Items tagged with Zotac
Manufacturers are increasingly putting incredibly potent GPUs into smaller enclosures, as witnessed by gaming notebooks from Razer and Alienware. But that trend is also extending to small form-factor PCs as well, with Zotac announcing the first mini gaming PC with AMD Polaris courtesy of an AMD Radeon RX 480 graphics card with 4GB GDDR5 memory: the MAGNUS ERX480. In addition to the virtual reality prowess made possible by the Radeon RX 480, the machine of course supports native 4K display output and can handle up to four displays at once. The processor at center stage is a quad-core Intel Skylake-based Core i5-6400T which operates at 2.2GHz and can Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz. The MAGNUS ERX480...
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We reported over the weekend that a few different vendors have been teasing their upcoming GeForce GTX 1060 models, which for an unreleased card is quite interesting, but it has helped increase the momentum of NVIDIA's hype train. Now, ZOTAC has decided to get in on the action by announcing its own models that are going to cater to those with SFF builds: two ITX versions of the GeForce GTX 1060. Unfortunately, ZOTAC hasn't been able to actually show us what its ITX models look like yet, but an example of what the company's GeForce GTX 960 ITX edition looked like last generation can be seen below. ZOTAC is going to offer two different SKUs for its ITX GTX 1060s, which include the Mini and AMP...
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As if we needed more reasons to fall in lust with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card, the GPU maker's hardware partners have begun releasing custom variants that up the ante with more aggressive aesthetics, superior cooling, and faster clockspeeds. We saw it yesterday with EVGA's GeForce GTX 1080 Superclocked ACX 3.0 Edition, and now ASUS and Zotac are following suit with custom designed Pascal parts of their own.We'll start with ASUS, which tapped its Republic of Gamers division to construct the ROG Strix GTX 1080. ASUS considers it "the new king of the hill," and though its competitors might dispute the claim, there's no denying this is a gnarly (slang definition) card with some fancy...
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Given the super-long wait, it's almost hard to believe that the official launch of Valve's Steam OS, Steam Machines, Steam Controller, and Steam Link is right around the corner. While there's just one choice on the gamepad and streamer front, there are a ton of different Steam Machines to choose from, from top makers like MAINGEAR, ORIGIN, Alienware, Digital Storm, and even ZOTAC. Some Steam Machine vendors have decided to go big, but ZOTAC wants to keep things simple, and make sure its NEN PC doesn't take up that much room around the TV. It measures 8.26" wide, 7.99" deep, and 2.45" thick - it's definitely a modest form-factor. But under the hood? It has the brawn needed to push today's hottest...
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The last time we visited Zotac, the company managed to stuff NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M-class graphics into its Zbox Magnus EN970 mini PC. This time around, Zotac is has dialed down things a bit with the introduction of two Intel Braswell-based mini PCs: the Zbox BI323 and Zbox CI323 Nano. The Zbox BI323 is powered by a 1.6GHz, quad-core Celeron N3150 processor, includes Intel HD Graphics, a single 2.5-inch SATA slot for a HDD or SDD, and two DDR3L-1600 SO-DIMM slots (up to 8GB can be installed). External ports include HDMI 1.4b, DisplayPort 1.1a, VGA, a 3-in-1 card reader, three USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, one USB-C port and GbE. Wireless connectivity is taken care of by Bluetooth 4.0 and...
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We had to look it up, but sure enough, Zotac has dabbled in the solid state drive market before, though not extensively. Up until today, its sole SSD offering was a 120GB drive with up to 520MB/s and 170MB/s of sequential read and write performance, respectively. And now? The company best known for pumping out mini PCs is fleshing out its SSD line with a new Premium label series.Don't get too caught up in the branding, they're Premium by name but a bit pedestrian compared to today's ultra fast NVMe M.2-based SSDs. In that regard, Zotac is unfashionably late to the high-end storage party with a pair of drives that plug into SATA ports, though if that's what you're after, Zotac's Premium Edition...
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We’ve always been enamored with Zotac’s tiny Zbox mini PCs for quite some time now, but the company just may have outdone itself with the new Zbox Magnus EN970. For starters, let’s go ahead and get this out of the way — you won’t find an Intel Skylake processor under the hood on the Zbox Magnus EN970. Instead you’ll find a completely competent Broadwell-based, dual-core Core i5-5200U CPU processor. But the magic happens when we move to the graphics power that is lurking within this pint-sized machine, which measures just 8.3” x 8” x 2.1”. Inside you’ll find an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 graphics card with 1280 CUDA cores, a 192-bit memory interface and 3GB of GDDR5 memory at your disposal. Interestingly...
