WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:07.759 Building a fairly compact, super powerful system with like a GTX 980 and 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:12.240 a miniITX case is kind of fashionable right now. But there's a whole other 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:17.279 class of machine that's smaller than what can be built using offthe-shelf 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.600 components. The issue is that with these 00:00:17.279 --> 00:00:23.920 systems, you get less customizability and in some cases like we experienced 00:00:21.520 --> 00:00:29.679 with this really small Gigabyte bricks micro PC, heat management can be a real 00:00:27.119 --> 00:00:34.160 problem if desktop class GPUs are integrated into such a design. So, Zotac 00:00:32.480 --> 00:00:40.239 is taking a bit of a middle ground approach with their new Zbox Magnus 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:43.600 EN970 compact gaming desktop. At only 00:00:40.239 --> 00:00:46.879 about 20 cm long and wide and about 5 cm 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:48.800 tall, it's small, but not so small that 00:00:46.879 --> 00:00:53.700 it seems like it'll melt the minute you fire up Battlefront. But does it hold 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:58.649 up? I guess we'll find 00:01:01.480 --> 00:01:07.360 out. If you already know about Loot Crate, go sign up for the October crate 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.479 at the link in the video description. And if you don't, stick around till the 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:15.640 end of the video to check out our unboxing of the September Summon Crate 00:01:13.119 --> 00:01:20.159 with items from Pokémon and Hearthstone. So, let's start with a look 00:01:17.759 --> 00:01:25.520 at the Magnus' specs. At the heart of this tiny PC is an Intel Core i5 5200U 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:31.920 processor running at 2.2 GHz with a turbo boost speed of up to 2.7 GHz. For 00:01:28.479 --> 00:01:35.640 graphics, you get a desktop class NVIDIA 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:38.159 GeForce GTX 960 with 3 GB of GDDDR5 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:43.119 VRAM. And well, okay, you don't get a whole lot else. This is a barebones kit, 00:01:40.320 --> 00:01:49.280 meaning that you get no storage, no RAM, and no operating system included, but 00:01:46.399 --> 00:01:55.520 it's got two 2 and 1/2 in SATA 3 6 GB per second bays and an M.2 slot. For 00:01:52.560 --> 00:02:00.399 RAM, you will need laptop style sodium memory. It's got two memory slots with 00:01:57.600 --> 00:02:06.159 official support for up to 16 GB of RAM. Although we were able to install 32 gigs 00:02:03.759 --> 00:02:11.280 of this fancy pants highdensity stuff that we got from intelligent memory a 00:02:08.399 --> 00:02:16.879 little while back. Not the first time we fit tons of RAM into a tiny PC. You can 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:21.840 check out that video here. Now, moving on to the outside. The chassis itself 00:02:19.200 --> 00:02:26.959 has an, I'd say, unassuming, but personally appealing look that would fit 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:30.800 in well either on your desktop or in your living room as a console 00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:34.239 replacement. The front panel features a power button that lights up in orange 00:02:32.480 --> 00:02:39.360 when you turn the system on. And you'll also find two USB 3 ports, headphone and 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:44.560 microphone jacks, and an SDXC reader for high-capacity cards. The back panel has 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:50.239 two more USB 3.0 no ports as well as two USB 2 ports, four HDMI outputs, 2 GB 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:54.440 Ethernet ports, an antenna connector for the built-in wireless AC Wi-Fi, and of 00:02:52.480 --> 00:03:00.400 course, a power connector for the included 180 W power brick. While 00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:06.159 another type of display output such as DisplayPort would have been nice to 00:03:02.239 --> 00:03:09.599 see, at least these are HDMI 2.0 ports, 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:11.920 meaning that you can get 4K at 60 Hz as 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:16.000 long as you have a compatible monitor or television. I wouldn't try to game at 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:20.400 that resolution, mind you, on the GTX 960 anyway, but those connections could 00:03:18.640 --> 00:03:25.040 still be useful if you wanted to use a box like this for other less intensive 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:30.000 tasks at high resolution, whether it's web browsing or office work or whatever 00:03:27.040 --> 00:03:34.480 the case may be. For accessories, you get a screw and Wi-Fi antenna, the 00:03:31.760 --> 00:03:38.319 aforementioned power brick, and drivers on a CD. 00:03:36.720 --> 00:03:41.519 Although, since the Magnus doesn't include an optical drive, you'll either 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:45.280 need to dig out an external optical drive if you want to get into that CD, 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:50.959 or you could just use the also included readonly USB stick. Thumbs up for that 00:03:47.920 --> 00:03:53.680 one. Installing our RAM and SSD was a 00:03:50.959 --> 00:03:57.760 breeze. The bottom panel comes off quite easily with a couple of thumb screws, 00:03:55.280 --> 00:04:03.599 revealing the two drive bays and RAM slots. our test SSD, a Samsung 850 Pro, 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:07.360 installed with a very simple toolless plastic mounting