Voyo V3 is one of the first Cherry Trail mini PCs based on Intel Atom x7-Z8700 quad processor that promises both higher CPU and GPU performance, and more I/O connectivity compared to Intel Atom x5 platforms. I’ve already posted pictures of the device and its guts in the first part of the review, so today in part 2 of the review, I’ll focus on testing how the device perform with its pre-installed operating system: Windows 10 Home.
Setup and System Information
There’s no much to say about setup for this device, since all you have to do is to connect the cable, and press the button to access Windows 10 desktop.
There are however two interesting aspect of the boot process:
- As you connect the power supply, you’ll see the power button blue LED lit, but it does not mean it has started. I could see the power consumption was 3.4 watts, and as I waited a few seconds, nothing happened, so I pressed the power button again for one or two seconds, power consumption jumped to 8, and then up 15 watts as the system booted. However, when you power off from WIndows, the power LED is turn off, and power consumption will then be around 1 watt.
- You won’t go through Windows 10 setup during the first boot, and instead Voyo user will automatically be logged in with direct access to the desktop. I’ve also noticed Windows would never pop-up a window asking me if I wanted to run an application, it would just run it, so there may be some security concerns with the way Windows 10 has been setup.
If you look closely as the picture the glass cover which lifted yesterday, is even lifting even more with the heat. Super glue will soon come to the rescue, hopefully it won’t get too hot.
The system supports 1080p resolution up to 60Hz, and 3840×2160 up to 30Hz. Some people believed HDMI 2.0 (4K @ 60Hz) due to some incorrect specs, or some would call it deceptive advertisement on some e-retailer websites, but that’s definitely not supported, and video output is limited to HDMI 1.4. As a side note, it’s possible to have HDMI 2.0 with Intel Atom x7 processors, but the hardware would require an extra DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0 bridge.
Windows 10 Home 64-bit appears to be legit as Control Panel->System reveals Windows is activated, and indeed runs on an Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor @ 1.6 GHz with 4GB RAM.
The system has 118 GB storage which makes it more much usable as a desktop platform than most mini PCs with 32GB storage. Please note that I took the screenshot after downloading and installing benchmarks and other programs, so the initial free storage should be closer to 100 GB. Windows 10 also mounted both NTFS and exFAT partitions on my USB 3.0 hard drive connected to one of the USB 3.0 ports.
I’ve also included some information from the Device Manger for details, and HWiNFO64 system summary.
Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor supports the same features as Atom x5-Z8x00 and Intel Celeron N3150 processors which I tested with respectively Tronsmart Ara X5 and MINIX NGC-1 mini PCs. One advantage of Voyo V3 however is that it’s using dual channel memory, whereas they other two products are sold in single-channel configuration.
Voyo V3 Benchmarks
I’ve started by running PCMARK 8 HOME accelerated and conventional benchmarks.
There’s been one issue occurring while run the Conventional benchmark, the graphics driver would crash randomly. Out of my three tries, two completely failed to get a score, and the other failed after one or two passes, which explains why I got 1,066 points, but it might not be relevant.
So it’s better to only focus on the Accelerated score. 1,428 points compares favorably to the 1,492 points achieved with the more expensive MINIX NGC-1, but is very close to Tronsmart Ara X5 (1,354) and Kangaroo Mobile Desktop (1,597) scores.
If you want to dig into the details, here are the full results for PCMARK 8 Conventional (after crash), and PCMARK 8 Accelerated for Voyo V3.
Next up is 3DMark, and as you can see from Skydiver score (0), the Intel HD graphics driver also crashed, but not after successfully completing Ice Storm 1.2 (20.853 points), and Cloud Gate 1.1 (2,065 points). Check out this link for details about the score.
PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0 was the latest system benchmark I ran. Click on Voyo V3 Passmark 8 results for details.
When some companies decided to include an SSD into low cost computer, you never know what kind of interface they’ll use, and often they have no other choice but to use a USB 2.0 to SATA bridge seriously limiting the performance to around 30 MB/s. Voyo has made things right with V3 mini PC as the FORESEE 128 SSD manages 400MB/s sequential read speed, and over 200MB/s sequential write speed reported by CrystalDiskMark 5.1.2, and even outperforming the Toshiba SSD found in MINIX NGC-1 for most results, both in sequential and random tests.
I ran the benchmark on the NTFS partition of my drive as well, and results are satisfactory, although for some reasons, write sequential and random write speeds are slower by around 20MB/s compared to the results I got on NGC-1 with the same same drive.
One of the weakness of Voyo V3 is however networking. They did not include an Ethernet port to keep the device extra thin, and the price low, and WiFi is limited to 802.11n @ 2.4 GHz, no 802.11ac, and no dual band support. But at least the connection was stable enough to be usable.
The first test runs a full duplex transfer for 60 seconds.
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
iperf -t 60 -c server_ip -d Client connecting to 192.168.0.112, TCP port 5001 TCP window size: 85.0 KByte (default) ------------------------------------------------------------ [ 6] local 192.168.0.104 port 56257 connected with 192.168.0.112 port 5001 [ 5] 0.0-60.2 sec 154 MBytes 21.4 Mbits/sec [ 6] 0.0-60.2 sec 78.6 MBytes 11.0 Mbits/sec |
I repeated the test a few times, and it was always in the same ball park: ~20 Mbps and 10 Mbps in either direction.
