| MSI WindBox 6667BB-004US Barebones-PC Kit |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Notebook | Compact PC | |
| Written by Dan Ferguson - Edited by Olin Coles | |
| Tuesday, 13 April 2010 | |
MSI 6667BB-004US WindBOX ReviewNot every computer needs to have a four billion hertz processor and the world's best video card. Just like power tools, some jobs require raw power while other jobs require more finesse. When the job at hand involves video, web applications, light gaming or light office work it doesn't make sense to use a supercomputer or even a high-performance machine. This idea has become mainstream through the recent marketing of netbooks (internet notebooks) and video sharing devices, but even those platforms do not suit all light application needs. In this article Benchmark Reviews will test a nettop (internet desktop) from MSI; Wind Box model 6667BB-004US. This barebones PC kit is like an older, more capable sibling to the netbook. But how does it measure up against other alternatives? Since nettops are only recently becoming mainstream, how can they be an older sibling? The concept of lean computing has been known to the industrial world for decades. For a corporation it is often more cost effective to have very powerful central computers do the bulk of the work and to use thin client computers as simple interfaces. Thin clients often do little more then act as a front end or a terminal, sometimes offering simple local applications like a web browser. This idea is now being brought into homes where multiple computing tasks are desired. This could be PC's for the kids, a media and internet interface for the TV, or to fit budget, space and power constraints.
Given the diversity of available nettop platforms, just about anyone can find a good use for one of these machines. But as today's performance PC becomes the 'last' generation, and prices drop, would it be better to just use an older platform to obtain the same results? An analysis of MSI's 6667BB-994US nettop will help answer that question. About MicroStar International
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| Chassis | 2.37 x 11.69 x 8.78-Inches |
| Drive Bays | 1 x 3.5" Internal Drive Bay for Hard Disk Drive |
| Front I/O |
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| Rear I/O |
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| Easy Assembly & Installation | Module design with swappable parts |
| Expandability |
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| Power Supply | External 65W Power Adapter with Active PFC |
| Operation System |
Support Microsoft Windows XP |
| Wall Mount | L-type holder included to support VESA wall mount |
6667BB-004US Specifications:
| CPU | Intel 1.6GHz Atom 330 (dual core) processor on board |
| FSB | CMOS, 533 MHz, 32-bit address |
| Chipset | Intel 945GC and ICH7 |
| Main Memory |
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| Graphics |
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| Expansion Slot |
1 x CF card slot; 1 Half-height PCIe mini card slot |
| Audio |
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| LAN |
Realtek Gigabit LAN (Realtek RTL8111DL GbE) |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi antenna included to support a half-height WLAN PCIe mini card |
| SATA |
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| Form Factor | Proprietary (Slim) |
| Dimensions | 10.6 x 6.7 inches |
| Mounting | 7 motherboard mounting holes |
Closer Look: MSI Wind Box
The internet images for the MSI Wind Top PC can be misleading. Some images give the impression it is the size of a thick novel while others make it seem only slightly smaller than a form-factor tower. In reality, the MSI Wind Box is actually almost a foot long by nine inches tall.
When the retail box arrived it had the heft and size as though it contained a full-size laptop. Once the machine is out of the packaging it is about the size a netbook but lighter.
The entire kit includes the Wind Box PC, an external power supply, one S/PDIF adapter, a driver CD, manuals, a mounting bracket of very sturdy metal and all the necessary screws. The case has a unique, sloped style and is obviously meant to sit vertically.
There are several variety of nettop platforms. They are typically oriented towards specific applications and optimized for that purpose. This also means that something is left out to improve performance, power and space while driving down costs compared to an all-purpose machine. In the case of the 6667BB-004US Wind Box the first thing missing is an optical drive. The front of the unit is simple with only a flash card reader, two USB ports and a power button. It seems ironic to provide a CD with drivers and software but no CD drive. Perhaps it makes more sense in this era, given cheap NAND prices, to supply a USB drive instead of a CD. The cost may be slightly higher, but the customer response might be worth the expense.
The back of the Wind Box PC contains the rest of what little business is available on the Wind Box. The audio output jack serves as both the stereo and S/PDIF port. There is also a microphone input at the top. Two more USB jack on the back provide room for additional peripherals. For video output there is a choice between VGA and HDMI. Finally the requisite power and gigabit LAN to truly make this a nettop.