system that snapped 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:10.879 right onto the drive. From there, it was just a matter of inserting the SSD 00:04:09.200 --> 00:04:15.200 directly into the SATA ports and securing it with another thumb screw. It 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:18.479 was one of the easiest SSD installations that I've ever done and will allow you 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:23.199 to get up and running in a matter of minutes. And remember that these bays 00:04:20.799 --> 00:04:26.800 also support 2 and 1/2 in mechanical drives if you're more into that sort of 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:32.479 thing, giving you the capability to throw an M.2 two SSD and then up to two 00:04:29.919 --> 00:04:35.280 high-capacity hard drives in here. So, now let's have a look at some 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:40.800 performance numbers though, just to see how capable the little Magnus is. 00:04:38.400 --> 00:04:45.759 Although, we were a little concerned that a desktop GTX 960 would thermal 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:50.880 throttle due to being in such a small case, our gaming results were actually 00:04:48.080 --> 00:04:54.320 very good. We ran three games at 1080p, starting with Crisis 3 on high settings 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:58.960 with anti-aliasing and motion blur turned off, and the Magnus delivered a 00:04:56.400 --> 00:05:03.440 very solid 63 frames per second average. Moving on to Tomb Raider, we got 54 FPS 00:05:01.440 --> 00:05:08.880 with everything maxed out and FXA enabled. And finally, we achieved 38 FPS 00:05:06.400 --> 00:05:14.240 on The Witcher 3 on high settings, again with AA and motion blur off. Aside from 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:19.520 FPS numbers though, we wanted to keep an eye on our GPU's core clock speed to see 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:24.880 if it was throttling in spite of the solid performance. And Zotac clearly did 00:05:22.479 --> 00:05:31.039 a solid job with his cooling solution with our GTX 960 running smooth at 1038 00:05:28.080 --> 00:05:36.400 MHz during both our Crisis 3 Skybox stair load test as well as a Firmark 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:41.919 stress test at 1080p with MSAA cranked up. While that clock speed is about 90 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:46.160 MHz lower than NVIDIA's reference GTX 960, you can still expect a solid and 00:05:44.479 --> 00:05:51.759 consistent gaming experience with the Magnus at normal room temperature. And 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:56.639 speaking of temperatures, the Core i5 5200U maintained an average core 00:05:53.840 --> 00:06:01.680 temperature of a very reasonable 70° C throughout the ID to 64 system stress 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:05.199 test with no thermal throttling either. What's really impressive in addition to 00:06:03.280 --> 00:06:10.080 that though is that the system stayed nearly whisper quiet even during our 00:06:07.280 --> 00:06:15.360 most strenuous tests with John standing right next to it during testing and kind 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:20.479 of having to get pretty close in order to hear it even after turning off the 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:24.080 room's air conditioning. Our review unit also scored good marks for power 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:28.800 consumption or lack thereof. So, even though the included power brick is rated 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:30.479 for 180 watts, we didn't come close to 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:36.240 hitting that during testing with idle power consumption at a mere 21 watts 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:38.960 going up to 34 watts in IDA and 84 watts 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:43.039 in Firmark and only 100 watts during the Crisis 3 load test. I mean, seeing as 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:47.680 there are full-fledged desktop rigs that consume close to that while idle, this 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:52.400 is a big plus if you're an eco-conerned individual who's worried about power 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:56.000 draw. We also put the system through a couple synthetic benchmarks to get a 00:06:53.840 --> 00:07:03.759 feel for its non-gaming performance. It scored 255 in Cinebench, uh 7438 in 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:05.599 Windzip, and uh okay. Although these 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:10.160 numbers are just fractions of what you'd expect to get with a desktop Core i5 or 00:07:07.599 --> 00:07:16.400 Core i7, they are respectable when you consider that the i5200U is a low power 00:07:13.039 --> 00:07:19.680 part and it only has two physical cores 00:07:16.400 --> 00:07:22.080 with four threads. So, watch out for 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:25.919 that because while I wouldn't have recommended doing any kind of heavy 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:31.840 rendering or like super intensive video editing on a system like this anyway, 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:35.680 some games don't cooperate well with two 00:07:31.840 --> 00:07:37.759 cores or less. So, your mileage may vary 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:42.560 in terms of the long-term usability of the system for gaming, which I guess 00:07:41.039 --> 00:07:46.960 leads us pretty well into the conclusion. I don't really have anything 00:07:44.880 --> 00:07:51.680 negative to say other than there's a slightly weird pickled vegetable smell 