If I can compare the results with some other Intel Windows 10 and ARM Android platforms, the results are not very flattering.
I’ve re-run iperf by this time only downloading data in one direction, and throughput went up to 36.7 Mbps.
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1 2 3 |
iperf -t 60 -c server_ip [ 5] local 192.168.0.104 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.112 port 50698 [ 5] 0.0-60.0 sec 263 MBytes 36.7 Mbits/sec |
If you are not satisfied with the network performance, you may have to purchase a USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet or 802.11ac WiFi dongle which should respectively add around $10 and $20 to the cost of the device, beside making it a little less portable.
To have a better overview of the performance, I’ll updated the benchmark chart comparing MINIX NGC-1 (Intel Celeron N3150), an Intel NUC based on Intel Celeron N3050 dual core processor, Kangaroo Mobile Desktop (Atom x5-Z8500), and Tronsmart Ara X5 (Atom x5-Z8300) to Voyo V3. Ice Storm 1.2 results are divided by 10 for better readability.
The results are all fairly close, except for storage, so you’d have to wonder why Intel makes so many version of their processors with only minor differences in performance… To be fair, Intel Celeron N3x50 and Atom x7 processor do have more ports and features than their Atom x5 counterparts.
The data comes from this review, MINIX NGC-1 review, and for the other three platforms from a table released by Linuxium.
Voyo V3 User Experience and Usability Testing
Benchmark results so far are very satisfactory, with the exception of networking, but there are workaround, and stability concerns with regards to graphics driver which tend to crash from time to time. But let’s see how well the device responds to my usual set of user’s tests all done using 1080p60 resolution except Kodi.
- Multi-tasking – Using Microsoft Edge, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, and Gimp at the same time
- Web Browsing with Microsoft Edge
- Loading multiple tab with CNX Software
- Playing 1080p YouTube Videos
- Playing a flash game (Candy Crush Saga)
- Gaming with Asphalt 8
- Kodi 16.0 RC3 @ 4K resolution with 1080p & 4K videos using H.265 or H.264 codecs.
So overall I’m pretty happy with Voyo V3, as thanks to its 4GB RAM and fast SSD, it’s perfectly usable as a desktop computer, and multi-tasking is working well most of the time. It’s even better than Intel Celeron N3150 platform such as MINIX NGC-1 since Kodi 16-RC3 seems to properly support H.265 video at 1080p and 4K resolutions with hardware decoding (XVDA2), while I only had a green screen on the Celeron mini PC. There are some limitations however as both 10-bit H.265 and H.264 are only handled in software and the processor is not fast enough for 4K decoding.
Not everything is perfect though due to the graphics driver crashing, and some occasional slowdowns leading to Windows not responding likely due to overheating as shown in HWiNFO64 Sensor Status window.
I took the screenshot above after downloading, and installing the programs required for the review, and running PCMark 8 Accelerated benchmark. We can see that the processor does get hot at times with in that use case at least two cores throttling on average. Most of the time that’s barely noticeable, but you may have to let things cool down sometimes. I did test 1080p YouTube videos in Microsoft Edge (MP4 codec) for several hours, and there was no noticeable slowdown. However, switching to Chrome (VP9 codec) quickly raised the CPU cores temperatures, throttling kicked in, and after a few minutes video started to not be quite as smooth with more frames dropped and potentially some short audio cuts, just like what happened in Tronsmart Ara X5 review. That means that if you don’t push the computer too hard it will do its job,which should be the case for most people, but expect CPU throttling if you run demanding tasks over a long period of time, and it’s most probably not a good idea to use Voyo V3 as a 4K desktop computer. That’s one other point where Voyo V3 is clearly inferior to better designed devices like MINIX NGC-1.
Finally, if you’ve watched the video review, you must have see the system hung once in Kodi, and the reboot after changing resolution from 1920×1080 @ 60Hz to 3840×2160 @ 30Hz, lasted 30 minutes because Windows 10 decided it was a good time for an update… But I think the latter happened on all Windows mini PC I tested so far, so it’s not specific to Voyo V3.
Conclusion
I’m pretty satisfied with Voyo V3, after being positively surprised by a proper connection of the SSD yielding 400MB/s read speeds, and decent multi-tasking performance. Kodi 16 (RC3) even worked better than in MINIX NGC-1 since H.265 actually worked fine. However building quality could be a little better (top glass cover lifting up, power button on even in off state..), graphics driver may be unstable, networking is limited to 802.11n @ 2.4GHz (single bad), and thermal design is not quite perfect so performance will suffer for demanding tasks. However considering the price, it’s probably not that bad a device. If I have not tried Ubuntu on the device, but unless some work has been done to fix HDMI audio, and other drivers, I’d expect similar results as Ubuntu on Tronsmart Ara X5.
I’d like to thank GearBest again for providing the sample for review, and if you are interested you could purchase Voyo V3 from their website for $209.99 including shipping with coupon GBV3. You could also purchase the mini PC on GeekBuying ($214.99), DealsMachine ($205.99 + shipping), Amazon US or Banggood, but currently the price on the last two shops is much higher.
[Update with useful links:
- Complete Windows 10 firmware on Yunpan or Mega (5.5 GB)
- Voyo V3 Windows 10 drivers only on Mega (104 MB)
]
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Are slim devices like Voyo / Vensmile / Ainol / Meegopad inferior than thicker devices that has air vents, like Mele / Minix / Pipo / Tronsmart / Beelink / Rikomagic / Wintel? Especially concerning heat problems and their implications?