The bottom and top are flat and simple, and they contain the input and output cooling vents. There is also one screw hole for the mounting bracket and three screws that hold the two halves of the case together. It will be necessary to remove these to access any internal hardware.
MSI 6667BB-004US Detailed Features
With the top removed it is easy to see that one third of the case is consumed by the hard drive. The mount is designed for a 3.5" drive and will probably fit anything smaller though this was not tested. For MSI it was important for this case to maintain a slim vertical profile. These features all strongly emphasize that this nettop is geared towards multimedia.
The CPU and GPU occupy the left middle portion of the board and are connected to a single small fan by a copper heat transfer tube. One mini PCIe slot can be seen at the upper right along with the wireless antenna connectors. Though this is a wireless device, the wireless card is not included. There is one small screw in the bottom right that holds the hard drive mount in place. After removing the screw the mount still does not slide out. It is blocked by the front panel which must first be removed by unlatching two plastic clips. With the hard drive removed it becomes apparent the CF and memory slots must be hiding on the back of the board. The only way to access the back of the motherboard is to remove all 7 screws that hold it in place. Since the memory is not supplied everyone will get to enjoy the fun.
Removing the motherboard is not impossible, but it is still a hassle. Here's a shot of the backside of the motherboard showing the SODIMM memory slot on the right and the CF slot on the left. As long as you're installing memory, why not add a CF card just in case. It may come in handy in the future. A CF card can contain an entire distribution of Linux or possibly a media center front end. The entire computer could be used this way without ever adding a hard drive, or by saving precious hard drive space for movies and recorded television.
With that painful ordeal over, the hard drive can be installed and the case sealed up...hopefully for a long, long time. Though the side cover was easy to remove, it was ten time more difficult to replace. The rail and clip system is similar to what is standard for desktops, but the odd shape of the case prevents the cover from easily sliding into place. It had to be readjusted, realigned, retried and coerced into place. After figuring out the alignment for the first time it became slightly easier to fit thereafter.
Wind Box Software Installation
To recap, the MSI 6667BB-004US does not supply an optical disc drive, hard drive, or memory. A mini PCIe wifi adapter is optional and also not supplied. For this review I used a 40GB SATA Western Digital hard drive and 2GB of Crucial memory. The memory is DDR2 200 pin SODIMM memory for space savings over conventional desktop memory.
On a computer without an optical disk drive, software installation will require using some device not supplied with the PC. This could be a USB optical drive, a flash drive, or simply another computer. An external CD drive is the most straight forward and easiest method of installing an operating system, so I opted for something more technical. Using a flash drive for installation requires putting the install files on the flash drive and making it bootable. A few more prep steps at the beginning but otherwise similar to using an external disc drive. Again, I'll opt for something more technical.
My target hard drive was already installed in my main desktop PC as a secondary disk drive. I decided to prep my secondary HDD using Windows then move it to the nettop ready to boot a fresh installation of Windows 7. I used the following steps to prep Windows 7 on a clean drive to boot on a new PC:
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Install target HDD as secondary drive in main PC.
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Using Disk Management from Windows:
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Create a partition on the new drive.
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Format the new partition as NTFS.
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Assign a drive letter.
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Mark the partition as active.
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Obtain a copy of imagex.exe.
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(Part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit)
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Put Windows 7 installation disc into DVD drive.
- Issue the following command from a DOS prompt:
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imagex.exe /apply F:\sources\install.wim 3 E:\
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(F: is Windows DVD and E: is target HDD)
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The number 3 is the OS image to be extracted from install.wim, Windows 7 Pro in my case.
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Shut down Windows and move the target HDD to primary channel.
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Boot Windows 7 DVDand enter the Repair Console.
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The console should automatically detect an error and prompt to have it fixed.
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Select Yes and the windows installation should be detected.
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After a reboot, use the DVDto enter the Repair Console and run Startup Repair.
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Once the installation is detected by the repair console, use the command prompt and issue the following command:
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bootsect /nt60 all /mbr
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This will fix the boot options and allow the drive to boot into Windows 7.
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Move the target HDD onto the target PC (the MSI nettop).
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Boot into Windows 7 and finish the installation.
Deploying an image straight to the target HDD using imagex was faster then installing from the DVD boot environment. From start to finish, this installation method was almost as fast as doing everything by booting the DVD, but it was convenient since my target drive was already installed in my main system. This method is also useful if you cannot obtain an external DVD drive or a 4GB flash drive. There are probably a multitude of other methods available and you should pick the one that is best for you. This method suited my needs and I have not seen it published anywhere so I wanted to share.
