Since I’ve now received Intel Apollo Lake hardware with Voyo VMac Mini mini PCs, I’ve going to run some benchmarks with Pentium N4200 and Celeron N3450 processor to compare the performance against older generation low power mini PC based on Braswell and Cherry Trail processors. I’ll get started with the Pentium N4200 version that’s both more expensive and powerful.
But before starting with the benchmarks, I’ve run HWiNFO64 to get a bit more info about the system, and the processor in particular. The processor is the quad core Pentium N4200 stepping B0/B1 with sSPEC SR2Y9/SR2Z5 clocked between 400 and 1,100 MHz, and up to 2,5 GHz in burst mode. It also comes with a 18 EU HD graphics Gen9-LP.
IMHO, PCMark 8 Home Accelerated 3.0 is one of the best benchmark as it replicates typical use cases such as web browsing, video conference, light gaming, photo editing, and so on.
Voyo VMac mini gets the highest score (1,846 points) of all devices I’ve tested so far, with the previous top performer being MINIX NEO Z83-4 (Atom x5-Z8300) with 1,543 points. You can check the score details here.
PassMark PerformanceTest is also a popular benchmark. I started with version 8.0 in order to be able to compare to older platforms. Voyo VMac Mini got 1052.1 points comparing to 845.9 points for Beelink BT7 (Atom X7-8700).
PassMark has now released PerformanceTest 9.0, so I also ran the test for this version for future reference. Result: 1087 points.
We’ll notice the score is also impacted by the FORESEE SSD inside the device, which has a very good score. I’ll provide more numbers about storage performance in the review, but sequential read speed reaches over 500 MB/s.
Finally, I’ve run several 3DMark tests namely Ice Storm Unlimited 1.2 (23,511 points), Cloud Gate 1.1 (2,347 points), Sky Driver 1.0 (1,384 points), and Fire Strike 1.1 (267 points).
I compiled a table comparing the performance of other low power mini PCs with devices I’ve reviewed myself, as well as others like Intel Compute Stick based on Core M processor.
Note: 3D Mark Ice Storm benchmark’s scores have been divided by 20 for scale.
As expected the Core M platform is considerably faster than all other mini PCs based on Cherry Trail, Braswell, and even Apollo Lake. GPU performance of Pentium N4200 is similar to Intel Atom x7-Z8700 and Intel Celeron N3150, despite using respectively 18, 16 and 12EU HD Graphics Gen9. However, we see a clear boost in performance for the Apollo Lake mini PC with Passmark 8 and PCMark 8, with a gain of roughly 20 to 30%.
If you think it’s worth it, and don’t mind about the slight fan noise, you could consider purchasing Voyo VMac Mini with Intel Pentium N4200 “Apollo Lake” Processor from GearBest for $235, who provided the device for review. Other shopping options include Amazon US and GeekBuying.
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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i really wish someone would make a n4200 mini PC, that’s passively cooled.
@cnxsoft:
A minor error:
”GPU performance of Pentium N4200 is similar to Intel Atom x7-Z8700 and Intel Celeron N3150, simply because they use the same 18 EU HD graphics.”
Atom x7-Z8700 is 16 EU’s, and 128 ALU’s, Celeron N3150 is 12EU/96 ALU’s, seen here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_graphics_processing_units#Ninth_generation and http://ark.intel.com/products/87258/Intel-Celeron-Processor-N3150-2M-Cache-up-to-2_08-GHz
Actually Pentium N4200 GPU (HD Graphics 505) performance is an interesting one to test since only the Pentium J4710 has also 18 EU’s like N4200, which corresponds to 144 ALU’s. 3D performance should actually be a tad bit better compared to Atom x7-Z8700. Might be interesting to check this out since in terms of gaming performance, that’s the only major difference between this high end mobile CPU and the previous Atom branded one: 2 extra Execution units.
Since HD Graphics 400 (Equivalent of Atom x7-Z8700 already goes up to 720p30 low on most games, HD Graphics 505 likely will have a bit more headroom to play with.
PS: Should point out that i love that you review these mini PC’s on performance and the like, much appreciated! 🙂
@Redneckerz
Thanks for the correction. I tried to operate from memory… It always backfires.
@cnxsoft
That’s alright. The thing is that its really tricky to gauge actual performance with these IGP’s – Your wording of stating that its ”similar” is perfectly adequate.
In real-life scenario’s, however (Perhaps this should be a bit more understated since it now reads like you also say that the 12 EU version has similar performance), the difference between 16 EU/128 ALU and 18 EU/144 ALU will be less than the difference between 12 EU/96 ALU and 16 EU/128 ALU.
HD Graphics 505 likely gives a bit more head room for 720p30 gaming (Bit more stable without dropping to 25) whilst with a 12 EU part, its likely to be less than 30. Unless the Celeron part is clocked a lot higher, ofcourse.
So… similar, but only in specific situations they are all in the same alley, i believe.