What are the compromises when using a slim device? (except for what is known from the specifications – like less ports)
Is it preferable to choose a thicker device which its chips are not packed so tightly inside the device, without any gaps and airflow?
@Ron
I’ve noticed that thicker devices have usually better cooling, as long as they use the extra space for a thick heatsink, and provide ventilation holes.
However, I don’t think it’s possible to determine how effective the thermal design is by just looking at the thickest of the device. If you can see internal pictures it could help evaluating how well it is implemented, but even though only testing can confirm it.
Great article !!!!
How does it compare to the V2? Bought one a couple months ago to use it as a retro gaming device so im very interested if it worth to buy this on.
Thanks cnxsoft.
I generally would still have a prejudice against slim mini-PCs, as long as I won’t have better information regarding them – until someone would thoroughly test each of them.
Did someone try Wintel Pro W8 PRO?
It’s the cheapest z8300 mini PC that I have stumbled upon – 90$:
http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Wintel-W8-PRO-Z8300-Windows-10-4K-MINI-PC-2G-32G-802-11b-g-n-LAN-Bluetooth4-0-HDMI-H-265-363000.html
Pity it doesn’t have AC WiFi and an external antenna.
I wonder whether it suffers from the same issues that the original Tronsmart “Ara x5” had, which got solved when the model was replaced by the “Ara x5 Plus” version.
But the x5 Plus cost 55% more than the W8 Pro – it seems that Tronsmart takes a higher profit margin.
@Rick
Voyo V2 is here: http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/10/03/review-of-voyo-v2-intel-atom-z3735f-mini-pc-with-battery-and-ssd/
So V3 should be snappier when booting and starting app thanks to the much faster storage, and the GPU should be around twice as fast, so you’d think it should be better at retro gaming. Many people also had troubles with V2 battery requiring them to open the device to solder a cable… I did not have that much “thermal throttle awareness” at the time of Voyo V2 review, so I did not really test that part.
Don’t buy this item at Geekbuying, don’t have this item in stock!
I must use Paypal dispute for have back my money… ( … ordered ad 17/01/2016 … )
I’ve just double checked 4K videos @ 60 fps in Kodi, and both h.265 and h.264 videos can be played just fine, except video output is limited to either 1080p60 or 2160p30.
My Voyo V2 side has lifted and is happily running with about 1/4 to 3/8″ gap. I’ve not taken it out to look at it. I’m leaving it running that way.
It is always pretty warm.
This is the lower power battery, 5ah, not the 8ah version with the expansion.
It runs well, but frequently hangs during the reboots for windows upgrades.
As to the asking to run, I get that with my V2 windows 10 so far. Seems to be running well.
How can you install Ubuntu, but preserve the Windows 10 for re-installation. I’m not interested in a unit which is converted permanently to Ubuntu, and would probably even prefer a partition.
@jim st
You could dump the complete SSD to a USB harddrive once you boot to Ubuntu via USB. Install Ubuntu, play with it, and re-install Windows 10 when you are done. It’s not ideal but it should work.
I’m not sure if dual boot would work like on desktop PCs. I remember Linuxium instructions for triple boot on Meegopad (Z3735F) were a bit complicated @ https://plus.google.com/+IanMORRISON/posts/8PJdZFRCybn
@Netstrike
The first batch had strict quality inspection, found that part of the machine appearance defects, so we have had to return the box to manufacturer .For the benefit of the customers, we have to delay the delivery
@cnxsoft
Thnx i have the V2 and no problems at all with it but like always, more more more 😉
I haven’t seen any reviews of how fast C port is 3.1 speed? I thought you could hook up a lan to this with a special adapter. So it would provide power and data.
@John
The USB type C port is used for power, and they did not provide any adapter to plug anything else, so it’s likely to only support power.
Are the drivers for this PC available for download anywhere?
I am too paranoid to trust their Windows installation, and decided to overwrite the SSD completely with an install from a Windows installation disk prepared by myself. Now, I have lost the drivers that came along with the system.
Particularly looking for the audio drivers, though it looks like I need a bunch of other things too (from the device manager):
http://i.imgur.com/l5HWNzT.png
Ref. the driver crashes – I think Voyo is still pretty new to the PC space – I actually looked at the BIOS configuration, and the default settings that they have might not be good – for example, they have disabled the DTS – so no throttling at all when it reaches unsafe temperatures. Also, the BIOS for the x7 unit has a lot of options (mainly targeting tablet / 2-in-1 use-cases), and there is a possibility that a few of them might not have been set properly for usage in a mini-PC.
@Ganesh @ AnandTech
I don’t know where to download the drivers, and I don’t have contact with the company “Voyo”.
The audio codec is Realtek ALC5645 (See teardown). Would Lenovo drivers work http://support.lenovo.com/th/en/downloads/ds041593?
I’ll ask GearBest, but usually they seldom manage to get this kind of things.
@Ganesh @ AnandTech
Well, that was fast: https://yunpan.cn/cxxWj6pRmPTRi
But I don’t see Voyo V3 Windows 10 drivers. It seems to be the installation files, maybe it’s usable somehow.