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:56.560 that uh was kind of detectable when it was first open, but none of that showed 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:58.080 up during uh during testing. Anyway, and 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:02.639 I guess, okay, I guess if there was something to complain about, cost is a 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:06.560 bit of a tough pill to swallow on this one because 00:08:03.960 --> 00:08:10.639 $800 is pretty steep for a barebones machine, especially when you compare it 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:15.759 to what you could build in terms of a fully equipped traditional desktop. But 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:20.800 if you can stomach the price, the solid 1080p performance, the thermal 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:23.280 management, and superb acoustics make 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:27.919 the Zbox Magnus an interesting choice for anyone who wants a bigger than it 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:31.840 looks gaming experience in a tiny lightweight 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:36.240 package. So, if you don't know what Loot Crate is, basically it's a basically 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:40.919 basically it's a monthly subscription box for geeks and gamers as well as pop 00:08:39.680 --> 00:08:48.720 culture afficionados. So, we are going to be unboxing September's Summon Box with the 00:08:45.680 --> 00:08:50.880 October theme being time. It costs less 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:55.640 than 20 bucks a month and gets you six to eight items, including licensed gear, 00:08:53.360 --> 00:09:01.760 apparel, collectibles, and unique one-of-a-kind items. They guarantee a 00:08:59.040 --> 00:09:07.120 $40 value on each crate. If you sign up before October 19th at 900 p.m., you 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:10.880 will actually receive the October crate. If not, you'll miss that cutoff and you 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:14.959 won't get another chance. That crate is gone forever. You'll have to wait for 00:09:12.880 --> 00:09:18.160 the September one. The good news is they're all pretty freaking cool and 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:23.040 they'll all have different themes. Whether it's like inspired by inspired 00:09:20.959 --> 00:09:27.279 by Star Wars. There we go. We got some Hearthstone gear here. Whether it's 00:09:24.640 --> 00:09:31.640 inspired by Marvel, The Walking Dead, whatever else the case may be, there is 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:36.640 always cool stuff. So, here we've got a supernatural loot crate car. We've 00:09:34.640 --> 00:09:41.880 actually collected a whole whack ton of them now. And we've got a massive amount 00:09:38.640 --> 00:09:44.399 of cool stuff. Is this like a a 00:09:41.880 --> 00:09:48.800 Simpsons? That is cool. It's like a Simpsons Homer Simpson Buddha thing. 00:09:47.040 --> 00:09:53.440 Anyway, the point is if any of this sounds appealing, you can sign up at 00:09:51.560 --> 00:10:01.240 lootcrate.com/Linus and enter code lionus to save 10% on any new 00:09:57.240 --> 00:10:05.760 subscription. Why is this in 00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:07.200 a youuber lucky? Wow, we got like lots 00:10:05.760 --> 00:10:11.519 more stuff in here. Scratch off with another coin. Oo, claim your free card 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:16.079 pack. Well, whoever watches this first and claims it first is totally going to 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:19.760 get it. Yeah, that's right. I am all about the little bonuses for sticking 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:23.120 around and watching the uh sponsor spots. Right. Right, guys. Actually, I 00:10:22.079 --> 00:10:30.079 think this is the first time I've ever done anything like that, so whatever. But uh what else we got in here? Free 00:10:27.839 --> 00:10:34.320 mobile game. There we go. Oh, yeah. And every month you get like a little uh 00:10:32.160 --> 00:10:39.800 booklet that'll have like uh some articles and some extra extra swag and 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:45.720 cool stuff like that. And then the box usually folds into some kind of like 00:10:42.880 --> 00:10:51.120 cool diarama scene thing as well. So it's like a cool place to put 00:10:48.160 --> 00:10:54.000 all of your summoning stuff. Now I just want to get this bag 00:10:54.760 --> 00:11:01.040 open. There we go. Look at him. So there 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:03.880 you go guys. That's lootcrate.com/lininus. This hat is 00:11:03.880 --> 00:11:09.440 awesome. Thanks for watching, guys. If this video sucked, I think you know what 00:11:07.839 --> 00:11:13.200 to do. But if it was awesome, get subscribed, hit the like button, or even 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:17.040 consider supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon, 00:11:15.040 --> 00:11:20.320 buying a cool t-shirt like, well, this is a sweatshirt, but whatever. You get 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:23.200 the point, or with a direct contribution through our community forum. Now that 00:11:21.920 --> 00:11:27.519 you're done doing all that stuff, you're probably wondering what to watch next. So, normally I tease something we just 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:34.399 did, but this time I'm going to tease something we're doing soon. I'm going to be running two systems off of a single 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:38.320 box and gaming headto head. It's going to be amazing. Make sure you're 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:38.320 subscribed.