ASRock Beebox Review: A Fanless Braswell UCFF PC
by Ganesh T S on July 14, 2015 8:00 AM ESTNetworking and Storage Performance
We have recently started devoting a separate section to analyze the storage and networking credentials of the units under review. On the storage side, one option would be repetition of our strenuous SSD review tests on the drive(s) in the PC. Fortunately, to avoid that overkill, PCMark 8 has a storage bench where certain common workloads such as loading games and document processing are replayed on the target drive. Results are presented in two forms, one being a benchmark number and the other, a bandwidth figure. We ran the PCMark 8 storage bench on selected PCs and the results are presented below.
It must be noted that the SSD in our review sample was industrial-grade. The claimed speeds of 510 MBps reads and 300 MBps writes indicate that the controller in the mSATA SSD is likely the Silicon Motion SM2246EN. The PCMark 8 storage bench numbers keep the Beebox in the top half of the graph.
On the networking side, we restricted ourselves to the evaluation of the WLAN component. Our standard test router is the Netgear R7000 Nighthawk configured with both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. The router is placed approximately 20 ft. away, separated by a drywall (as in a typical US building). A wired client (Zotac ID89-Plus) is connected to the R7000 and serves as one endpoint for iPerf evaluation. The PC under test is made to connect to either the 5 GHz (preferred) or 2.4 GHz SSID and iPerf tests are conducted for both TCP and UDP transfers. It is ensured that the PC under test is the only wireless client for the Netgear R7000. We evaluate total throughput for up to 32 simultaneous TCP connections using iPerf and present the highest number in the graph below.
In the UDP case, we try to transfer data at the highest rate possible for which we get less than 1% packet loss.
The Realtek 8821AE 1x1 802.11ac / BT 4.0 combo is no stranger to our testbed. We have seen it before in our GIGABYTE BRIX Pro as well as BRIX Gaming reviews. Unfortunately, the performance of the mPCIe card in the Beebox is not that great - this could be due to a number of factors such as host CPU limitations (Cherry Trail vs. Core-series) and/or antenna placement.
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Kobaljov - Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - link
"As FanlessTech notes, the thermal solution is very similar to that of the Zotac ZBOX C-series - a thermal pad on a small heat sink."No, here the chassis is connected to the heat sink with a thermal pad too, see at the TweakTown's teardown:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7224/asrock-beebo...
"In the case that plastic is unavoidable due to cost issues, a perforated top similar to the Zotac ZBOX C-series units could help improve aesthetics."
Aesthetics maybe, airflow sure.
I still miss the HEVC test, I think it can make some sense under the 4K, without HDMI 2.0 too.
Kobaljov - Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - link
Other suggestions for the ASRock from my side:- as the WiFi not so fast an external WiFi antenna connector will be useful for a DIY fix
- a rechargable battery for the remote (built in charged via micro USB or AAA)
Earthfall - Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - link
I didn't see a release date. When is this available?Kobaljov - Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - link
Approx mid of July for the non-OS versions (the one with memory and storage is already available here in Hungary from Friday), for the one with OS probably the end of the month, after the release of the Win 10.harrkev - Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - link
But, does it run BeOs? BeOs was designed to run on a BeBox.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS
extide - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
This is a BeeBox, not BeBox ;)Stanand - Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - link
How's the DisplayPort output? Should we assume that the DisplayPort will output 4K at 60fps? I'm actually pleasantly surprised to see DP on a cheap Braswell computer or motherboard.I know HDMI is the port of choice for HTPCs, but I'd like to know if I can play back 4K video at silky-smooth 60fps on one of those increasingly cheap 4K desktop displays.
Kobaljov - Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - link
Unfortunately no, check the other reviews on the web, it was tested somewhere and as far as I remember it was capable of only 4K/30 or lessTeknobug - Monday, July 20, 2015 - link
4K 23fps probably.MacDaddy100 - Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - link
FIRST thing I thought, Is we'd finally see the ole Be.OS being put to use, Read the article, Noticed the name Bee, Not Be. Actually before OS X when Apple had considered the Be OS, I was stoked, But they went with the UNIX based Next Step, which in the long run turned out quite well, but part of me wanted Be.OS, why I was momentarily exited when I first seen the title of this article..... Dang.