The Intel Compute Stick (Core m3-6Y30) Review
by Ganesh T S on June 27, 2016 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- Intel
- Core M
- Skylake
- HDMI Stick
- Compute Stick
Performance Metrics - I
The Intel Core m3-6Y30 Compute Stick was evaluated using our standard test suite for low power desktops / industrial PCs. Not all benchmarks were processed on all the machines due to updates in our testing procedures. Therefore, the list of PCs in each graph might not be the same. In the first section, we will be looking at SYSmark 2014, as well as some of the Futuremark benchmarks.
BAPCo SYSmark 2014
BAPCo's SYSmark 2014 is an application-based benchmark that uses real-world applications to replay usage patterns of business users in the areas of office productivity, media creation and data/financial analysis. Scores are meant to be compared against a reference desktop (HP ProDesk 600 G1 with a Core i3-4130, 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive) that scores 1000 in each of the scenarios. A score of, say, 2000, would imply that the system under test is twice as fast as the reference system.
Since SYSmark 2014 was not processed on any of of the PCs in our comparison list, we present the scores obtained in the three iterations of the benchmark above. Obviously, a 7.5W TDP Skylake Core M is no match for a 54W Haswell Core i3. However, it still manages to delivery more than 70% of its performance for business workloads.
Futuremark PCMark 8
PCMark 8 provides various usage scenarios (home, creative and work) and offers ways to benchmark both baseline (CPU-only) as well as OpenCL accelerated (CPU + GPU) performance. We benchmarked select PCs for the OpenCL accelerated performance in all three usage scenarios. These scores are heavily influenced by the CPU in the system. Most of the PCs in our comparison list are equipped with anaemic Atom processors, and the Core m3-6Y30 manages to easily better them in performance despite the form factor limitation.
Miscellaneous Futuremark Benchmarks
3D Rendering - CINEBENCH R15
We have moved on from R11.5 to R15 for 3D rendering evaluation. CINEBENCH R15 provides three benchmark modes - OpenGL, single threaded and multi-threaded. Evaluation of select PCs in all three modes provided us the following results.
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bill.rookard - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
That's somewhat debatable IMHO. If there's one thing that's usually true: people never complain about having too much power, proper thermal and power management usually keeps that all under control. They always complain though if it's not powerful enough.Notmyusualid - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
I have a use case for one of these...At home I have a Samsung 3D TV that I paid a fortune for, and other than the software / online side to the device, I'm very happy with. The issue is - after 4yrs, Samsung no longer updates their smart TV, and thus I cannot even finish a single episode of anything on iPlayer, without it rebooting. And the smart TV interface is painful to use.
I think this device would bridge the gap, and allow me to keep this TV another 4 years.
But that price...it won't convert well when it hits the UK shores...
felang - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
Seems like a $50 Roku Stick might be just what you need.BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
I hear that a lot. People jumped on the 3D TV and smart TV fads which are both are rapidly deflating markets making them unprofitable to continue to support from an OEM perspective. You're probably better off using a Roku or some other similar set top box. A compute stick seems like overkill for your usage scenario.Notmyusualid - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
Thanks for all your answers.However, I don't stream Hulu, or Netflix, but only from the BBCs iPlayer, in accordance with my non-license-paying laws.
But I DO use Youtube, and have hated most every linux interface I've seen, so I really Need / Want a Windows user environment.
At $200 this would be an insta-buy. At $300, I dunno, I guess I'd have to be stateside to really decide, but when it lands at 299 GBP, they can stuff it. (that is my price GUESS).
I'll certainly be adding it to my Ebay 2nd hand search, just in case a fool dumps one cheaply...
erple2 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link
Sounds like a Chromecast might work, too. BBC suggests that it should just work if you use the iPlayer app on your Android or iPhone.JackNSally - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
I currently have an Amazon Firestick.It works really good for Netflix, Hulu, etc.
You can also put Kodi on it. It's not the most polished interface and experience but it does work.
I think you can do more with it too, I just haven't figured it all out.
Gunbuster - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
My takeaway is that 2in1's have the potential to not suck if Intel would make Core-M pricing reasonable.TheinsanegamerN - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
Yes, but this is intel we are talking about here.bill.rookard - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
If Zen comes through with good cores at low enough power usage, we might see that pricing adjust somewhat.