series APUs, AMD still had some major driver work to do. Some video types consumed significant CPU resources as hardware accelerations was hit or miss. With its latest drivers, however, the E-Series APU in the Zotac Zbox Nano AD10 Plus performed extremely well in our multimedia tests. The screenshots above are "worst case scenarios", streaming 1080P, full-screen YouTube videos over an 802.11n WiFi connection. As you can see, CPU utilization remains in the 20% range, which is perfectly acceptable for a low-power platform such as this. Playback was smooth with no dropped frames. And performance with local content or MKVs or other rips streamed from a NAS was also excellent.

Tags: SFF, Zotac, Nano, PC, HTPC, Mini, Fusion, ZBox

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