One last note on installing Windows 7 on the Wind Box pertains to network installation. I setup a PXE network on my main machine and tried to perform a network install of Windows 7 on the nettop, but I could not make the nettop boot from the network. The BIOS is devoid of options and despite having a link (green lights on the NIC) there was no indication that network booting is even possible. However, once Windows 7 was installed using my method I had no problems installing drivers over my home network by sharing the DVD drive on my main PC.
Testing Methodology
Benchmark Reviews has used the following systems and test software for the performance tests reported in this article. Each system compared was tested using common software and Operating System variables, however not all aspects could be matched identically.
The CPU Benchmarks were collected from PCMark Vantage, EVEREST Ultimate Edition, PerformanceTest, and CINEBENCH test suites, and all used common settings for each test. PCMark Vantage features test suits with static settings, which include the TV/Movies, Gaming, and Music. PerformanceTest also conducts tests with static settings, such as the 2D and 3D graphics performance.
MSI Wind Box 6667BB-004US
- Motherboard: MICRO-STAR MS-7467 (i945G chipset)
- Processor: Intel Atom 330 @ 1.60GHz, 2 cores, 4 threads
- System Memory: Crucial PC2-6400 2GB SODIMM 400MHz
- Video: ATI Radeon HD 4330 discrete graphics
- Disk Drive: Western Digital WD400BD-75JMAQ
MSI Wind Top AE2220-25SUS AIO
- Motherboard: MSI MS-7549 (AMD 780G)
- System Memory: 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SoDIMM
- Processor: 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 (800MHz-bus Dual-Core)
- Video: NVIDIA GeForce 9300 Integrated Graphics with 256MB VRAM
- disk Drive: Western Digital 500GB
- An extended high-detail Lavalys EVEREST hardware specification report is also available here.
ASRock Nettop ION 330 Nettop
- Motherboard: ASRock AMCP7A-ION
- System Memory: 4GB OCZ Gold 800MHz DDR2
- Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Atom N330 (Dual-Core)
- Video: Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GPU (ION)
- Disc Drive: OCZ Vertex EX SLC SSD OCZSSD2-1VTXEX120G
Dell Vostro 200
- Motherboard: Foxconn G33M02
- System Memory: 2 x 1GB DDR2-667
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 @ 2.53 GHz
- Video: ATI Radeon X850XT
- Disk Drive: Western Digital WD400BD-75JMAQ
Test Software
- Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
- Futuremark PCMark Vantage v1.01 System Test Suite
- Lavalys EVEREST Ultimate Edition v5.02.1750
- PassMark PerformanceTest v7.0 Build 1011
- Maxon CINEBENCH Release 10
PCMark Vantage Test Results
PCMark Vantage is an objective hardware performance benchmark tool for PCs running 32 and 64 bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows 7. PCMark Vantage is perfectly suited for benchmarking any type of Microsoft Windows Vista/7 PC from multimedia home entertainment systems and laptops to dedicated workstations and hi-end gaming rigs. Benchmark Reviews has decided to use a few select tests from the suite to test the X58-Express platform in this article. Our tests were conducted on 64-bit Windows 7, with results displayed in the charts below.
