WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.800 Okay, do I have better weapons? 00:00:03.800 --> 00:00:05.680 Like, oh my God, look at all this. 00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:07.000 These are, they're homing, they're homing. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:08.340 You have to shoot them down. 00:00:08.340 --> 00:00:12.320 You know, when you're gaming at, you know, 4K resolution, 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:14.680 it's easy to forget that under the hood 00:00:14.680 --> 00:00:18.200 of Microsoft's most powerful Xbox One 00:00:18.200 --> 00:00:23.000 is little more than a low power AMD Jaguar processor 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:26.120 and an aging Polaris based integrated graphics card. 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:28.880 Oh, and did I mention the mechanical hard drive? 00:00:28.880 --> 00:00:33.280 See, the truth is if the Xbox One X ran standard Windows 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:38.470 with standard Windows games, it would be dog slow. 00:00:38.590 --> 00:00:40.690 But the other thing that's easy to forget 00:00:40.690 --> 00:00:43.690 is that all of those parts in it 00:00:43.690 --> 00:00:47.590 are fundamentally standard PC components. 00:00:47.590 --> 00:00:49.990 So what would prevent someone 00:00:49.990 --> 00:00:53.990 from building a faster game console? 00:00:53.990 --> 00:00:56.650 Oh, apparently nothing. 00:00:56.650 --> 00:00:59.490 This is the SUBOR ZBOX. 00:00:59.490 --> 00:01:04.490 A game console from China that we got our hands on. 00:01:05.860 --> 00:01:10.840 Let's, let's take this baby for a spin, shall we? 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:13.980 Right after I tell you guys about GlassWire. 00:01:13.980 --> 00:01:16.260 GlassWire allows you to instantly see your current 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:18.560 and past network activity, detect malware, 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:22.420 and block badly behaving apps on your PC or Android device. 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:25.380 Use software code Linus and get 25% off GlassWire 00:01:25.380 --> 00:01:35.890 at the link below. 00:01:35.890 --> 00:01:39.230 The Zed Plus game console was built by the 00:01:39.570 --> 00:01:41.090 Shanghai branch of a little company 00:01:41.090 --> 00:01:44.250 called Zongshan SUBOR Advanced Technology. 00:01:44.250 --> 00:01:46.430 I'm sure I butchered that, so I'll be referring to them 00:01:46.430 --> 00:01:49.010 as SUBOR from here on out. 00:01:49.010 --> 00:01:51.830 And the packaging is relatively unassuming. 00:01:51.830 --> 00:01:54.070 In fact, you might be forgiven for thinking 00:01:54.070 --> 00:01:58.590 that it's for like a laptop rather than for a game console, 00:01:58.590 --> 00:02:02.550 which might actually be a hint at what's to come. 00:02:02.550 --> 00:02:05.770 Then on the inside, we've got the console itself, 00:02:05.770 --> 00:02:09.230 a manual that is entirely in Chinese, which makes sense. 00:02:09.230 --> 00:02:10.850 This is intended for the Chinese market. 00:02:10.850 --> 00:02:14.070 And a little box off to the side here 00:02:14.070 --> 00:02:17.910 that contains a stand, an HDMI cable, 00:02:17.910 --> 00:02:22.470 and then a standard C13 PC power cord. 00:02:22.470 --> 00:02:24.510 Let's go ahead and get the gaming machine out of this. 00:02:24.510 --> 00:02:26.570 Which you guys paid good money to see. 00:02:26.570 --> 00:02:28.420 This is what you guys. 00:02:28.420 --> 00:02:32.380 So it's got a very console-like appearance, 00:02:32.380 --> 00:02:33.860 as you'd probably expect, 00:02:33.860 --> 00:02:37.080 with this kind of weird angular cutout 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:39.360 that might go great with your media console, 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:40.160 but didn't go particularly well with your PC. 00:02:40.160 --> 00:02:42.040 But it did go particularly well with mine. 00:02:42.040 --> 00:02:43.020 Ignoring that then, 00:02:43.020 --> 00:02:46.940 we've got two USB 2.0 Type-A ports on the front, 00:02:46.940 --> 00:02:50.920 and then four USB 3.0 ports around the back, 00:02:50.920 --> 00:02:52.440 along with Ethernet. 00:02:52.440 --> 00:02:56.460 Twin HDMI ports, though both of these are outputs. 