For the last three years, I have been waiting for a mini computer that could play some games, Dolphin, and PCSX2 with some decent fps at 1080p. Since I have a main PC in the living room, I also wanted something small and portable that I could install in the bedroom TV or take with me when I was on vacation or traveling out of town. I didn't want anything bigger than a Dell Zino (which I owned but was no longer powerful enough). I knew my dimension requirements would bring up the price of what I was looking for, but I was prepared to pay for something small but powerful (and had saved up some money for it).
When the Brix Pro came out, I thought that I finally found my dream gadget. Unfortunately based upon the results from "Theron" from the forums and professional reviewers, the Brix Pro overheated, easily soared to 100C when gaming, and was too loud (like a blow dryer). It worked great as a media PC but it wasn't ready for gaming. I was so disappointed. Great idea, but bad engineering.
By accident, I came across the VisionX 420D-8G1T88. This particular model has an i5-4200M CPU and an AMD Radeon R9 M270X GPU. Since it looked promising, I decided to pull the trigger. It has definitely exceeded my expectations. Although it is larger than the Brix Pro, it is still highly portable, fits so well under a TV stand, and is smaller than a console. It is almost identical to Dell's Zino machines since the dimensions are nearly the same.
I was able to install two 2TB hard drives (two external portable STDR2000102 2TB hard drives that I ripped out the hard drives from the case and installed them on the VisionX) and a Samsung Evo 250 mSATA. I was even able to upgrade the CPU chip from the installed i5-4200M to an i7-4702MQ without much effort or trouble. It is even faster and better now. I did keep the installed RAM.
The heat temperatures of the CPU are rather outstanding when compared to the Brix Pro. See my tests below for both the i5-4200M and i7-4702MQ CPUs.
My Steam games, Dolphin, and PCSX2 run extremely well at 1080P without overheating or throttling. It is also not noisy and I can't really hear the fans. In addition, XBMC runs like a dream on this machine and the enclosed remote control is perfect for it.
I especially love that I now have a portable gaming PC that I have installed in our bedroom TV. My boys can use it when mom and dad want to watch movies or play games on our main living room PC. Furthermore, when I go out of town for trips or vacations, I can take the VisionX for some gaming or XBMC. So cool!
ASRock definitely hit a homerun with this model. In fact, while the Brix Pros are getting all the attention, Gigabyte should seriously take some lessons from ASRock on how to build a mini-gaming PC! I absolutely love my VisionX and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a mini-gaming PC.
Here are my test results:
Original Installed CPU i5-4200M:
Idle: 55C
Surfing: 63C
1080P movie: 60C
Steam Games: 77C
PCSX2 emulator: 81C
Dolphin emulator at 1.5X resolution, 2 samples Anti-Aliasing, 2x Anisotropic Filtering: 81C
Prime 95 Torture Test for 16 minutes: 84C
Windows 7 Experience Index:
Processor: 7.2
Memory: 7.6
Graphics: 7.5
Gaming GPU: 7.5
Hard disk: 7.9
Base Score: 7.2
Running off CPU i7-4702MQ:
Idle: 59C
Surfing: 67C
1080P Movie: 64C
Steam Games: 77C
PCSX2 emulator: 80C
Dolphin emulator 2X resolution, 2 samples Anti-Aliasing, 2x Anisotropic Filtering: 82C
Prime 95 Torture Test for 5 minutes: 100C (1 core) rest of the 3 cores at 98C (it doesn't do too well with the torture test)
Windows 7 Experience Index:
Processor: 7.6
Memory: 7.7
Graphics: 7.5
Gaming GPU: 7.5
Hard disk: 7.9
Base Score: 7.5
When the Brix Pro came out, I thought that I finally found my dream gadget. Unfortunately based upon the results from "Theron" from the forums and professional reviewers, the Brix Pro overheated, easily soared to 100C when gaming, and was too loud (like a blow dryer). It worked great as a media PC but it wasn't ready for gaming. I was so disappointed. Great idea, but bad engineering.
By accident, I came across the VisionX 420D-8G1T88. This particular model has an i5-4200M CPU and an AMD Radeon R9 M270X GPU. Since it looked promising, I decided to pull the trigger. It has definitely exceeded my expectations. Although it is larger than the Brix Pro, it is still highly portable, fits so well under a TV stand, and is smaller than a console. It is almost identical to Dell's Zino machines since the dimensions are nearly the same.
I was able to install two 2TB hard drives (two external portable STDR2000102 2TB hard drives that I ripped out the hard drives from the case and installed them on the VisionX) and a Samsung Evo 250 mSATA. I was even able to upgrade the CPU chip from the installed i5-4200M to an i7-4702MQ without much effort or trouble. It is even faster and better now. I did keep the installed RAM.
The heat temperatures of the CPU are rather outstanding when compared to the Brix Pro. See my tests below for both the i5-4200M and i7-4702MQ CPUs.
My Steam games, Dolphin, and PCSX2 run extremely well at 1080P without overheating or throttling. It is also not noisy and I can't really hear the fans. In addition, XBMC runs like a dream on this machine and the enclosed remote control is perfect for it.
I especially love that I now have a portable gaming PC that I have installed in our bedroom TV. My boys can use it when mom and dad want to watch movies or play games on our main living room PC. Furthermore, when I go out of town for trips or vacations, I can take the VisionX for some gaming or XBMC. So cool!
ASRock definitely hit a homerun with this model. In fact, while the Brix Pros are getting all the attention, Gigabyte should seriously take some lessons from ASRock on how to build a mini-gaming PC! I absolutely love my VisionX and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a mini-gaming PC.
Here are my test results:
Original Installed CPU i5-4200M:
Idle: 55C
Surfing: 63C
1080P movie: 60C
Steam Games: 77C
PCSX2 emulator: 81C
Dolphin emulator at 1.5X resolution, 2 samples Anti-Aliasing, 2x Anisotropic Filtering: 81C
Prime 95 Torture Test for 16 minutes: 84C
Windows 7 Experience Index:
Processor: 7.2
Memory: 7.6
Graphics: 7.5
Gaming GPU: 7.5
Hard disk: 7.9
Base Score: 7.2
Running off CPU i7-4702MQ:
Idle: 59C
Surfing: 67C
1080P Movie: 64C
Steam Games: 77C
PCSX2 emulator: 80C
Dolphin emulator 2X resolution, 2 samples Anti-Aliasing, 2x Anisotropic Filtering: 82C
Prime 95 Torture Test for 5 minutes: 100C (1 core) rest of the 3 cores at 98C (it doesn't do too well with the torture test)
Windows 7 Experience Index:
Processor: 7.6
Memory: 7.7
Graphics: 7.5
Gaming GPU: 7.5
Hard disk: 7.9
Base Score: 7.5