TV and Movies Suite
The tests in the TV and Movies Suite have been selected to represent the Windows Vista TV and Movies Consumer Scenario. The combination of test sets covers the common TV and Movies usage. The TV and Movies Suite gives a separate PCMark TV and Movies Score which does not affect the overall PCMark Score. TV and Movies Suite include the following tests:
- TV and Movies 1
- Two simultaneous threads
- Video transcoding: HD DVD to media server archive
- Video playback: HD DVD w/ additional lower bitrate HD content from HDD, as downloaded from net
- TV and Movies 2
- Two simultaneous threads
- Video transcoding: HD DVD to media server archive
- Video playback, HD MPEG-2: 19.39 MBps terrestrial HDTV playback
- TV and Movies 3
- HDD Media Center
- TV and Movies 4
- Video transcoding: media server archive to portable device
- Video playback, HD MPEG-2: 48 Mbps Blu-ray playback
Gaming Suite
The tests in the Gaming Suite have been selected to represent the Windows Vista Gaming Consumer Scenario. The combination of test sets covers the common Gaming usage. The Gaming Suite gives a separate PCMark Gaming Score which does not affect the overall PCMark Score. Gaming Suite includes the following tests:
- Gaming 1
- GPU game test
- Gaming 2
- HDD: game HDD
- Gaming 3
- Two simultaneous threads
- CPU game test
- Data decompression: level loading
- Gaming 4
- Three simultaneous threads
- GPU game test
- CPU game test
- HDD: game HDD
Music Suite
The tests in the Music Suite have been selected to represent the Windows Vista Music Consumer Scenario. The combination of test sets covers the common Music usage. The Music Suite gives a separate PCMark Music Score which does not affect the overall PCMark Score. Music Suite includes the following tests:
- Music 1
- Three simultaneous threads
- Web page rendering - w/ music shop content
- Audio transcoding: WAV -> WMA lossless
- HDD: Adding music to Windows Media Player
- Music 2
- Audio transcoding: WAV -> WMA lossless
- Music 3
- Audio transcoding: MP3 -> WMA
- Music 4
- Two simultaneous threads
- Audio transcoding: WMA -> WMA
- HDD: Adding music to Windows Media Player
In all three tests the MSI Wind Box was the underdog. TV and Movies showed the greatest difference between platforms with the Atom machines on the low end, the AE2220 All-In-One PC in the middle and the desktop towering above them. This is not a huge surprise given the differences in CPUs driving each machine, but it seems that the ION and Wind Box scores should have been closer.
The Gaming category showed little difference between systems excepting the Wind box which couldn't keep up. The ION nettop barely scores a win over the Dell using it's GeForce 9400M (ION) to beat out the older Radeon X850 XT. In this case the MSI AE2220 trails slightly behind in performance using a GeForce 9300. While it might have been predicted for the MSI Wind Box to trail slightly since it uses a Radeon 4330, the disparity again seems large.
The Music category is a reflection of what was seen in the TV and Movies section. In summary, most of the scores seem intuitive based on the hardware used on each platform excepting the MSI Wind Box. Though the hardware is comparable, the performance does not seem to match expectations.
EVEREST CPU Benchmarks
Lavalys Everest Ultimate Edition is an industry leading system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for enthusiasts PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology. During system optimizations and tweaking it provides essential system and overclock information, advanced hardware monitoring and diagnostics capabilities to check the effects of the applied settings. CPU, FPU and memory benchmarks are available to measure the actual system performance and compare it to previous states or other systems. Furthermore, complete software, operating system and security information makes EVEREST Ultimate Edition a comprehensive system diagnostics tool that offers a total of 100 pages of information about your PC.
All of the benchmarks used in our test bed: Queen, Photoworxx, ZLib, and AES, all rely on basic x86 instructions, and consume very low system memory while also being aware of HyperThreading, multi-processors, and multi-core processors. While the EVEREST CPU tests really only compare the processor performance more than it measures platforms, it still offers a glimpse into what kind of power each platform possesses.
Queen and Photoworxx tests are synthetic benchmarks that operate the function many times over and over-exaggerate by several magnitudes what the real-world performance would be like. The Queen benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and misprediction penalties of the CPU. It does this by finding possible solutions to the classic queen problem on a chessboard. At the same clock speed theoretically the processor with the shorter pipeline and smaller misprediction penalties will attain higher benchmark scores.
In the first battery of tests the outcome mirrors the PCMark Vantage results. This time the Wind Box does a better job of keeping up with the ASRock ION but consistently scores slightly below. On the high end runs the Intel Core 2 Duo E7200. On the low end runs the Atom 330 processors. In the middle falls the AE2220 all-in-one where the Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 seems to keep better pace with the desktop.
Like the Queen benchmark, the Photoworxx tests for penalties against pipeline architecture. The synthetic Photoworxx benchmark stresses the integer arithmetic and multiplication execution units of the CPU and also the memory subsystem. Due to the fact that this test performs high memory read/write traffic, it cannot effectively scale in situations where more than two processing threads are used. The EVEREST Photoworxx benchmark performs the following tasks on a very large RGB image:
- Fill
- Flip
- Rotate90R (rotate 90 degrees CW)
- Rotate90L (rotate 90 degrees CCW)
- Random (fill the image with random colored pixels)
- RGB2BW (color to black & white conversion)
- Difference
- Crop
The Zip Library test measures combined CPU and memory subsystem performance through the public ZLib compression library. ZLib is designed as a free lossless data compression library for use on virtually any computer hardware and operating system. The ZLib data format is itself portable across platforms and has a footprint independent of input data that can be reduced at some cost in compression. The AES integer benchmark measures CPU performance using AES data encryption. It utilizes Vincent Rijmen, Antoon Bosselaers and Paulo Barreto's public domain C code in ECB mode and consumes 48 MB of memory.