00:02:56.460 --> 00:02:59.040 So there's no fancy cable box pass-through 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:00.180 or anything like that. 00:03:00.180 --> 00:03:02.780 And three and a half millimeter jacks with audio, 00:03:02.780 --> 00:03:04.880 along with a SPDIF connector. 00:03:04.880 --> 00:03:07.420 On the bottom, there's this little latch right here, 00:03:07.420 --> 00:03:08.740 and this is cool. 00:03:08.740 --> 00:03:09.780 It reveals 00:03:10.160 --> 00:03:13.100 two two and a half inch drive bays. 00:03:13.100 --> 00:03:15.280 So they're secured by standard Phillips screws, 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:16.120 which is nice, 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:20.080 and occupied by default by a one terabyte Toshiba hard drive, 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.380 which means that this thing is mostly looking pretty good 00:03:23.380 --> 00:03:25.320 for storage expansion. 00:03:25.320 --> 00:03:28.400 Should we fire it up and see what it looks like in action? 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:31.240 So this is a pretty bog-standard Windows install. 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:33.400 The only thing that really stands out about it 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:36.020 out of the box is that everything that you see 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:38.480 in the installed programs is stuff that we put on it. 00:03:38.480 --> 00:03:40.080 It's extremely clean. 00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:42.660 The only pre-installed application is this, 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:45.600 what's this thing called again? 00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:47.400 Here we go, Ruyi Assist, 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:49.300 which tells you your CPU temps down there. 00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:50.600 We're at 50 degrees. 00:03:50.600 --> 00:03:52.120 It's not amazing for idle. 00:03:53.220 --> 00:03:54.920 Then you can switch to low power mode, 00:03:54.920 --> 00:03:58.100 and then there's a grayed out switch to console mode. 00:03:58.100 --> 00:03:59.940 More on that later. 00:03:59.940 --> 00:04:03.180 So this is interesting. 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:07.040 Eight gigs of SG RAM. 00:04:07.040 --> 00:04:10.120 So this is actually graphics memory. 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:12.180 Slots used eight out of eight. 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:14.420 So I guess this is eight chips, 00:04:14.420 --> 00:04:16.760 and then they've got two gigs of it 00:04:16.760 --> 00:04:21.760 that is hardware reserved, presumably for graphics. 00:04:21.780 --> 00:04:23.180 And then our CPU. 00:04:23.180 --> 00:04:24.360 Oh, wow. 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:27.780 Windows doesn't know what the crap that is. 00:04:27.780 --> 00:04:30.640 2.99 gigahertz, four cores, eight threads. 00:04:30.640 --> 00:04:32.480 So this is Ryzen based, 00:04:33.820 --> 00:04:38.280 but that part number is basically indecipherable. 00:04:38.280 --> 00:04:39.620 Fascinating. 00:04:39.620 --> 00:04:41.520 Maybe we can get some more hints 00:04:41.520 --> 00:04:45.480 out of CPU-Z and or AIDA64 here. 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:47.140 So yeah, there, confirmation. 00:04:47.140 --> 00:04:52.060 This is Ryzen with SMT, and then graphics. 00:04:52.060 --> 00:04:57.060 Oh, so we've got Vega-based graphics, 00:04:57.420 --> 00:05:01.020 but basically no actual specs for it here. 00:05:01.020 --> 00:05:05.140 So a quick Google search for the part number 15FF 00:05:05.140 --> 00:05:09.480 that we found in CPU-Z shows us that it might be a 28, 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:10.460 but it's not. 00:05:10.460 --> 00:05:11.420 It's a 28-CU APU. 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:13.540 So that would put it at about two thirds 00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:18.380 of the raw performance of the GPU in the Xbox One X. 00:05:18.380 --> 00:05:19.240 One weird thing though, 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:21.960 is all the news we can find about it 00:05:21.960 --> 00:05:26.300 talks about two gigs of HBM2 RAM, like built into it, 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:28.520 but we already know from Task Manager 00:05:28.520 --> 00:05:31.780 that the one in this system is going to be a little hamstrung 00:05:31.780 --> 00:05:36.520 because it's sharing GDDR5 memory instead. 