@cnxsoft
Hi,
I couldn’t get the link to download. something about it being > 1gb, which is possible. Any way for someone to host it over on say google drive, where it could be downloaded?
The alternative wanted me to download and install some exe file from the cloudshare site, which isn’t going to happen on anything I have (or at least Chrome’s translation said that was what it was).
Also would you maybe be able to supply the same for the V2? I’ve got two and I’d love a restore path if they get corrupted.
@cnxsoft
Thanks! I am looking for audio via HDMI. It looks like the default Windows 10 drivers enable only the Intel GPU video features (I do get the Intel Control Panel), but there are no audio options.
In the default installation – i.e, out of the box – I did get audio through the HDMI port.
I am going to download the OS hosted on yunpan.cn into a USB stick and try to get the drivers by asking Windows to look into that folder. Thanks again for bringing that link to my notice.
@jim st
I also got a message in Chinese with “1GB”. But if I download install.wim only (4.6GB) the download started, it will also start if I select all folders except “images” where install.win is located. So it needs to be downloaded in several steps unless somebody understand how to do a bulk download.
Can it handle MPC-HC with bitstream TRUE-HD and DTS-Mst , or is there any workaround so it will be activated ?
Best reg/ D
@Sunny
Sunny … i have lots of mail with the Geekbuying support …
If an item isn’t in stock (at 17/01/2016) i’m expect to read this information in the description otherwise a seller can’t make on sale an item!
If the support say me that the item surely arrive at the end of January the item must arrive at the end of January!
One month later my order the support can’t say me that i expect others 15day’s (end of february) for the next batch!!!
( And if the next batch can’t pass test? I must expect others months??? )
If a seller want a pre-order is ok but must write in the description that is a pre-order!!!
@Ganesh @ AnandTech
Did you have any issues with re-installing Windows 10e?
Lon Seidman said he could not re-install it as his key was blocked @ https://youtu.be/7x4iKSvpF00?t=3m.
@cnxsoft
The Windows it shipped with wouldn’t even activate for me. I don’t want to put full blame on Voyo for this (since my Intel Compute Stick also had the same issue), but the way it comes with all security features disabled and username already set doesn’t look too nice for a ‘legal version’ of Windows 10.
Anyways, I re-installed Windows 10 from scratch after wiping the M.2 SSD. Professional wouldn’t install, only Home. I used my own key. Now, I am missing a bunch of drivers and have put the review on hold. Have asked GearBest (they provided the review sample), but they are strangely silent.
I have a question, the RTC battery works as the Voyo & Voyo v2? If you disconect the usb-c supply it tuns off? I am thinking to change it with a bigger battery.
Thank you and sorry about my bad english.
@Jon
In Voyo V3, the RTC has its own battery. I could not see any RTC battery in Voyo V2, only the main battery.
@cnxsoft
Yes, that is my question, in v3 there is any main battery? or the voyo turns off without the usb? I have a battery of 5000mah and i want to put it on voyo v3 like main battery.
Thanks!
@Jon
Ah OK. Unrelated to RTC then. No there’s no battery, it will just turn off if you remove the power cord (connected to USB-C port).
@cnxsoft
what a pity! I guess the crt only feeds the cmos and not the motherboard. Arrrgg!!! is the worst point of voyo v3 for me.
@Jon
Correct. The small yellow battery inside is only for the RTC, it does not power the board at all. The only way would be to have a 5V UPS outside the device.
@cnxsoft
Ok, perfect!! Thank you so much about the support!
Hi
Is someone can upload a link to drivers directory c:\drivers from the voyo v3?
I’ve just formatted and reinstall win 10
And noticed that the audio and BT drivers are missing.(there are more drivers that missing).
Thanks
@Itay
I don’t have the mini PC anymore, you may have to download the Windows 10 re-installation DVD linked above, and extract the drivers.
@Itay
Download Intel drivers utilities, it will download all the drivers you need.
Thanks ?
@cnxsoft
I managed to download all the files (.wim’s and others), individually.
Download speed was around 0.5-1Mbit for me, but JDownloader does wonders when downloading multi-threaded 🙂
Now the question is, should all the files be in an ISO file or what?
I’m not interested in drivers only, but I want to have a bootable copy if something goes wrong.
Can these files be packed into some bootable file format , so I can burn it to a ‘stick’, and later install it when I need it?
Thanks.
@Burs
I think you just need to copy the files to the USB stick, and the instructions should be the same as http://forum.mele.cn/showthread.php?tid=17
Hi, Has anyone tried loading Windows 7 onto a Voyo V3 please?
@sa_cooke
I think Windows 7 does not work on Intel Atom Bay Trail and Cherry Trail processors, so you only options are Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 or Linux with caveat (no audio, and wifi uncertain).
Cnxsoft, what kind of display did you use during your testing? I finally got mine after 3 weeks of waiting and when it is connected to my 42 inch 1080p TV via HDMI there is a black border around the edges.
The resolution itself is set to 1920 x 1080, but this border cuts off the image by about 1cm all the way around. I’ve looked at the Intel scaling and underscan options, as well as running an auto-adjust feature on my tv but nothing seems to get rid of the border
Did you run into anything like this?
@shomizu9
If your TV supports overscan, try with that.
It helped me on my Beelink P1 I’m currently using now.