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At this point, if you’re an avid follower of PC and gaming tech, we’ll assume that you’ve heard about NVIDIA’s Maxwell GPU architecture and the full line-up of graphics cards it powers. We most recently took a look at the mainstream GeForce GTX 960, but Maxwell is at the heart of the entry-level GeForce GTX 750 / 750 Ti and the flagship GeForce GTX 970 and GTX 980 as well.In all of its iterations, Maxwell has proven to be a good performing, power-efficient architecture. But it’s at the high-end of the market where some of the most exciting products reside. Typically, when NVIDIA launches a new high-end GPU, cards based on the company’s reference design trickle out first, and then board partners...
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ZOTAC has a number of new products it's anxious to show off at next week's CES, with its ZBOX series getting quite a big share of the love. Of course, it wouldn't be a ZOTAC showing without some graphics cards on hand, so those can be expected as well. The product that stands out most to me is the refreshed ZBOX E-series, as these little router-sized PCs boast some lofty features. Would you believe, for example, that NVIDIA's G-SYNC is fully supported? That's made possible with the inclusion of NVIDIA's GeForce 860M. And while G-SYNC might not matter to you too much, 4K might, and fortunately, this same PC supports that resolution no problem up to 60Hz. Also worthy of note is the ZBOX CI321 'nano'...
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If there's a company that knows how to build a pint sized PC, it's Zotac, makers of a about a million different ZBOX models (we rounded up a bit). Zotac's newest creation is the ZBOX Nano XS. It's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, yet packs an Intel Core i3 4030U dual-core processor based on Haswell inside. That's not all. There are two DDR3L-1600 SO-DIMM slots that support up to 16GB of RAM, an mSATA port, HDMI and mini-DisplayPort output options, 3-in-1 memory card reader, GbE LAN, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, two USB 2.0 ports (front), two USB 3.0 ports (back), 3.5mm input and outputs, and Intel HD Graphics 4400. "Zotac is a pioneer when it comes to packing as much performance...
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Perhaps in another few generations, we'll have super powerful gaming PCs that measure about the size of a fingernail. In the meantime, the mini PC movement is in full force, and Zotac is leading the charge. The newest small form factor (SFF) PC from Zotac is the Zbox PI320 Pico, an ultra-tiny system about the size of a smartphone (it measures 115.5mm x 66mm x 19.2mm). Despite its small size, the Zbox PI320 packs some impressive hardware and features. It sports an Intel Atom Z3735F quad-core processor based on Bay Trail, 2GB of DDR3L memory, 32GB of eMMC storage flanked by a microSD card slot, 3-in-1 memory card reader, HDMI output, 10/100 LAN, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, three USB 2.0 ports,...
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The small form factor market has seen a ton of innovation as of late, and while it’s quite nice to have so many tiny PC options that offer generally impressive performance in a package that you can stick just about anywhere (often with price tags that make these machines affordable enough as your second PC), system builders need to work harder than ever to differentiate their products. Zotac has decided to take a stab at a radical chassis design with its Zbox OI520 Plus “Sphere”, and indeed, the black orb will make you do a double-take when you see it. It’s small. It’s spherical. It’s certainly different. And it has an icy blue LED light band around its entire...
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The small form factor market has seen a ton of innovation as of late, and while it’s quite nice to have so many tiny PC options that offer generally impressive performance in a package that you can stick just about anywhere (often with price tags that make these machines affordable enough as your second PC), system builders need to work harder than ever to differentiate their products. Zotac has decided to take a stab at a radical chassis design with its Zbox OI520 Plus “Sphere”, and indeed, the black orb will make you do a double-take when you see it. It’s small. It’s spherical. It’s certainly different. And it has an icy blue LED light band around its...
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Zotac is busy on the mini PC front, and the company has a quartet of the little buggers to show off at Computex. The four fanless systems all bear the C-Series moniker and run either AMD A6 APUs or Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 chips. “Many users demand a completely silent PC for audio production, video and audio editing, content playback and other tasks,” said senior director of Zotac International Carsten Berger. “After many years of engineering to fine tune power and heat requirements, ZOTAC is able to deliver passive cooled mini-PCs.” The C-Series ZBOX nano machines have a honeycomb chassis design with a large internal heatsink for maximum heat dissipation. The regular...
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Leave it to Zotac to build a mini-PC designed for gamers. Zotac lives and breathes pint-sized PCs, and thanks to an era where the hardware is generally outpacing the software, Zotac was able to build a pretty impressive gaming system within the popular ZBOX mold. Specifically, Zotac's new ZBOX EN760 comes out swinging with an Intel Core i5 4200U dual-core processor (1.6GHz, 3MB L2 cache) based on Haswell and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M GPU (Maxwell). That's a potent one-two punch for gaming. If you opt for the Plus model, it'll also come with 8GB of DDR3 memory and a 1TB hard drive. Based on our experience with previous ZBOX systems, we'd suggest opting for the non-Plus model and plopping a solid...
