ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-N97 and GMKtec NucBox G2 Review: Contrasting Compact ADL-N Options

Intel launched a separate microarchitecture for low-power / low-cost x86 methods within the 2008 Silverthorne Atom processors. Variation of the microarchitecture in numerous product households has since helped the corporate to span a wider efficiency / energy effectivity vary. From 2008 to 2020, every product household opted for both the Atom-class microarchitecture or the Core-class one. Nevertheless, the introduction of hybrid CPUs (beginning with the short-lived Lakefield) noticed the location of cores based mostly on each microarchitectures in the identical die. The Tremont microarchitecture (developed as a part of the Atom-family) made its debut in Lakefield earlier than gaining wider market presence by Jasper Lake and Elkhart Lake. Its successor (Gracemont) is adopting an identical trajectory. After its introduction in Alder Lake (ADL), it underwent additional refinement in Raptor Lake (RPL). The hybrid processors in these two households teamed up the Gracemont effectivity cores with the Golden Cove (ADL) / Raptor Cove (RPL) efficiency cores. Ultimately, Intel launched a brand new line of processors underneath the ‘Alder Lake-N’ (ADL-N) tag comprising solely the Gracemont cores, a pared-down built-in GPU, and premium connectivity choices eliminated. As a alternative for the Tremont-based Jasper Lake SoCs, ADL-N has discovered its method into a wide range of entry-level computing methods together with notebooks and compact desktops.

ASRock Industrial’s lineup of ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) methods – the Intel-based NUC BOX collection and AMD-based 4X4 BOX collection – has loved vital market success, permitting the corporate to often introduce merchandise based mostly on the newest Intel and AMD choices. On the similar time, the increasing marketplace for compact computing methods has additionally introduced many Asian corporations equivalent to ACEMAGIC, Beelink, GEEKOM, GMKtec, and MinisForum into play. These distributors are basically manufacturers for OEMs / ODMs with expertise in product design and manufacturing expertise. The rise of e-commerce has allowed them to search out an outlet for his or her product designs by way of direct-to-consumer gross sales.

As ADL-N ramps up, we’re seeing a flood of low-cost compact desktop methods based mostly on it from a number of distributors. We took benefit of this chance to supply two contrasting ADL-N mini-PCs – the ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-N97 and the GMKtec NucBox G2. Although each methods make the most of a quad-core ADL-N SoC, the characteristic set and goal markets are very completely different. The assessment beneath offers an in depth evaluation of the system options, construct, efficiency profile, and worth proposition of the NUC BOX-N97 and the NucBox G2.

Introduction and Product Impressions

Fast strides have been made in CPU efficiency and energy effectivity over the past decade. This has resulted in compact methods geared up with sub-15W TDP SoCs changing into highly effective sufficient to exchange cumbersome desktops for a lot of use-cases. This pattern gained mainstream consideration with Intel’s introduction of the ultra-compact form-factor (4in. x 4in.) NUC within the early 2010s. The 4×4 form-factor continues to carry sway even in the present day, as evidenced by the number of UCFF methods launched by a number of distributors yearly. The ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-N97 we’re on this assessment makes use of the tried and examined 4×4 form-factor.

The 4×4 form-factor was chosen so as to have the ability to accommodate a 2.5″ disk drives and SODIMM kits. Since that point, each storage and reminiscence applied sciences have advanced considerably. Excessive-capacity M.2 2242 / 2230 SSDs have gotten widespread, and soldered RAM just isn’t being met with as a lot derision as earlier than. These have contributed to some distributors introducing micro-PCs with a sub-4×4 footprint. The second system evaluated as a part of this assessment, GMKtec’s NucBox G2, is one such micro-PC measuring 3.4 in x 3.4 in.

ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-N97

ASRock Industrial has been serving the economic methods market with compact boards and mini-PCs because the days of Intel Skylake (sixth Gen) / Braswell. Having taken over ASRock’s Beebox design, the corporate’s product releases on this class have had an everyday cadence.