I am also going to try Ubuntu and Windows 7 and will report back*
@Burs thank you Burs, I will check
@Burs
Found it! A feature called “Cropping” on this tv, an ancient Olevia. Turned it off and the border is gone
Thanks again
@cnxsoft
Ok! thank you for the helpful reply. Windows 10 it is then.
Hi, why cant i run windows 7 on the voyo v3?
Hey guys- hope i am not hijacking your post- looking for direction/assistance. What would be the best mini PC with the onboard battery pack? Are these any good- can they just switch to battery in the case of a power outage without having to manually activate (like a mini UPS)?
Paul,
The V2 has severe battery problems and my Volo V2 is growing out of its container. It also runs pretty hot.
When it is running it is amazing, but I am convinced that it, and a pad I have with the same processor both throttle because they are unexplainably slow from time to time, and I’m suspicious that they throttle when there are the right conditions.
I hope the products pick up in quality, though the price right now is sensational for an activated Windows 10. I also hope they are all legally activated. I’ve done nothing to verify the activation status of mine, but did run Belarc to log the licensing in case Microsoft bricks illegally activated devices in the future.
Voyo V3 for $199.99 for the next two days -> http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_292915.html
It is showing up a 217 bucks here, FWIW (Los Angeles, CA). Does that link make you some? Or just promo? This looks like an okay system if it doesn’t expand with the battery swelling like one of my V2’s is doing.
@jim st
Their website has some caching problems… Clear your cache, or access it with http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_292915.html?123. Most links to shops posted here give me some commissions. I’m using a service called Skimlinks that automatically convert links to affiliate links when available.
V3 has no battery, so no risk of swelling. I did have an issue with the top cover lifting up on my model though.
super, that got 199.19 now. Glad to help out. The problem that I’m dealing with now is that the source of the push is below the guts of the unit that also connects with the power button, so that sometimes jams to being pushed on all the time. Other than that, you mentioned and the fact is they run hot, but so far they are running.
At least to eventually peek inside I didn’t have to break the glass top 🙂
Also a somewhat less hazardous method to get the link is to right click it and use open in an incognito or private browsing window. That should fetch a fresh copy w/o any prior caching. I almost never want to do a cache flush on a browser. YMMV
thanks
Jim
@cnxsoft
THey dont have real stock, if you buy it you have to wait for long time. I cancelled my order… Gearbest and Igogo has the same stock, and they lie with the real stock. Only advise of this!
@Jon
You’re right, I can confirm that too.
I’ve ordered 5 weeks ago, and mine is still not shipped!
They’re changing dispatch times every now and then for the last 2 months.
They even had a flash sale of 100 pieces (!) a month ago, which they sold during 3-4 days!
How can they run their business that way is beyond my comprehension.
I mean selling it when out of stock, and when they don’t even remotely know when they’ll have some in stock.
OK, they’re offering a refund to your GB balance or change it for something else, and you have to ask pretty pretty please for the money to be refunded to your bank card you paid with.
But also they’re waisting my time, and it pisses me off when they treat customers as brainless sheeps.
It would be more or less ok if they put it on presale, but at the time of my purchase it was in stock with shipping time “3-5 days”. Right…
But back then I was able to buy it for $192. Although the price is going down every day, so the bonus points I traded for the discount are worth less and less every day.
I wanted to get my hands on Voyo V3 since early January. The same experience I had with geekbuying.
Let’s see how gearbest will handle tomorrow’s dispatch time (March 30th)…
Hello!
I’m trying to download de OS from the yunpan link but since I don’t have an account there (and now a chinese phone number is required to sign in) I can’t get the files.
Any other source to get them?
Thank you!
@Jon
No Chinese mobile number needed, but you need to download it in two steps as explained @ http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/02/17/voyo-v3-intel-atom-x7-z8700-mini-pc-review-with-windows-10/#comment-522627
Thanks for the reply.
I read about having to download in parts, the problem is that if a try to download anything from yunpan (f.e. bootmgr file) it automatically redirects me to the log in page and, in order to sign in, you have to provide a chinese phone number…
I will try to upload all the files tonight to some more reliable file hosting server like MediaFire or Mega. The archive is 5.5GB, so I must first check if such filesize is supported and if I have enough free space on my account. I will post the link when upload is finished.
@Burs
Thank you VERY much in advance. That would be lovely.
I don’t think you’ll have any problem uploading it to MEGA.
@Netstrike
I have made my order at 28th of february and then they shipped at 11th of april. Also the track number they gave to me is not working. I really wanted to use voyo v3 but i’m still waiting thanks to geekbuying.
Do not buy from geekbuying!!!
Here’s a Mega link to Voyo V3 Windows 10 x64/x86 instalation files (one giant 5.5GB ZIP file): http://tinyurl.com/jg3schu
Enjoy! 🙂
@Burs
Thank you two tons and a half!!!
By the way, i bought the voyo from geekbhying 2 days ago and it’s already shipped!
Yeah, mine was shipped from gearbest too on Tuesday, guess new batches have finally arrived. Hope I’ll get my hands on it in 3-4 weeks. I’m waiting for that moment since January lol….
Thanks again Burs, I’ve downloaded the file from MEGA and everything perfect!
Glad I could help you. I hope others will find it useful too.
