The Greatest Fanless Mini PC Is Here! Minix Z100-0dB Review
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- In this video we check out the Mini Z100-0dB fanless mini PC featuring the Intel N100 CPU. This one outperforms the competition and can even match actively cooled minis. It comes highly recommended.
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00:00 - Pure Silence
00:57 - Specs & Features
03:21 - Opening It Up
04:07 - Benchmarks
06:27 - Games & Other Uses
07:45 - Power, Temps & BIOS
10:02 - Conclusion - Věda a technologie
![This Intel N100 Mini PC is UNDER $100! 😱 [GMKtec NucBox G3 REVIEW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/G3ZVYB2VmAM/mqdefault.jpg)
Minix has informed me that the Z100-0dB will have C-States enabled in the future. Good to see a company listening to feedback.
Can confirm. I bought my Minix PC about 2 weeks ago and C-States were enabled by default.
Oh great.... Now I have another computer coming to my house. Thanks for a great review!
This is a neat little unit. I'm not bothered by most mini fans but that's probably because I don't push them very hard. But somehow I find myself wishing that this did come as a barebones unit as I'm tempted by it as a music server but would need more storage. I'm not wild about so many of the connections being on the side, but it's still a neat unit. I also like that while you mentioned the BIOS changes during the review, you put off showing exactly where until the end. That way they're all together and at the end it avoids those who want to make notes having stop the flow to make notes.
Great mini for something like energy efficient home video / music / home assistant server.
Hi, Is it suitable for running Home Assistant on Proxmox?
I want 3 video outputs. Bummer that the USB-C on this does not carry video.
Is it suitable for running Home Assistant on Proxmox?
Pretty good but I'd prefer a barebones option.
Same here
Great info! I have been looking for a fanless mini PC that runs on 12v and has good WiFi to use as a dedicated astrophotography gear control computer, and this one seems to check all the boxes. I had been considering the Quieter 4C, but was worried that its WiFi might be weak with no external antennas, as My astro gear is of course outside. 2 questions - are there any performance penalties and/or heat issues if running the computer on 12v (more like 13.8 volts actually...)? Second question - could a person raise the power limit to something between the default 0 and 30 watts and still get a proportional benefit while not taking the temps as high? Say maybe like 20 watts or 25 watts instead of 30? Have you ever tested that?
No to 1st one. 2nd yes, I suggest messing around with it. 25W should be a good compromise. If I recall correctly, the default limit is 20W.
can you watch blue ray quality 4k movies ?
Another good review, thanks honey bunny 😘
First time I've been called honey bunny 😂
It looks really good, especially because SD card slot is here. But 16Gb is not enough for most my use cases. Anyway, I wish to see more PC like this on the market.
Supports up to a single 32GB, but you'd have to upgrade it yourself.
@@Robtech It sounds like a plan.
Hi Rob,
Love the machine so far. I've been waiting for a decent fanless low-end mini PC for years and this is it. Great price, too.
But I'm noticing that it doesn't boost. I even changed the PL1-2 settings and can see them reflected in HWiNFO64 but the CPU package power level never goes above 8W. Is there anything I'm overlooking here? The description says it can boost to 25W on default settings but it doesn't seems to boost at all.
I know that software report of power level isn't the same as testing with a plugged device, but I don't notice any difference in performance, no boosting, and have done the same change with a Quieter4C (which I returned, performance wasn't adequate) where I did see the power levels follow the PL1-2 overrides in the BIOS and the performance boost.
Hey, just to make sure, you changed it in turbo options and not the general CPU PL option right? If that's correct you can try running Cinebench R23 and seeing if you're getting a similar to score to me (no apps, background tasks or internet on just to be sure). It could be HWinfo is incorrectly reporting the power draw.
How does those n100 mini pc handle 4k 60 fps on CZcams ? I find some contradiction regarding this topic on different video and that kinda hinder me to buy one.
It has Intel's QuickSync hardware decoding. I've tested 4K60 AV1 multiple times in earlier reviews to show it off. But VP9 is also supported.