00:05:36.520 --> 00:05:38.680 The takeaway though, is that this is, 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:43.680 is basically a PC running basically Windows. 00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:47.300 Like there are some interesting bits here, 00:05:47.300 --> 00:05:49.660 and that's that the pre-installed operating system 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:54.660 is actually Windows 10 Enterprise long-term support branch. 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:58.020 So the particular build we're running here 00:05:58.020 --> 00:06:01.220 is actually from 2016, 00:06:01.220 --> 00:06:05.320 but then with current security updates. 00:06:05.320 --> 00:06:07.920 There is more to it though. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:08.680 Where is this button? 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:09.860 Here we go. 00:06:09.860 --> 00:06:13.100 Then just a regular old Windows 10 install. 00:06:13.100 --> 00:06:16.580 Unfortunately though, see this guy right here. 00:06:16.580 --> 00:06:19.720 Half of our boot drive is actually partitioned 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:23.060 into this BitLocker encrypted partition here. 00:06:23.060 --> 00:06:25.240 So that is going to be 00:06:25.240 --> 00:06:29.540 SUBOR's specially modified IOT edition of Windows, 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:32.640 but it's not ready for prime time yet. 00:06:32.640 --> 00:06:37.180 SUBOR says that that platform will launch in Q1 2019 00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:37.860 with a slew of demands, 00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:38.580 with a slew of demands, 00:06:38.580 --> 00:06:39.800 with a slew of demands, 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:42.060 with a slew of demands, 00:06:42.060 --> 00:06:43.100 and then a few months later, 00:06:43.100 --> 00:06:44.680 they've actually made a list of FOR難 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:46.420 for its current Chao Jahr famous 00:06:46.420 --> 00:06:50.220 Domestically-produced games as exclusives for their console. 00:06:50.220 --> 00:06:52.040 So let me know in the comments 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:52.980 if you guys wanna see like 00:06:52.980 --> 00:06:56.880 a Let's Play update with some Chinese games next year. 00:06:56.880 --> 00:06:57.920 A Let's Play update with some Chinese games next year. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:06:58.740 For now though, 00:06:58.740 --> 00:07:01.540 even though we can't actually try that aspect of it, 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:04.190 we can discuss why SUBOR would bother 00:07:04.190 --> 00:07:06.390 with this console mode thing 00:07:06.390 --> 00:07:07.790 instead of just leaving it running regular Windows. 00:07:07.790 --> 00:07:10.390 has eight gigs of RAM that's shared 00:07:10.390 --> 00:07:13.670 between the CPU and GPU, just like an Xbox One. 00:07:13.670 --> 00:07:15.630 And it's even, as we mentioned before, 00:07:15.630 --> 00:07:18.550 GDDR5, just like an Xbox One. 00:07:18.550 --> 00:07:22.250 That means that Windows is eating a significant chunk 00:07:22.250 --> 00:07:23.390 of available memory, 00:07:23.390 --> 00:07:26.170 and that makes for a less than ideal experience 00:07:26.170 --> 00:07:28.530 when you're trying to run big AAA titles, 00:07:28.530 --> 00:07:32.250 hence the need for a slimmed down IoT version of Windows. 00:07:32.250 --> 00:07:36.550 The other less obvious reason is DRM. 00:07:36.550 --> 00:07:40.370 Subor says that they're able to use their customized OS 00:07:40.370 --> 00:07:43.290 to enable a form of DRM that's not possible 00:07:43.290 --> 00:07:44.730 under standard Windows, 00:07:44.730 --> 00:07:47.790 which they say is required to attract 00:07:47.790 --> 00:07:49.450 some of the exclusive titles 00:07:49.450 --> 00:07:51.770 that they've got lined up for the platform. 00:07:51.770 --> 00:07:54.230 Now, as much as DRM is a dirty word, 00:07:54.230 --> 00:07:56.750 they're positioning themselves as an early pioneer 00:07:56.750 --> 00:07:59.930 for dedicated gaming platforms in China, 00:07:59.930 --> 00:08:02.710 and they feel that they need to do everything they can 00:08:02.710 --> 00:08:04.590 to build developer confidence. 