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Unstoppable high performance. Rich media features. Easy connectivity… The sleek, ultra-compact GIGABYTE GB-BXA8-5557 provides you everything you need. Ideal for a broad range of computing applications at home or in the office.
Redefining the Desktop PC
Challenging the essence of how a desktop PC is defined, GIGABYTE engineers have developed an ultra-compact yet powerful PC – the GIGABYTE GB-BXA8-5557.
The stylish, compact-sized GIGABYTE GB-BXA8-5557 expounds sheer simplicity and convenience. It sets a new standard for desktop miniaturization that makes it perfect as a discreet HTPC/multimedia hub, an ultra-low power PC for the family, an office PC or as a digital signage unit.
The AMD Richland A8-5557M quad-core APU delivers a clock rate of 2.1 to 3.1GHz, delivering no-holds-barred processor capabilities. You can run multi-threaded applications with noticeably fast results. The integrated AMD Radeon HD 8550G graphics provides fantastic graphic performance.
A Flexible, Compact DIY PC Kit
The GIGABYTE BRIX is a DIY PC kit, shipping with a Wi-Fi Mini PCIe module pre-installed, requiring only SO-DIMM system memory and a choice of either, or both mSATA SSD or standard 2.5” hard drives. The GIGABYTE BRIX maintains the DIY PC ethos, giving users the flexibility to independently choose preferred operating system, integrated storage and system memory configurations.
USB 3.0 and Network Connectivity
The GIGABYTE BRIX integrates four USB 3.0 ports (two front, two rear), ensuring ample connectivity for peripherals, storage devices and more. In addition to including a Gigabit Ethernet port, the GIGABYTE BRIX also includes a Mini PCIe module offering IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and the latest Bluetooth 4.0, providing connectivity for low power Bluetooth devices and peripherals, as well as allowing users to easily connect their mobile devices.
VESA Support
Bundled with a VESA bracket, the GIGABYTE BRIX can easily be mounted behind a monitor or HDTV making it discreetly hidden from view. This offers a simple and elegant way to turn any VESA-compliant display or TV into a full-featured PC or digital signage unit.
Pros: - Super compact - Solid build quality - Very accessible RAM slots + M.2/SATA - Dual fans are reasonably quiet - Sufficiently fast APU (see Other Thoughts) - Big heatsinks - Case airflow is fairly good - Onboard WiFi + Bluetooth is strong
Cons: - Runs way too hot out of the box, hitting thermal throttle frequently - Atrocious thermal pad material and application (see Other Thoughts) - Dual fans get loud when ramping up to max to deal with the aforementioned overheating - BIOS is very limited in performance and cooling options - (Unrelated to product) Chipset + Graphics drivers difficult to procure from AMD
Overall Review: The other reviews on this were right in that it does run unacceptably hot out-of-box. I was idling at 47C and hitting the thermal shutdown for the APU (105C) after less than an hour of gaming. Worse, the thermal pad that was applied was done sloppily (covering less than two-thirds of the die) with a very poor quality pad that was not designed to sustain the high temperatures this APU runs at. It burned and appeared to have bubbled at some point, which would further degrade cooling capability. I took the machine fully apart and removed the old thermal pads with some Goof Off and 91% isopropyl alcohol. Applied Thermaltake TG-7 grease, covering the entire die and ensuring contact and good fill. Idle temps plummeted to 31C with load temps now in the high-80s. Not great temps by desktop CPU standards, but well within tolerance for this chip and keeping the fans from entering their highest power state. I feel confident with this chip now. I bought this as a portable box to take to LAN parties and it seems to do the trick. Most Source games run well at medium-high details (> 30FPS, 1600x900) Chivalry: Medieval Warfare runs well on low-medium (~30FPS, 1600x900), and Payday 2 is acceptable at low-medium (~25FPS, 1280x720). Straight CPU performance is excellent, running emulators at full steam without issue. The APU's graphics performance is going to be limited by your system RAM (go for dual-channel DDR3), and the chipset appears to sequester 768MB of your system RAM at boot to use as graphics memory. Buy memory with good timings to keep this at top performance. I would recommend this product only if you're willing to take the whole thing apart to re-do the thermal paste, and you're on a budget. I'm not dissatisfied with it in the end, but a less build-savvy user or someone who isn't comfortable doing more than just memory and HDD swaps should look elsewhere.