So, if C-state wasn't enabled on this mini, does that we should be looking for that option on every other N100?
I'll be trying it in the future if it isn't enabled. Most have it enabled by default.
It can be enabled/disabled in the BIOS freely
Thoughts on this vs. the Mele Quieter 4C w/ the N100? Similar price point. Also any recommended cheap options with at least 2 performance cores? (i3-1213u, i5-1235u)
Thoughts in the title of the video. Only reason to choose the 4C is if you must have the USB-C PD + Display Alt feature or its portability. I haven't reviewed any minis with those CPUs unfortunately. Maybe in the future.
@@RobtechNice. I tried out an EQ12 as well that I liked. One quirky thing about this is the input jacks on the sides of the device. Awkward for an htpc/etc. Any tips for opening without ruining the thermal paste?
I nearly fell out of my chair at 2:54. I was not expecting that joke at all even though you set it up seconds earlier with how much you like your slots.
It's beeped now :(
The beep is part of the joke. Earlier, he was talking about memory card slots and then says how much he likes slots (naughty implication).
He mentions the reset hole on the front, and then beeps out what he was about to say next.
This implies he was about to say something about holes that was so naughty it had to be censored.
@@riflesmcknight9456 I was assuming some kind of that joke, but while not being native speaker just passed that by. Thanks for clarifying :)
How do you think this would perform for Adobe Audition and general voice over workflows?
Since it handles 1080P video editing pretty well, I think audio shouldn't be a problem.
@@Robtech Might put this in my booth then
Why do you prefer n97 over n100? I know you mentioned it before but I can't remember which video...
It's the CPU I was hoping the N100 would be. Beating the previous gen Pentium in every metric czcams.com/video/8EvsGAM1n4s/video.html
No fanless mini has ddr5? 6:10 Look at the zotac ci343, planning on buying it with a 16gb ddr5, would like a review if possible
Sorry should have been more clear. I meant none of the fanless ones I've reviewed have DDR5.
@@Robtech the zotac 343 is fanless, that's why I wanted to buy it and it has display port and type c for video out which the minix lacks
CWWK x86-P5 is also a fanless N100 with DDR5 (and dual Ethernet). I'm hesitating between the Z100-0db and the x86-P5.
How would this compare against the Maxtang?
Makes the Maxtang look like e-waste
Someone please explain how a company can trademark Minix 30+ years after it was first used for an OS.
😂 right?
Shhhhh, this is a young ppl's channel!
its that 30 years
Is it suitable for running Home Assistant on Proxmox, Linux?
community.home-assistant.io/t/performance-native-proxmox-on-n100/612595
Is a clean install necessary?
I scanned the Windows install with Defender and Malwarebytes, both came up clean. So, I wouldn't bother.
What is the default max power limit on these if you don't increase it to 30w on PL1? It looks like max turbo power limit was set to 4095 (4w ?!?) but PL1 to 6.0 and PL2 to 12.0. So I'm a little unclear what those are actually doing. What's confusing to me is the time window as well... shouldn't that be the PL2 time window since PL2 limits run first and then fall down to PL1? (did they get it backwards?)
PL1 is first. I've seen varying power limits used. 5, 6, 10, 15W across N100 minis. And boost limits from 10-25W for PL2 which often seem to be ignored anyway. From what I've learned it looks like the maximum boost limit for the N100 is 27W which explains the slightly better performance over 25W when I forced 30W. I tested in 5W increments when I got my hands on the Beelink EQ12. I didn't test one by one as I don't have time to go into that detail. Forcing PL2 to 30W has done nothing on some minis, so I force PL1 as the same and then the mini goes as far as it can. Some minis can't handle the extra watts and thermal throttle, but most get a better result either way. The PL1 and 2 on this one didn't match the reality either (~2500 multicore on 12W? Yeah right) so I've started ignoring them for the most part and just looking at the results.
@@Robtech I don't think that's true? PL2 is the higher power level that hits first for a short amount of time: images.anandtech.com/doci/13544/95WTau.png
Right. If whatever conditions aren't met for PL2, it'll default to PL1. So setting PL1 to PL2 limits will always at least attempt the higher wattage. Why PL2 doesn't want work on some minis, I'm not sure. Maybe the tau is set to 0 and the option is hidden.
