Gadgetory

hmm I really need an HD PC for my living room problem is I don't have space to accommodate a mini ITX build plus I don't need that much power considering my gimmie PC can do whatever I throw at it let's see what are the options out there maybe a compute stick umm 200 part actually how about a nook now that mobile cable a chips are available I think this should be fitting all right let's do this but first a message from our sponsor the z9 neo buys all the right features on a budget with a large windows side panel 5 included fans and the excellent interior layout with super simple cable management get it now link in the description below folks meet the as Rugby box s a tiny and simple looking mini PC that retails for about three hundred and fifty dollars which for bare-bones kit itself is relatively affordable when compared against something like the Skullcandy nook Dimitri look at a while ago with this you get the basics of a chassis CPU cooler motherboard and a few other items but you'll need to buy the memory operating system and storage so there's an additional cost involved azrog does offer a fully equipped B box as with all these components already installed but that would cost you about $150 more I also want to make myself clear this is not meant to replace a gaming PC and it won't compete against the skull canyon neck either rather the B box S offers performance that's well suited for basic tasks like web browsing word processing high-definition media consumption so let's find out if it can keep up to the above mentioned tasks powering the B box is a 7th gen cable a core i5 7200 u dual core quad thread processor clocked at 2.5 gigahertz that turbo boosts up to 3 point 1 gigahertz this is a company by Intel HD 620 graphics which ones that up to one gigahertz asrock has also included an MDOT two Wi-Fi card from Intel that supports 802 11 AC and Bluetooth 4.0 standards now since this is a bare-bones kit you will need to populate your preferred Ram modules which by the way can be maxed out - 32 gigabytes there is an extra m2 slot that supports these MDOT - base drives plus you can mount a traditional two and a half inch hard drive on the bottom panel with the included bracket and connected to the logic board through the combined SATA and power cable which also comes in the box so in my case I opted for coursers value select 16 gigabytes sodam ddr4 kit clocked at 21 33 megahertz and their 240 GB by force le two and a half inch SSD so in total we're looking at at additional $300.00 with the operating system on top of the $350 investment for the B box alright I know this is a bit of an overkill but I wanted my new mini PC to be relatively future proof the extra parts cost can vary depending on your configuration but remember acquiring a fully functioning Windows PC with a built-in wireless card in this form factor for $800 is amazing installing the RAM and SSD was fairly simple but the included SATA cable could be prone to damage as closing the bottom panel with the SSD mounted required a little bit of pressure users have reported the system not recognizing their two and a half inch hard drive so I would be extra careful with this step luckily I never experienced issues with lowering of Windows 10 and the appropriate drivers on the SSD as Rob has also included a base amount bracket for the B box and it can support both 75 and 100 millimeter options taking a peek at the i/o you'll find a 3.5 millimeter headphone and microphone input a single USB 3.0 port and a USB 3.1 gen2 type-c port the IR blaster for the included remote is also located in the front side and it is important to place the unit facing this side for best control the rear i/o consists of a Kensington lock Gigabit LAN port two USB 3.0 ports a single display port and two HDMI ports do note that one of these HDMI ports is limited to processing 4k at 30 Hertz either way you can run dual monitor setup without compromising quality and that's a thumbs up now in terms of native 4k playback the B box handled it smoothly on my Dell 4k monitor the core i5 CPU is plenty powerful to handle content from YouTube Netflix and other media streaming services however the fans do kick in when loading up the video from YouTube but it settles down quickly during play but it normally stays silent when performing idle tasks like web browsing the included remote is a nice addition as it features all the basic controls you need like volume adjust play pause skip tracks and navigating buttons if you're considering using the beat box as an HTTP see this is a game changer I install Kodi which is an open-source home theater software through the Windows Store and after tinkering around with various add-ons through the app I was up and running in no time you can use this remote to navigate through the app skip through movies TV shows adjust the volume and put the B Box to sleep which is super convenient so you don't have to rely on a Bluetooth keyboard or a mouse for that I just wish they added a custom button to the remote which could have been programmed to open a certain application I did push the core i5 to its limit to test and see how it can handle CPU intensive tasks starting with Cinebench a popular benchmarking tool the B box scored 45 frames per second on OpenGL on the CPU side it hit a little north of 300 points for the CPU test which is respectable and it's actually right in line with something like AMD's 810 78 70 K processor remember this is an ultra-low voltage processor and it consumes a maximum of just 25 watts Photoshop CC 2017 went surprisingly well for my thumbnail edits but you have to be aware that this program requires a lot of RAM to process changes and in my case 16 gigabytes was just perfect for the task Premiere Pro was able to playback my C 100 footage at full resolution without a problem but adding an adjustment layer with limitary color required toning down the playback resolution to a quarter I wouldn't touch editing 4k footage as a CPU will struggle to play back in real time but casual 1080p editing would be okay for the sake of testing the integrated GPU I did run a few games but they ended up performing poorly even at 1080p with minimum settings for example C is go experienced stutters occasionally so I lost track of my aim and I didn't do that great through the game play or watch which really does require a discrete GPU to run did pretty well but turning down settings resulted in characters that were pixelated and visually the game looked awful for some basic titles like hearthstone the B box with the 7200 year processor would be adequate but in fast paced titles where framerate is key don't expect miracles looking at the temperature side of things I ran I 264 to stress test the CPU and the integrated GPU the chip ran a little over 80 degrees Celsius by stressing just a CPU yielded 74 degrees Celsius and during idle the system ran at 53 C let's take a listen to how the system sounds under both scenarios performing simple tasks like web browsing with multiple tabs open work flawlessly and the built-in wireless AC Wi-Fi card perform just as expected providing strong throughput over my five kickers Network I would even consider the D box as a separate work machine for myself to write scripts email and do research without relying on my workstation PC that theoretically draws a lot more power compared to this I'm tired of paying expensive hydro bills you know so to conclude my experience with the B box PC was very satisfying it's an excellent machine to get basic tasks done and the seventh gen ultra-low voltage core i5 processor proved its potential you know just being able to upgrade the RAM up to 32 gigabytes and also house to storage options in such a compact form factor is incredible the included remote is a wonderful add-on and I definitely enjoyed using this to navigate through Kodi and other apps this is definitely a worthy option if you're looking for a compact htpc there are many other applications for the system too for example folks who want a basic PC for their children businesses that want to save on electrical costs and even professionals who want to keep their primary system crunching away on data it is an affordable compact and very efficient solution my only gripe about the B box is the included SATA and power cable users have reported about them being damaged during installation so asrock if you're watching this you better take notes I would prefer a more durable cable in the next revision oh hey there NC XCOM is Canada's leading a tailor for anything your mind desires just keep within those categories which are plenty and get tempted by the weekly deals visit ncx comm for all them sweet deals so what'd you guys think about the as rugby box s are you satisfied with the performance of this tiny and cute looking PC or are there any alternatives that you might be interested in let us know in the comments down below I'm Ebert with hurricane axe thank you so much for watching and we'll see you in the next one you