00:08:04.590 --> 00:08:06.550 So this entire process 00:08:06.550 --> 00:08:10.050 and this entire product honestly might look highly unnecessary 00:08:10.050 --> 00:08:13.010 to folks in regions with established console markets, 00:08:13.010 --> 00:08:16.270 but you might not realize that home game consoles 00:08:16.270 --> 00:08:20.150 were actually banned entirely in China 00:08:20.150 --> 00:08:22.310 way back in the year 2000 00:08:22.310 --> 00:08:24.790 because of fears of how they could affect 00:08:24.790 --> 00:08:26.390 childhood development. 00:08:26.390 --> 00:08:28.930 And the traditional companies that you might think of, 00:08:28.930 --> 00:08:33.230 like Nintendo, have struggled to find a strong foothold 00:08:33.230 --> 00:08:36.410 in China even with the easing of restrictions back 00:08:36.410 --> 00:08:37.810 in 2015. 00:08:37.810 --> 00:08:42.790 So then, with Mainland China nearly 100% reliant on PCs 00:08:42.790 --> 00:08:44.430 for non-mobile gaming, 00:08:44.430 --> 00:08:47.170 and the console market pretty much non-existent, 00:08:47.170 --> 00:08:52.170 Subor is trying to combine a console with a PC 00:08:52.250 --> 00:08:56.430 to give us the Z Plus that we have right now. 00:08:56.430 --> 00:09:00.050 It'll be a genius move if it works. 00:09:00.050 --> 00:09:04.210 So let's test it out and see just how well it works, 00:09:04.210 --> 00:09:05.330 at least today, 00:09:05.330 --> 00:09:06.230 by comparing its performance, 00:09:06.230 --> 00:09:09.170 against a low-end Ryzen desktop 00:09:09.170 --> 00:09:11.730 with a roughly comparable graphics card. 00:09:11.730 --> 00:09:12.830 Well, right out of the gate, 00:09:12.830 --> 00:09:15.210 it seems as though having just two gigs of memory 00:09:15.210 --> 00:09:19.450 set aside for the GPU is gonna cause us to run out of RAM 00:09:19.450 --> 00:09:20.890 during complex scenes, 00:09:20.890 --> 00:09:24.310 like in Shadow of the Tomb Raider's GPU-heavy forest scene, 00:09:24.310 --> 00:09:27.370 despite the graphics core itself 00:09:27.370 --> 00:09:29.670 having more than enough horsepower to keep up. 00:09:29.670 --> 00:09:31.810 And we know it has more than enough horsepower 00:09:31.810 --> 00:09:35.350 because we can actually drop the in-game settings 00:09:35.350 --> 00:09:36.190 a little bit, 00:09:36.190 --> 00:09:39.470 and we can increase the resolution significantly. 00:09:39.470 --> 00:09:41.630 This confirms that we're not running 00:09:41.630 --> 00:09:44.110 into some kind of a bandwidth problem here, 00:09:44.110 --> 00:09:46.430 we are just running out of VRAM. 00:09:46.430 --> 00:09:49.570 So the sweet spot seems to be medium details 00:09:49.570 --> 00:09:51.910 at about 1440p. 00:09:51.910 --> 00:09:53.550 The main takeaway, though, really, 00:09:53.550 --> 00:09:55.710 is that the system's not quite stable, 00:09:55.710 --> 00:09:59.230 and we ran into problems particularly in DirectX 12. 00:09:59.230 --> 00:10:02.770 So it's clear to us that the hardware has the power, 00:10:02.770 --> 00:10:06.170 and that with a more optimized driver and OS, along with, 00:10:06.190 --> 00:10:07.470 a bit of developer effort, 00:10:07.470 --> 00:10:11.040 this experience could be a lot better. 00:10:11.040 --> 00:10:14.880 More physical memory would certainly go a long way, too. 00:10:14.880 --> 00:10:19.580 For now, though, we can only talk about what we can measure. 00:10:19.580 --> 00:10:21.400 And when we look at the numbers, 00:10:21.400 --> 00:10:25.120 the Z Plus, in spite of its faster CPU, 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:28.560 just cannot match the Xbox One X 00:10:28.560 --> 00:10:32.760 in terms of either speed or visual quality in most titles. 00:10:32.760 --> 00:10:36.320 And it couldn't even break past the performance of our, 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:40.420 Holiday PC Buyer's Guide, $500 system. 00:10:40.420 --> 00:10:44.620 And that's a problem when you're closer to $620 to $725 00:10:44.620 --> 00:10:45.600 with tax. 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:46.640 Now, moving on, 00:10:46.640 --> 00:10:51.080 Subor is marketing this thing as also a PC. 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:54.460 So we fired up some productivity benchmarks. 