I wish it had dual lan jacks 😅
Thought the same thing, still a neat little system but dual lan would have made it that much better.
I don't care about performance, I would like it to consume little power because I will keep it on 24 hours a day. Should I enable C-states or not?
Then no. Extra performance isn't free. Uses more power
does the usb-c support display? or power?
No
Anyone use these for basic htpc, just to watch 4k CZcams, 4k videos from nas etc, how hot does it get just doing this, want to put one of these behind tv as all in one silent media device, i assume win10/11 can run out of the box with all drivers available, Linux is fallback
Mostly stresses the integrated graphics. Should run much cooler than my CPU load test.
@Robtech thanks, you think it's powerful enough to run win10/11 on proxmox and have opnsense/pfsense running for home firewall etc.
Box will just be hooked up to TV to mostly watch 4k CZcams in browser and maybe kodi, while having the firewall humming along in the background as well controlling access to kids websites/ internet on schedule
Is this powerful enough for that from this one box?
Just getting to understand proxmox and would like to combine it all in one computer if possible
Was looking at one of the older dell micro optiplexes with gen 8/9 Intel, but given the power draw of n100 and more supported codec formats of 12th gen intel quicksync would like to consider this
2 Questions:
Were all the games been tested on a 30W setting?
Do you think that Q3A and UT2004 would give me the same performance, if not better, on every other n100 based mini PC you have reviewed so far?
Yep.
If they're around the same place on the CPU and GPU tests, they will be very similar. Some of the highest actively cooled minis might get a few percent more frames.
Does anyone have any experience with this mini-PC with external WiFi antennas vs other mini-PCs with no external antennas? I will be running WiFi6 router.
I guess this Minix Z100 having a metal metal housing is required to have external antennas. But I think the external antennas are always better than any internal antennas even if the computer housing is plastic.
External antennas win out easy in wireless range
@@Robtech 👍👍
Can these mini PCs handle Adobe Photoshop 6 ?
Yep, latest photoshop too
@@Robtech last question, is it suitable for 24/7 operation?
Yep, that's one common usage case for fanless minis.
Is there on the market a silent mini PC with more high end features no matter what the cost, I mean in the 500/1000 range?
Search for the terms "fanless fu02" and "fanless 1355u" in the express of ali..
You mean higher performance? There is little difference in feature set to distinguish the low-end from the high-end these days.
You might also want to define "silent". If by "silent", you mean fanless, then no. All the higher-performance platforms consume a lot more power and require cooling that is not reasonable in a fanless design.
Yes, there are some good enough machines, with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U, or with the Intel i7-1355U cpus. Goolge search the terms "ali fanless fu02", or "ali fanless 1355u" respectively. There are more good machines, but these seem to be the best. You may find them even with better prices if you search them. Notice their large cases.. Be well 😉
@@namyun2743 I may have misunderstood, I thought that fanless was more or less silent but I guess it depends the hardware. Well I would say that I m seeking for the sweetspot between performance and noise. If that possible a decent powerful mini PC who s not an exhaust pipe with the sound of a scooter. I m not bothered by buying it an extra few bucks if it matches my expectation. I was interested in the Nuc 13 Pro Desk but seems loud under load so I guess I have no clue at the moment
If money was no object I'd have loved to see you drive a car over this one and a car over a plastic one with a fan. (I have a feeling Minix would be fine but I'm curious of what would happen with a decent plastic build.)
Hahah, yeah that would be great. Curious if the metal frame in a plastic case could hold up against the mighty car wheel. Board would probably be destroyed.
My laptop is near it's end now and I don't need another one, I could do with more room on my dick. I have on interest in gamming but would need to do video editing What should I buy? Would be grateful of any advice please.
Many thanks
David
The Intel N100 can do 1080P video editing. If you want a better experience, an i5-12450H mini or higher can do 4K
please don't mention the reset hole when my mouth is full of crumbly cake, thank you