Performance Testing
For our quick dive into the raw benchmarks with the Intel NUC5i5RYK we have lined up a good grouping of competitors. The new NUC, with the Intel Core i5-5250U is going to be compared to a slightly different Broadwell CPU, the Core i7-5500U. Both are dual-core HyperThreaded processors but the 5500U inside the Gigabyte Brix runs at 300 MHz faster peak Turbo clock speeds on the CPU cores. But the Core i5-5250U actually has the faster graphics system – Intel HD Graphics 6000 compared to the Intel HD Graphics 5500. So while the Brix is rated with a faster CPU, the NUC should have a slightly faster GPU.
Also included are the Haswell-based Intel NUC with the Core i5-4250U, a typical Ultrabook with the same processor integration, AMD's A4-5000 Kabini processor, an Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge CPU for legacy comparisons and even an AMD Trinity APU, the A10-5800K.
The new NUC's processor has a TDP of just 15 watts – the same as the Core i7-5500U and the Core i5-4250U. Some of the older processors will stretch much higher than, ending with the AMD A10-5800K at 100 watts.
In our first results from SiSoft Sandra, the new Broadwell Core i5-5250U is faster than the Haswell CPU of the same classification. Integer performance is 8.8% faster and floating point is 29% faster in the CPU Arithmetic test and multimedia scores are about 7% faster. But notice that the Gigabyte Brix using the Core i7-5500U scores even higher than that – 15-16% over the Intel NUC 5i5RYK.
Though single threaded performance between the 5250U and the 4250U are identical, the Broadwell CPU shows an advantage when utilizing all threads on the system (14%). The Brix with its Core i7-5500U does better still, beating the Core i5-4250U by 20% in single threaded scores and 33% in multi-threaded.
Our encoding test with Handbrake shows a performance lead of 12% compared to the Haswell-based Core i5-4250U for the new Broadwell processor used in the NUC. The Brix's processor again is the stand out, besting the NUC by another full 15%!
Things are more interesting in our 3DMark result where the different GPUs start to make themselves known. The Graphics score on the Intel NUC5i5RYK are about 3% faster than the result from the Gigabyte Brix BXi7H-5500, but that reverses in the Physics sub-test where the Brix is 16% faster. The overall score weighs in favor of the Brix over the NUC but by a fairly small margin of 4.5%.
Again, even though the A10-5800K is aging in AMD's APU lineup, the fact that both Broadwell processors from Intel continue to push forward in the GPU performance space, out running the 100 watt 5800K graphics score at incredibly low TDPs, is impressive.
Crucial has a M.2 series of
Crucial has a M.2 series of ssds. Do you plan to get those? also its quite a bit cheaper compared to Samsung’s XP series ssd.
Old benchmarks (Sandra 2013,
Old benchmarks (Sandra 2013, Cinebench R11.5)
no recent AMD hardware (A10-7600 45W?)
no video playback tests
no gaming tests
Is this a review or a product placement?
I agree, video benchmarks
I agree, video benchmarks would be nice since I think, outside the office, the real draw for these is an HTPC.
can it stream hulu/netflix/amazon without a hitch, can it stream hd/uhd from a NAS/workstation
hell can it even display UHD?
stuff like this would be nice.
Yes, I actually came here for
Yes, I actually came here for this, but OK.
We played back 4K YouTube
We played back 4K YouTube video and it played without issue. Using Flash, that is likely the biggest stress you'll have on it.
I'll hook it back up and try some other sources if you would like anything specific!
I would really like to know
I would really like to know if it can handle streaming some high bitrate video, wired/wireless, with something like plex or xbmc. Does it support advanced audio outputs like dolby HD or ATMOS, DTS, etc. perhaps that headphone jack is also an optical port? if not, will it at least pass the the correct audio over hdmi?
I want to make sure if I drop $600 on one of these little buggers, it’s going to streaming all my content and output my audio correctly.
I think another good test would be steam’s in home streaming, I don’t think it’ll have a problem with that, but a useful test for sure.
hmm I think that’s all the questions I have off the top of my head.
More benchmarks pls
More benchmarks pls
This is a good review- I
This is a good review- I always like to look at Ice Storm Unlimited as a test though – it can be compared across platforms including phones.
The move toward tablets and small form factor “PC”s feels like PC builders are being left out in the cold. There’s no move to standardize or component-ize smaller parts, so we’re left with these monster size PCs (compare this to an ITX even!).
The problem is that there’s no motivation on Intel’s side to let anyone compete here. Want a better NIC, a ‘laptop’ GPU, the option to update your CPU, a better sound solution, or just in general different features on your motherboard? Too bad.
Think about it this way – if any one of those components go bad, you have to throw away the whole thing, or attempt a repair on something that’s been wave soldered (good luck).
Consumers need to form a standards group or something – it’s going to get ridiculous until there are virtually no choices left.
One thing that will help
One thing that will help advance the whole NUC idea (form factor, speed etc) is usb 3.1.
Intel will not support usb 3.1 until when, 2016? So next year, maybe, we will see new possibilities in SFF based on Intel chips and chipsets.
It would help for external
It would help for external connectivity support, no doubt. I did really like the Thunderbolt option on the first NUC.
Hmmmmm, that M.2 port
Hmmmmm, that M.2 port directly over the wifi card. I don’t know about you guys, but the first thing that comes to my mind is interference, and severe one!!!
Amazon is showing the XP941
Amazon is showing the XP941 for a price of about $510
$0.29 per GB would be nice, but not yet
Samsung XP941 512GB M.2 80mm PCIe x4 SSD – MZHPU512HCGL http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JOSM3TK/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_awdl_ar36ub11KNENH
OR for $260.00 you can get a
OR for $260.00 you can get a complete pc with windows 8.1.
perfect for htpc with a nas
http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-ZBOX-CI320NANO-U-W2-nano-Plus-Windows/dp/B00M4OEPLA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424734030&sr=8-2&keywords=ci320
http://www.technikaffe.de/cpu
http://www.technikaffe.de/cpu_vergleich-intel_celeron_n2930-398-vs-intel_core_i5_5250u-469
Bro, lets be serious. That PC you linked was around 25-35% of the performance this NUC offers. Not even in the same ball park.
Don’t bring that weak Celeron stuff around here.
Might finally pull the
Might finally pull the trigger on one of these. Will the mini HDMI or Display Port run a Dell u3011 @ 2560×1600? I only ask because I could never get that resolution to work on an i7-3570k’s integrated GPU.
Can this mini pc run modern
Can this mini pc run modern titles like far cry 4 nfs mw or cod advanced warfare above 25 or 30fps if we lower the graphics quality to medium or low?
Does the 3.5mm audio jack
Does the 3.5mm audio jack support digital audio stream so that a 3.5 mm to TOSLINK (spdif) may be connected so it can be plugged into stereo preamp for decoding dolby digital?
does it support 1,5v ram
does it support 1,5v ram cards? instead of the 1,35v ram cards.