MSI Cubi 2 Plus vPro Skylake mini-STX PC Review
by Ganesh T S on April 27, 2016 8:05 AM ESTPower Consumption and Thermal Performance
The power consumption at the wall was measured with a 1080p display being driven through the HDMI port. In the graphs below, we compare the idle and load power of the MSI Cubi 2 Plus vPro with other low power PCs evaluated before. For load power consumption, we ran Furmark 1.12.0 and Prime95 v27.9 together. The numbers are typical for the combination of hardware components in the machine.
The MSI Cubi 2 Plus vPro is able to sustain a much higher load (despite having a processor with the same TDP as the Cubi 2 Plus).
Our thermal stress routine starts with the system at idle, followed by 30 minutes of pure CPU loading. This is followed by another 30 minutes of both CPU and GPU being loaded simultaneously. After this, the CPU load gets removed, allowing the GPU to be loaded alone for another 30 minutes. The various clocks in the system as well as the temperatures within the unit are presented below. Starting with this review, we are also presenting the instaneous power consumption numbers of the internal components as reported by HWiNFO.
According to the official specifications, the junction temperature of the processors is 100 C. While the Core i3-6100T is kept comfortably below that limit, the thermal solution is just about sufficient for the Core i5-6500T. Note that the CPU package power starts going up rapidly above 60W for the vPro system, but 'power throttling' kicks in before thermal throttling to keep things within limits.
Another important aspect to keep note of while evaluating fanless PCs is the chassis temperature. Using the Android version of the FLIR One thermal imager, we observed the chassis temperature for the vPro model after the CPU package temperature reached the steady state value in the above graph.
We have additional thermal images in the gallery below.
The active thermal solution ensure that the chassis temperature doesn't become a big concern even under very heavy loading conditions.
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close - Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - link
So Cubi 2 Plus vPro barebones costs under $300 with Intel Core i5-6500T? It looks like it's blowing any barebones NUC out of the water. Am I missing something?NUC5i5RYKis ~$350 on Amazon.
cfenton - Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - link
It sounds like 'barebones' in this case means it doesn't come with the CPU. The final page of the review says "In the North American market, MSI plans to offer only the barebones version (no CPU / hard drive / memory)."So, unlike a NUC, it sounds like you have to supply the CPU.
Ratman6161 - Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - link
On their previous models the CPU was included and I assume the same will be true with these (as is typical in this form factor). See: https://us.msi.com/product/barebone/Cubi-Mini-PC-K...ganeshts - Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - link
No, CPU is not included in the $210 / $270 cost.The difference is that this is a socketed system, while the Cubi-Mini uses BGA processors (Broadwell-U) that are soldered.
Think of the Cubi 2 Plus vPro as a motherboard + chassis + power supply combo.
close - Thursday, April 28, 2016 - link
Ok, I get it now. So add $250 for the CPU (if you want the vPro).Ethos Evoss - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
that's bullsht mini pc's always must come with cpu ..Ian Cutress - Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - link
From the final page:Final Page:
"In the North American market, MSI plans to offer only the barebones version (no CPU / hard drive / memory). The Cubi 2 Plus will be sold to the channels and have an approximate MSRP of $210 with a 2-year warranty. The vPro model will be a build-to-order one, priced at (from) $270 with a 2-year warranty. "
Typically a 'barebones' system means chassis, motherboard, integrated WiFi and power supply only. If the 6500T is $247 alone, the whole unit plus CPU won't be $270 for sure. The unit as tested was $683, so $270 for the barebones, $247 for CPU, some for 2x8GB SO-DIMM and some for 250GB SSD, comes to $683 total.
For volume sales, the vPro model is most likely going to be sold through system integrators who will kit the units out as per the customer specifications and provide a support package on top.
close - Thursday, April 28, 2016 - link
I missed the "No CPU" part. It sounded like a killer deal with basically a $250 CPU that comes bundled with free MoBo , case and PSU :D.Ethos Evoss - Friday, April 29, 2016 - link
I have Msi Cubi celeron 128gb 8gb and am happy.. just for 250$BrokenCrayons - Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - link
The load power consumption is rather high. Isn't the PSU only rated at 90W?