If anyone’s interested in drivers only, I extracted them from Install.wim file, and they can be downloaded from this link: http://tinyurl.com/jod3npz
btw, I’m still concerned about potential malwares in preinstalled operating system. Is there a way to check the current windows installation or even the WIM file itself? I guess the safest way would be installing OS from an ISO downloaded from Microsoft site and installing Voyo drivers on top of it (assuming you have obtained your windows license beforehand). Or would it be enough to “factory reset” the OS, and set it up again from beginning? Anyone?
Thanks again Burs, very useful for the people (as me) only looking for the drivers. I think you’re the first one to upload only the drivers, CONGRATS!
I intend to do a full new installation of W10 x64 (got a spare license) as soon as I get the miniPC. I’ve read that the installed version is a Windows 10 Home China, special for China and only available in Chinese and English.
Since I’m spanish I’d rather have the OS on my own native language and avoid any possible malware or whatever…
OK, please inform us how it went when you’re done 🙂 I prefer English UI (although English is not my native language), but my main concern is security. I don’t want some malware phoning home my passwords lol. I also don’t plan to purchase any separate windows license, so I’ll have to figure out something by the time it gets to me…
@shomizu9
Hi! What about Ubuntu on Voyo V3?
@Denis
Ubuntu should be OK, especially now you can get HDMI audio -> http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/04/19/hdmi-audio-in-linux-is-now-working-on-cherry-trail-mini-pcs-openelec-7-0-image-released/
@cnxsoft
Will wifi work out of the box?
@Denis
Not sure. I forgot that Voyo V3 does not have Ethernet.
Coupon 20VOYOV3 on GeekBuying bringing the price down to $198.99 -> http://www.geekbuying.com/item/VOYO-V3-Intel-Cherry-Trail-X7-Z8700-4K-Mini-PC-Windows10-64Bit-4G-128G-2-4G-5G-Dual-Band-WiFi-Gigabit-LAN-Type-C-Bluetooth-4-0-362092.html
Do You know, what WiFI module is installed inside Voyo V3?
@Denis
In the teardown post I could only see it was called “NF H2 3801_OV1”.
Using a USB WiFi dongle or Ethernet adapter might be a better alternative with Ubuntu.
Would you recommend this or the MINIX NEO U1 for 4K video playback?
@Chy
MINIX NEO U1. Intel low cost SoCs can’t handle 4K @ 60 fps.
@Burs
Thanks a lot Burs. I wish they would update this article and just mention your drivers there instead of the link to that Chinese web site. I’m sure it would help a lot of people.
Yeah, it’s not up to me, but I hope they see the link and update the article…
@Dave
@Burs
I’ve added the link to the firmware and drivers at the end of the review.
Another Voyo V3 firmware for SD card update -> http://www.mediafire.com/download/f0coaadb74582gm/VOYO_Mini_PC_V3_OS.rar
I guess it just need to be extracted to the root of a micro SD card, and then you can insert the micro SD inside Voyo V3 to flash the firmware.
@cnxsoft
Just for the record, MD5 and SHA hashes match 100%, so it’s the same OS uploaded before on Mega. It’s just slightly compressed, so the download is about 100MB lighter. But it’s always good to have mirror links 🙂
My V3 finally arrived, together with a problem (and I hope it will remain the only one). It seems Voyo V3 doesn’t have a proper driver for micro SDXC cards. My 128GB card works just fine in my smartphone, tablet, and another Beelink mini PC, but Voyo refuses to mount the card properly. So, the card is perfectly fine, but on the other hand, less capacitive cards actually work. So it must be a driver issue, right? Does anyone have the correct driver, because the current one doesn’t seem to do its job well? I tried Windows Update, and tons of other tips collected on other forums over the past 2 days, but none of them actually make any difference at all… Thanks.
@Burs
Not every such a problem is a “driver issue”. The device supports exFAT (standard FS for SDXC), it’s seen from the review, Windows has native (class) drivers to support all the SD types (SDSC, SDHC, SDXC) I believe. Most probably, your problem is the SD host controller of the device itself doesn’t support SDXC. You just plug what it doesn’t understand.
It actually IS a driver issue, because I finally solved it by updating the driver for SD Host Controller I found on another site where people have the same headaches. One just have to disable driver signature verification beforehand, so the unsigned driver can overwrite the old one. SDXC is actually supported, and I formatted the card with NTFS, since I need some security features which exFAT doesn’t provide. If anyone runs into the same trouble as I did, I can upload the driver somewhere. Now to the cooling mods! 🙂 The device indeed heats up fast enough…
Hey Burs! Mine arrived today as well!
I’ve just reinstalled W10x64 pro with no problem at all. Used your extracted drivers package and got everything working in a bit!
Thanks again!
Glad to hear that! Ironically, I had some problems with SD card drivers lol 🙂
Extracted drivers are only 3rd party drivers, and SD card driver is a native/generic one, built-in the OS.
So I had to find some more compatible driver, but still the read/write transfers are awful (11/9MB).
And I’m using an SDXC U3 card rated 90/30MB, so 11/9MB is way below my expectations.
Using USB 2.0 card reader, I get 21/16MB, so it’s either a cheap Voyo SD card slot, or unoptimized driver.