00:10:54.460 --> 00:10:58.180 Compared again to our Holiday Gaming PC at $500, 00:10:58.180 --> 00:11:00.360 we are actually looking at inferior 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:02.000 single-threaded performance, 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:05.160 but superior multi-threaded performance 00:11:05.160 --> 00:11:06.000 as a result of, 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:08.160 not only the addition of SMT, 00:11:08.160 --> 00:11:11.060 so that's eight threads to go along with our four cores, 00:11:11.060 --> 00:11:14.860 but also the use of faster GDDR5 memory. 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:16.200 This is especially apparent 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:18.540 when we look at the relatively large disparity 00:11:18.540 --> 00:11:20.900 in handbrake encoding performance. 00:11:20.900 --> 00:11:22.360 These tests also revealed 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:24.100 that our GPU is being held back 00:11:24.100 --> 00:11:28.220 in more ways than we thought by poor driver optimization. 00:11:28.220 --> 00:11:30.740 Its performance is all over the map. 00:11:30.740 --> 00:11:34.220 Look at how it trounces even the GTX 1060 00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:35.460 in most of Luxmark, 00:11:35.460 --> 00:11:39.140 then takes losses in Blender and V-Ray. 00:11:39.140 --> 00:11:42.860 Overall, the Z Plus performs pretty admirably 00:11:42.860 --> 00:11:45.980 with the biggest bug bears being its GPU performance 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:49.000 and lack of dynamic memory allocation. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:50.480 Now the graphics performance 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:52.480 is going to be harder to overcome 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:55.360 since it's just flat out a weaker chip 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:58.760 than you'd find in a top tier gaming console even today. 00:11:58.760 --> 00:12:02.300 But its CPU performance is superior 00:12:02.300 --> 00:12:05.300 and the new OS could give the Z Plus, 00:12:05.300 --> 00:12:07.380 the ability to cut back GPU memory 00:12:07.380 --> 00:12:10.740 during CPU intensive tasks and vice versa, 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:14.960 improving performance in both once the new software arrives. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:16.460 With all this in mind, 00:12:16.460 --> 00:12:19.320 this type of chip is almost certainly 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:21.440 what's going to make up the entry level 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:23.320 of a new breed of console. 00:12:23.320 --> 00:12:26.840 And in spite of the Z Plus's incomplete state 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:29.300 and poor Windows gaming performance, 00:12:29.300 --> 00:12:31.940 it's a very big market they're going after 00:12:31.940 --> 00:12:34.980 with next to nothing in terms of direct competitors. 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:37.080 So with the right software improvements 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:39.320 and developer relationships, 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:40.920 they could be onto something, 00:12:40.920 --> 00:12:42.700 but I don't expect them to make any headway 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:45.100 into the North American, European, 00:12:45.100 --> 00:12:48.940 or Japanese markets anytime soon. 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:50.580 Speaking of making headway, 00:12:50.580 --> 00:12:53.160 if you're trying to build a beautiful website for yourself 00:12:53.160 --> 00:12:55.100 and you're just not making any headway, 00:12:55.100 --> 00:12:56.800 why don't you try out Squarespace? 00:12:56.800 --> 00:12:58.240 Squarespace's all-in-one platform 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.400 makes it easy to get set up and running quickly. 00:13:01.400 --> 00:13:02.660 They have award-winning templates 00:13:02.660 --> 00:13:04.060 that you can use as a starting point 00:13:04.060 --> 00:13:05.020 for a wide range of products, 00:13:05.020 --> 00:13:07.380 projects, and if you ever need additional help, 00:13:07.380 --> 00:13:10.280 Squarespace offers webinars, full series of help guides, 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