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There are lots of SFF PCs floating around these days, but the Zbox Sphere from Zotac is an odd duck among them. Instead of a tall and slim chassis or a tiny square-ish thing like a NUC, this PC is a sphere. (Er, hence the name.) It’s not just a gimmick to hear Zotac tell it, either; in a press release, Zotac actually calls it a “sphere form factor” which would indicate that the company views the Sphere series as a whole new way of making SFF rigs. From a marketing perspective, it’s certainly a wise idea. The sphere shape is distinctive and could help Zotac’s products stand out from NUCs and Brix PCs, and it’s too obvious to try and copy it. (That said, there’s...
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Zotac has a new lineup of mini PCs that alternately rock Intel Core CPUs and AMD A8 APUs, and some of them are aimed at mainstream gamers. The Zotac Zbox E-Series offer Intel Iris Pro 5200 graphics with 128GB of EDRAM and Intel Pixel Sync technology and have quad-core Intel Core i7-4770R (3.2GHz) or Intel Core i5-4570R (2.7GHZ), both with Turbo Boost. Zotac ZBOX E-Series The four E-Series models also feature up to 16GB of DDR3-1600 RAM (2 DIMMs) and a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD. The “Plus” configuration offers 8GB of RAM and a 1TB (5400 RPM) HDD via SATA 6Gbps. Ports include two DisplayPort, two DVI-O, a 4-in-1 card reader, dual 10/100/1000 LAN, four USB 3.0, and 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth...
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Zotac is one of the first names we think of when the topic of mini PCs comes up, and with good reason. The PC and graphics card maker has been kicking out potent Zbox systems since seemingly the beginning of the time, and lest you think the company will slow down a tick in 2014, guess again. Zotac announced today at CES the release of its new Zbox Nano ID67 Series of tiny systems with 4th Generation Intel Core technology inside. This is a logical pairing, considering the effort Intel put into making its Haswell architecture run more efficient than preceding releases like Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge. One could argue that mobile form factors like laptops and mini PCs like the Zbox line are biggest...
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We’ve been eagerly anticipating the launch of Steam Machines ever since last year’s CES when we were limited to show floor scuttlebutt and a distant peek into Valve’s booth, where the company was holding partner meetings and (sort of) displaying Steam Machine prototypes. (Pictured: A total bummer) We’re thankfully done waiting to see what boutique gaming PC builders would come up with to run Valve’s SteamOS. We already got a whiff of Digital Storm’s cooking, and here are several more. CyberPowerPC Steam Machine CyberPowerPC has Steam Machines built on both AMD and Intel platforms, with “several configurations” for each that will be fully customizable....
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Desktops are evolving, getting smaller and less intrusive. Zotac is a company that's been at the forefront of this evolution by offering up a constantly expanding line of small form factor (SFF) mini PCs that have grown more powerful with each new generation. The compromise between raw performance and power efficiency lessens with each advance AMD and Intel make to their respective processor technologies. In this vein, Zotac sent us its ZBOX ID89 Plus. This little system hardly takes up any space, yet it packs an Intel Core i5 3470T dual-core processor clocked at 2.9GHz (3.6GHz Turbo), 4GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, half a terabyte of HDD-based storage, and a plethora of complementary parts and features...
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If you're a proponent of the desktop, don't worry, the sky isn't falling on your form factor. Yes, we've read the same reports you have, the ones pointing out how traditional PC sales are shrinking in the wake of a mobile revolution that has consumers turning to tablets and smartphones for surfing the web and logging into Facebook. There's no denying mobile is sexy right now, but when it comes to getting work done and playing games with more depth than Angry Birds, desktops haven't lost their swagger. Desktops are evolving, however, and getting smaller and less intrusive. Zotac is a company that's been at the forefront of this evolution by offering up a constantly-expanding line of small form...
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In this latest episode of HotHardware's Two and Half Geeks Webcast, Iyaz, Dave and Marco discuss Motorola's Moto X smartphone, HotHardware's Back to School Shopping Guide, which lists some of the hottest mobile devices and small form factor PCs this season, Alienware's powerful ALW 18 Gaming Notebook, Windows 8.1’s impending release and Zotac’s ZBox Nano ID65 Plus... Show Notes: 01:00 – Moto X Smartphone Preview 06:21 – HotHardware's 2013 Back To School Shopping Guide 09:44 – Alienware 18 Notebook: Haswell, GeForce GTX 780M 14:18 – Windows 8.1 Set For Launch October 18th, What You Need to Know 22:30 – Zotac ZBOX Nano ID65 Plus Out NUCs Intel...
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