I think it we can’t rely on Voyo to update the drivers, so if anyone gets better transfers, feel free to reply! 🙂
@Burs
here is some info:
“The operating system provides support for SD host controllers that connect directly to the PCI bus. When the system enumerates an SD host controller, it loads a native SD bus driver (sdbus.sys). If a user inserts an SD memory card, Windows loads a native SD storage class driver (sffdisk.sys) and storage miniport driver (sffp_sd.sys) on top of the bus driver. If a user inserts an SD card with a different kind of function, such as GPS or wireless LAN, Windows loads a vendor-supplied driver for the device. ”
It looks that only for SDIO functionality, there is need in third party drivers. All storage SD stack is implemented by MS native drivers. And I highly doubt they can not support SDXC properly. In fact when you compare performance of that card on another Windows machine, you do this with the same drivers.
It’s pretty bad that the vendor doesn’t supply needed drivers. I would be very careful with installing drivers from unknown sources.
So do you now have the expected SDXC speed on Voyo or not? I didn’t get it. If you have it working but slow, again – it should be checked whether SD host controller of Voyo is SDXC capable. These three substandards (sc, hc, xc) seem not exactly forward compatible (from HC point of view). it might work but unstably. like my featurephone could work with an sdhc card one time and get hardly frozen other time.
No, still low transfer speeds, I didn’t tried anything new since my last post, but at least it works now. Meanwhile, until someone smarter kicks in, I’ve ordered USB 3.0 SDXC card reader which I plan to connect into one of the USB 3.0 ports. The default Voyo driver for SD host controller is surely not (fully) compatible with SDXC standard, at least not with my 128GB SD card, which btw doesn’t give me problems in any of my other five devices (some of them 2 years old, or cheap ones for $50). Anyways, I think Voyo had to test this case more thoroughly, since SDXC cards are not rarity these days anymore. Maybe time will tell, so I hope this scenario soon changes for the better…
@Burs
Ok, all I know, z8000 series’ internal SD host controller supports SDXC (which is up to 2TB!), supports SD3.0 specification’s speed modes, Windows has native SD storage stack and it works.
quote:
” – Up to 800 Mbit per second data rate using 4 parallel data lines (SDR104 mode)
– Transfers the data in following UHS-I modes (SDR12/25/50/104 and DDR50)”
Maybe vendor specific SDIO related driver is causing some negative interference? Maybe it’s needed to check out in the device manager whether some SDIO related things are present, and disable them to see if that will help. And possibly update the drivers from MS update.
PS. Plugged with a usb reader, it will go through usb storage stack and omit SD controller at all.
Umm.. yeah, theory is one thing, but things tend to work differently in reality 🙂
But sure, this deserves more digging in, and I don’t have time for it, or the patience.
I already tried to update everything via Windows Update, but all is up to date.
My intention with USB reader was exactly that – to bypass this trouble with SD controller I’m having 🙂
And one more driver issue, now with Realtek Wi-Fi – I had to roll back the driver, because I couldn’t host ad-hoc connections through it. I always set up WiFi hotspots on my mini PC’s, because my nearby devices are too far from my router.
I’m slowly finishing my whole setup, hoping no more issues come in the way…
Sorry to hear that Burs,
I haven’t even tested the sd card slot since I’m not planning on using it but I know now what to expect.
Good luck!
any body success with heat sink mod?
Do we have a way to configure Voyo V3 to boot when providing power? Maybe a bios option or firmware? I can do that with Tronsmart X5 and X5 Plus.
Hello again everyone!
After a few weeks with the PC I’m quite happy but I’m having a problem that I think is Intel HDMI driver related.
I have the PC connected to an AVR and sometimes HDMI audio device just disappears and I have to reboot in order for it to appear again…
I’ve read that this might be an Intel driver related problem but I can’t seem to find any other driver aside from the ones Burs so kindly uploaded.
Any clue? Anyone?
I once updated Intel graphics driver, mainly because of “driver stopped responding” crash in Modern Combat 5, but it didn’t fixed anything. You should too try to update it via Windows Update and see if it helps. Also, try a different hdmi cable.
@Burs
As per @Ganesh @ AnandTech comment above, has anybody looked into BIOS settings to see if they may be the cause of the graphics driver crash?
@cnxsoft
I only enabled DTS, and left other BIOS settings at default, because I don’t know what they do, and/or how to tweak them at all. Just to clarify a bit more: the graphics driver doesn’t crash so often, and it crashes only when entire SoC is under full load (more demanding games). When doing other day-to-day tasks, it’s perfectly stable. Nonetheless, it would be good to see an update which corrects that. Together with the proper 128GB SD card driver 🙂
Hello Burs!
Thanks again, I’ve download Intel Update Manager and updated via that software. Later on I checked on windows update and updated again…
We’ll see if it keeps on working now.
Relating the graphic driver crash… mine haven’t crashed yet. But I use the PC mainly for Kodi and office tasks so… Not really demanding.
Hello Friends.
If anyone can help me I would be so glad.
I have ordered my Voyo V3 2 months ago and today it finally arrived.
I have pluged it in and as I turned it on I got to a screen which says :
“EFI Shell Version 2.40 [5.11]
Current running mode 1.1.2
map : cannot find required map name.
Press ESC in 4 seconds to skip startup.nsh, any other key to continue.
Shell>_”
and it stays that way every time. so practically I have nothing to do with the voyo.
I am so desperate.
if anyone, Burs or someone else who knows what to do can help me.
thanks .
@Ofir
Reinstall Windows 10.
