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Gigabyte BRIX Pro Mini-PC Review

Others/All-in-one PC by leeghoofd @ 2014-04-22

Does size really matter? On some human levels it might, though a different trend has been observed in the PC market over the last year. Compact is the key word, featuring mITX sized motherboards and idem ditto enclosures. These compact PCs are playing a more and more important role in every manufacturers' lineup: Mini PCs, NUCs, they are all amongst us now. For most users the bundled power is more than plenty as the size maters the most. Nevertheless combining the raw power of a desktop setup inside a mini sized housing is a step in another direction. Gigabyte is having big success with their Brix boxes, time to step up one level. Today we are going to test one of these Gigabyte supercharged versions: the BRIX Pro.

The Setup

Gigabyte bundled the BRIX Pro sample with 4GB of DDR3L in a single channel setup. To keep the data more aligned with the database of the other APUs and desktop CPUs, we opted to install a dual channel G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D kit. Take note these are rated at 1.5V, though had no issue to work rock stable on the Gigabyte BRIX Pro. Now the BRIX Pro BIOS doesn't allow much tweaking, nor much voltage adjustments, hence why it is recomended to opt straight for Low voltage 1.35 vDimm modules.

Gigabyte also opted to supply this review sample with a Phison-controlled 128GB mSATA SSD. A quick test with Crystal Diskmark revealed a sequential read of around 510MB/s while the write performance was 105MB/s; not blistering, when compared to a normal modern SSD, yet plenty fast for an enjoyable daily experience. If one opts to install a full blown SSD or HDD, the Brix Pro supports a drive of 7.5mm or 9mm thickness. For storage purposes we added a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 750GB drive to the setup.

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