Intel Ghost Canyon NUC9i9QNX Review: NUC 9 Extreme Realizes the SFF Dream
by Ganesh T S on April 16, 2020 8:05 AM ESTHTPC Credentials - YouTube and Netflix Streaming
Our HTPC testing with respect to YouTube had been restricted to playback of a 1080p music video using the native HTML5 player in Firefox. The move to 4K, and the need to evaluate HDR support have made us choose Mystery Box's Peru 8K HDR 60FPS video as our test sample moving forward. On PCs running Windows, it is recommended that HDR streaming videos be viewed using the Microsoft Edge browser after putting the desktop in HDR mode.
YouTube Streaming - Intel Display Output
YouTube Streaming - NVIDIA Display Output
Both GPUs support VP9 Profile 2 decoding in hardware and the system has no trouble playing back the 4K HDR stream in either of the above scenarios.
Various metrics of interest such as GPU usage and at-wall power consumption were recorded for the first four minutes of the playback of the above video. The numbers are graphed below.
The media engine usage stays well short of saturation despite the need to process a 4Kp60 stream. In the steady state, the power consumption at the wall for the playback averaged around 62W for the Compute Elemen's HDMI port as well as the RTX 2070's HDMI port.
The Netflix 4K HDR capability works with native Windows Store app as well as the Microsoft Edge browser. We used the Windows Store app to evaluate the playback of Season 4 Episode 4 of the Netflix Test Patterns title. The OS screenshot facilities obviously can't capture the video being played back. However, the debug OSD (reachable by Ctrl-Alt-Shift-D) can be recorded.
Netflix Streaming - Intel Display Output
Netflix Streaming - NVIDIA Display Output
The (hevc,hdr,prk) entry corresponding to the Video Track in the debug OSD, along with the A/V bitrate details (192 kbps / 16 Mbps) indicate that the HDR stream is indeed being played back. Playing the title using the RTX 2070's HDMI port consumed around 68W at the wall in the steady state. The consumption for playback using the Compute Element's HDMI port in the same scenario was 56W.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
109 Comments
View All Comments
timecop1818 - Thursday, April 16, 2020 - link
Really bad selection of pictures. Did you not actually have a unit with you when reviewing? There's no external shots, there's no pics of the board/GPU connected together, there's no pics of rear backplane with ports/whatever, basically no useful info. I clicked through the gallery and I have no idea how big this thing is, or how the GPU fits into the picture, or anything else. Even "setup notes" page shows nothing useful.DanNeely - Thursday, April 16, 2020 - link
The chassis gallery on the 1st page shows the fully assembled system with the rear IO ports visible and gives a decent visual idea of how big the system is.timecop1818 - Thursday, April 16, 2020 - link
Oh hey, I see the stuff now. There's separate galleries throughout the article, for some reason I thought there was only one per page, and the 1st page only showed disassembled cpu module so I thought that was it. Thanks for pointing it out.FireSnake - Thursday, April 16, 2020 - link
Based on this:https://www.notebookcheck.net/AnandTech-editor-rep...
they are not getting any money from me!
For a loooong looong time (those includd too).
bug77 - Thursday, April 16, 2020 - link
It's a good thing you don't get hung up on details like proof and stuff. Guilty until proven innocent, eh? (And yes, I know history doesn't work in their favor.)DigitalFreak - Thursday, April 16, 2020 - link
Ian doesn't seem like the person to throw around baseless accusations.ganeshts - Thursday, April 16, 2020 - link
The tweet has been misinterpreted and now taken a completely unintended shape of its own. Ian plans to clarify the usage of the word 'incentive' in the context in an upcoming video / post.FWIW, if anyone believe AMD doesn't offer incentives to its partners (of a type similar to what Intel does, and what is completely legal), then the person has no idea of how the technology industry / silicon vendors operate.
If anyone thinks the reason for lack of high-performance AMD-based (read, Renoir) 'NUC's is Intel, then I have a bridge to sell. No one is preventing AMD from creating a reference design for a Renoir-based 4x4 board or innovate with Compute Element-like products. OEMs can take the plunge only if the silicon vendors offer them a proof of concept. If a Renoir NUC reference design exists, but OEMs still don't pick it up to offer them in the market, that would be worthy of deeper investigation (that could still throw up legitimate reasons).
Namisecond - Friday, April 17, 2020 - link
Even when reference designs exist, availability of parts can come into play, or even OEM disinterest.quadrivial - Friday, April 17, 2020 - link
AMD has reference designs and an entire set of embedded Zen 1 chips made explicitly for that purpose. Udoo Bolt was kickstarted by a fairly small company. If they could do it, why not bigger companies?arashi - Saturday, April 18, 2020 - link
You must understand that Intel PR and legal has been in touch.