@Ofir
Try to download Voyo firmware from links on this page, then extract it to root of sd card or usb stick if you have one. Then try to boot your minipc with sdcard or usb plugged in, and see what happens. If nothing happens, start pressing Delete or F8 keys rapidly (can’t remember the right one) as soon as bios logo shows up, to force the boot menu pop up and select the OS setup from sdcard or usb stick. No other ideas, except contacting your seller. Post back if you have new findings.
Actually I tried so. And it keeps saying it has no drive to install on. I am not sure if there is any ssd inside the pc. I would try to return this pc ro its reseller. Thanks for your help anyway 🙂
Actually I tried so. And it keeps saying it has no drive to install on. I am not sure if there is any ssd inside the pc. I decided to return this pc to its reseller. Thanks for your help anyway 🙂
Maybe ssd is not properly connected inside (I really doubt they “forgot” to install it, but never say never when you order from china lol). But to inspect that, you void your warranty and any chance to return it to your seller (except if you cover your tracks with master precision lol). I would also return it to the seller. Where did you buy it from? Just to warn others to think twice before buying from there. I hope you get a new one or your money back.
Hi everyone,
Im also an owner of this mini pc and my overall opinion is positive. I had issues with the usb ports where sometimes when i was switching on the pc the keyboard was blinking. This issue was fixed with Iobit Drivers.
Additionally, is there any soft pouch/case that we can use whenever we transfer it?
I’m not aware of any Voyo-specific accessories, but you can try searching for some cd/dvd pouch/case, since it’s about the same size as V3 (13x13x1cm). Post here if you find some…
Does anyone experiences random reboot/freeze? Sometimes it happens once a day, sometimes once per 3 days, and I can’t track the source of it. This cherry trail platform is not nearly as stable as my previous baytrail which rebooted itself once in 6 months, only when I pushed it beyond the limits. I need it powered on 24/7, and such interrupts are simply not acceptable for me. Maybe it’s something outside the SoC, or some custom implementation of something Voyo did for this model, I’m just guessing. Anyway, the error is CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT which is shown on BSOD, followed by restart. Either that, or freezed picture where nothing respond to keyboard/mouse input. I’ve been reading it’s something due to CPU lockdown, ie. one of the CPU cores not responding. Some say it could even be a faulty processor. I guess I’ll have to wipe my system again, I set up everything from scratch, since I’ve spent days in figuring out this sucker without luck.
@Jon
Hi,
the Intel driver is quite sensitive of the order You are switching on your devices. Make sure You switch on any connected HDMI equipment _before_ the mini pc, otherwise the audio device will not be detected properly. This is true not only for the voyo but for all Atom based mini pcs I have seen so far.
For the guys over in Europe, I suggest getting it from the Spanish warehouse on Geekbying, it costs a bit more but it has faster shipping and no duty taxes. Plus if anything is wrong you can ship it back to Spain instead of shipping it to China.
Hi,
i installed a fresh Windows 10 with Media Creation Tool. Since I used the drivers from the link above, it only says Microsoft Basic display Adapter. And when i try to make an update on Win 10 it shows only BSOD after restart. Does somebody found some Intel Drivers? I had no luck… Or does anybody knew how to get display driver fully working with a fresh win 10 installation from media creation tool? THX…. This little pc starts to get me nuts >:(
@Peter
Hi,
i installed a fresh Windows 10 with Media Creation Tool. Since I used the drivers from the link above, it only says Microsoft Basic display Adapter. And when i try to make an update on Win 10 it shows only BSOD after restart. Does somebody found some Intel Drivers? I had no luck… Or does anybody knew how to get display driver fully working with a fresh win 10 installation from media creation tool? THX…. This little pc starts to get me nuts >:(
@Ofir
Type exit and press enter. You may have to do it twice. It’ll take you to the Bios screen or boot into Windows from there.
Hi,
some GeekBuying rep has posted an updated “firmware” for the Voyo V3 in the Freaktab Forum
http://freaktab.com/forum/advertisers-and-vendor-support-area/geekbuying-com/588810-firmware-voyo-v3-intel-cherry-trail-x7-z8700-windows10-64bit-mini-pc-firmware-20160804
Date: Aug. 2016
Has anyone checked this out yet?
You need to format an 8GB Stick to NTFS and name it “WINPE”, then boot from it and your V3 should be flashed
I dont have my V3 yet to test it, but it’d be great to see some feedback if someone has already TIA
@shomizu9
Report back!
@KoepenickDrums
Everything was perfect with the new firmware. I was able to install Creators Update in Win10. Just make sure you use wired keyboard for the installation
@Niko
Apologies guys i meant Anniversary update.
Hi,
I was wondering if this will work with dual monitors. 1 connected to the HDMI port. the other using a HDMI/USB adaptor? i borrowed my friends adaptor and it does not work. Was wondering if the machine does not support, or the adaptor is the issue.
Thanks.
@Johnnie
See answer in comments #15 above. The USB type C port is only for power.
Hi Al,
since the Voyo V3 is coming with pre-activated windows and standard user, how the corresponding Ondrive can be reached from another device? Basically, what are the login parameters?
And a second question, since the One drive is logging in with the predefined user name, I’m not able to reach my own regular one drive account.
Can somebody help me?
Many thanks
Z
@Zone
There may be a simpler way, but you could reinstall Windows 10 Home from Microsoft with the Voyo drivers. That way you’ll get to create your own user account, and One Drive should work. I understand that’s not ideal, so maybe wait for other people to provide a better answer.