The corporate has been sustaining a line of actively-cooled 4in. x 4in. NUC BOX methods based mostly on Intel’s low energy microarchitecture. Within the Tremont period, the corporate launched the Elkhart Lake-based NUC BOX-J6412. This was the successor of the NUC BOX-3xx0 based mostly on the Braswell SoCs. The NUC BOX-N97 is the corporate’s newest product within the lineup. This Gracemont model makes use of the ADL-N Intel Processor N97. Much like different merchandise within the NUC BOX line, the system if supplied as a barebone, with the flexibility to accommodate a single DDR4-3200 SODIMM and both a 2.5″ SATA drive or a M.2 2280 SATA / NVMe SSD.

Along with the primary unit, the NUC BOX-N97 package deal comes with a VESA mount and corresponding screws, and a 65W (19V @ 3.42A) energy adapter. A geo-specific energy twine is provided together with a product overview / set up brochure. The gallery beneath offers a complete have a look at the chassis design and I/O ports placement. The area for the two.5″ drive is on the underside of the unit (the one which must be separated out with a view to set up the RAM and disk drive). The SATA cable is affixed to the underside, as proven in one of many gallery photos.

We opted to put in a 16 GB Essential DDR4-3200 CL 22 SODIMM within the system together with a SK hynix Gold P31 NVMe SSD. It should be famous that the M.2 slot accepts each SATA and NVMe SSDs, with the latter working at PCIe 3.0 x1.

Each NUC BOX system reviewed earlier than had been geared up with twin SODIMM slots. The NUC BOX-N97 has just one slot, although (because the ADL-N SoCs have solely a single reminiscence channel). Aside from the DRAM slot, the remainder of the NUC BOX-N97’s internals are similar to the opposite NUC BOX methods reviewed earlier than. The system makes use of a notebook-style cooler. There aren’t any bells and whistles, and the chassis design and thermal answer are tried and examined variations.

GMKtec NucBox G2

The GMKtec’s NucBox G2 is the corporate’s follow-up to the still-active Jasper Lake-based NucBox 7. This micro-PC household adopts the ports-all-around scheme that we already noticed in final week’s assessment of the ACEMAGIC T8 Plus. Just like the ACEMAGIC system, the NucBox G2 additionally comes with soldered LPDDR5 RAM. A semblance of upgradability is maintained, because of using a M.2 2242 SATA SSD. The system just isn’t accessible as a barebone equipment. Our assessment configuration got here with 12 GB of LPDDR5-4800 RAM and a 1 TB SATA SSD with Home windows 11 Professional pre-installed.

Along with the primary unit, the NucBox G2 package deal comes with a HDMI cable, wall mount with related screws, an consumer handbook, a guaranty card, and a 36W (12V @ 3A) geo-specific wall wart with a Sort-C output. Sadly, this can be a non-conforming USB Sort-C utility, and the wall wart cannot be used reliably with different units conforming to USB-PD sink requirements. The adapter can solely be used with the Sort-C energy input-only port of the NucBox G2. The highest a part of the primary unit could be pried off simply to reveal the M.2 2242 SATA SSD slot. GMKtec additionally provides another coloured prime panel. Teardown photos are offered within the gallery beneath together with a have a look at the location of varied I/O ports.

The teardown photos present the M.2 SATA SSD surrounded by a plastic body on which the WLAN antenna are mounted. Unscrewing the underside reveals a LED lighting base related to the primary board with a ribbon connector. A small notebook-style fan can also be seen together with the related copper warmth spreader. The LED lighting base has open vents permitting the fan to suck in air and blow it out over the warmth spreader fins. Taking off the warmth sink and fan reveals the ADL-N package deal and a single DRAM package deal that comes with 4 24 Gbit Micron cube.

12 GB LPDDR5-4800 Package deal Adjoining to the Thermal Paste-Laden ADL-N Package deal

The soldered RAM just isn’t user-upgradeable. Nevertheless, the M.2 2230 slot for the WLAN element is accessible underneath the M.2 SATA SSD slot. The pre-installed SSD is from FuturePath, and appears to have the identical SSD controller producer because the FPT310 SSD seen within the ACEMAGIC T8 Plus assessment.

The NucBox G2 got here with Home windows Professional OS pre-installed, however we needed to wipe it and set up Home windows 11 Enterprise to maintain the testing setting constant throughout completely different methods. The complete specs of the 2 assessment samples (as examined) are summarized within the desk beneath.

Within the subsequent part, we check out the system setup and observe it up with an in depth platform evaluation.