Intel NUC6CAYH (Arches Canyon) Apollo Lake UCFF PC Review
by Ganesh T S on January 12, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- Intel
- NUC
- UCFF
- Apollo Lake
- Arches Canyon
Performance Metrics - I
The Intel NUC6CAYH 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 SE, as well as some of the Futuremark benchmarks.
BAPCo SYSmark 2014 SE
BAPCo's SYSmark 2014 SE 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. In addition, it also addresses the responsiveness aspect which deals with user experience as related to application and file launches, multi-tasking etc. Scores are meant to be compared against a reference desktop (the SYSmark 2014 SE calibration system in the graphs below). While the SYSmark 2014 benchmark used a Haswell-based desktop configuration, the SYSmark 2014 SE makes the move to a Lenovo ThinkCenter M800 (Intel Core i3-6100, 4GB RAM and a 256GB SATA SSD). The calibration system 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.
The graphs below shows that the two extra cores and slightly higher speeds in the Celeron J3455 give the NUC6CAYH a distinct boost over the Celeron N3350 in the ECS LIVA-ZN33.
SYSmark 2014 SE also adds energy measurement to the mix. A high score in the SYSmark benchmarks might be nice to have, but, potential customers also need to determine the balance between power consumption and the efficiency of the system. For example, in the average office scenario, it might not be worth purchasing a noisy and power-hungry PC just because it ends up with a 2000 score in the SYSmark 2014 SE benchmarks. In order to provide a balanced perspective, SYSmark 2014 SE also allows vendors and decision makers to track the energy consumption during each workload. In the graphs below, we find the total energy consumed by the PC under test for a single iteration of each SYSmark 2014 SE workload and how it compares against the calibration systems.
The energy numbers are no big surprise, with the calibration system utilizing a proper desktop CPU compared to the nettop variant used in the NUC6CAYH.
Futuremark PCMark 10
UL's PCMark 10 evaluates computing systems for various usage scenarios (generic / essential tasks such as web browsing and starting up applications, productivity tasks such as editing spreadsheets and documents, gaming, and digital content creation). We benchmarked select PCs with the PCMark 10 Extended profile and recorded the scores for various scenarios. These scores are heavily influenced by the CPU and GPU in the system, though the RAM and storage device also play a part. The power plan was set to Balanced for all the PCs while processing the PCMark 10 benchmark. We do not have PCMark 10 scores of any other Atom-class PC to compare against yet.
Futuremark PCMark 8
We continue to present PCMark 8 benchmark results (as those have more comparison points) while our PCMark 10 scores database for systems grows in size. 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. As expected, the Celeron J3455 ends up on top in almost all the benchmarks.
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. The results confirm what we found in the previous section.
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lilmoe - Thursday, January 18, 2018 - link
Can this decode 4k60p HEVC HDR with little to now CPU usage and under 2w? No? Didn't think so.mode_13h - Saturday, January 20, 2018 - link
Unfortunately, he reviewed a NUC that's > 1 year old. The new Gemini Lake SoCs can do 4k60 @ 10bit HEVC, with native HDMI 2.x.In 2W? I don't know but maybe close to that, and for less $$$ than any phone or tablet that could do it.
Anyway, I wouldn't say Goldmont or Goldmont+ can run circles around a modern, high-end ARM core. But, if you check out the benchies, they're definitely in the same ballpark.
Arbie - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
Good luck keeping Windows 10 updated on the 32GB machine. No more of those for me.smegforbrain - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
Yeah, we tried one of these out at the office. Out of the box with nothing but the Creators Update installed, and it didn't have the space to install the Fall Creators Update. Now I'm not sure what the hell to do with it.69369369 - Saturday, January 13, 2018 - link
Use it to cook marshmallows?Badelhas - Monday, January 15, 2018 - link
I am having the exact same problem, had to connect an external drive to be able to update Windows 10. Incredible.jimjamjamie - Monday, January 15, 2018 - link
put linux on it :Djabber - Monday, January 15, 2018 - link
I've had a couple of those 32GB trash heaps in to put the main updates on.Basically did it two ways. Deleted as much of the non OS software and data off, did the update and put it all back.
Or...compressed the drive after cleaning it up. Makes little difference to performance. In fact I now use full disk compression on several small SSDs I use.
mode_13h - Monday, January 15, 2018 - link
32 GB is plenty for a Linux install.Kronos288 - Saturday, January 13, 2018 - link
Hey ganesh,I set three of these up recently to run permanent displays. Thanks for the review. Might be worthy to note these two things as well:
These NUCs are very picky about the type of ram modules. I originally purchased a crucial double pack, but the bios spit out a ram density error. There's an article on Intel's website on selecting compatible ram and there's a list.
Lastly, if you plan on using it for displays like me, you need to perform the latest bios update to add the HDMI CEC functionality... Although it only supports power on or power off and not pass through for accessories like media remotes. Does have IR built in though.
Oh and the kits include a Vesa mounting bracket. Cheers.