In the Zip and AES tests the difference between the Core 2 Duo PCs and the Atom PCs is more pronounced. These tests also show that the MSI nettop can keep up with the ASRock nettop.
One large learning from these tests is how much hardware affects performance. Slight differences in CPU design consistently show improved performance. The nettop platform is not configured for processing intensive applications and can't be expected to maintain the same speeds as the higher end PCs.
Passmark PerformanceTest
PassMark PerformanceTest is a PC hardware benchmark utility that allows a user to quickly assess the performance of their computer and compare it to a number of standard 'baseline' computer systems. The Passmark PerformanceTest CPU tests all benchmark the mathematical operations, compression, encryption, SSE, and 3DNow! instructions of modern processors. In our tests there were several area's of concentration for each benchmark, which are combined into one compound score. This score is referred to as the CPU Mark, and is a composite of the following tests:
- Integer Math
- Floating Point Math
- Find Prime Numbers
- SSE/3DNow!
- Compression
- Encryption
- Image Rotation
- String Sorting
The 2D Mark is also a composite score based on several two dimensional graphics tests which include the following:
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Lines
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Painting Bitmaps
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Outline Shapes
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Fonts and Text
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GUI
The 2D tests are iterated up to hundreds of times to magnify the performance through a series of operations. The final set of tests comprise the 3D Marks and are also combined into a composite score. There are three tests: Simple, Medium and Complex. The tests use an increasingly complex combination of objects, resolution, textures, lighting, and polygons.
The CPU marks from Passmark are similar as seen in both EVEREST and PCMark Vantage with the Core 2 Duo computers leading the Atom based nettops, but Passmark seems to perform better on the MSI Wind Box than on the ASRock NVIDIA setup. While the difference is small and exaggerated it is real and repeatable.
The 2D marks differ from the results seen in previous tests in which all platforms were even. This time the results mimic the scores seen in the CPU tests where the Dell Vostro leads followed by the AE2220, NVIDIA ION nettop then the MSI Wind Box. Here the raw power of a discrete graphics card becomes more apparent over the integrated chipsets.
Unlike any of the previous tests the 3D Passmark scores have the MSI Wind Box beating both the NVIDIA ION nettop and the MSI Wind Top. This is unexpected considering the previous graphics scores where the Wind Box constantly fell short. Perhaps this is an indication of where the MSI 6667BB-004US design excels. We also see the the X850 XT discrete graphics card trumps the competition in 3D graphics.
Maxon CINEBENCH OpenGL Results
Cinebench is a real-world test suite that assesses the computer's performance capabilities. Maxon Cinebench is based on Maxon's award-winning animation software, Cinema 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. Maxon software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.
Maxon Cinebench runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor and the graphics card under real world circumstances. The benchmark application makes use of up to 16 CPUs or CPU cores and is available for Windows (32-bit and 64-Bit) and Macintosh (PPC and Intel-based). The resulting values among different operating systems are 100% comparable and therefore very useful with regard to purchasing decision-making. It can also be used as a marketing tool for hardware vendors or simply to compare hardware among colleagues or friends.
The OpenGL test measures graphics card performance and is run inside the 3D editor window. The project file used can test all graphics cards that support the OpenGL standard. In this scene, only the camera was animated. This scene places medium to low demands on graphics cards and tests the maximum speed with which the scene can be properly displayed at the 800x580 resolution. Essentially, the Cinebench test removes the system hardware from the scoring influence, and centers the results around the GPU.
Since the OpenGL Graphics test is centered around the GPU the results are similar to the 2D Passmark scores. The Dell Vostro leads the pack with a score of 4289 with the MSI Wind Top close behind scoring 3048. The ASRock NVIDIA ION and MSI Wind Box trail behind scoring 1184 and 843 respectively. When considering that the MSI Wind Box scored less than 25% of the Dell Vostro it becomes apparent that the nettop was not designed to render millions of polygons at super fast rates.
In the single CPU score we also see the raw difference between the Atom 330 running on a single core compared to the T6600 and E7200 running on a single core. The T6600 (MSI Wind Top) and E7200 (Dell Vostro) are in a category of their own scoring 2332 and 3052 respectively. The ASRock NVIDIA ION scored 538 and was outperformed in a CPU test but the MSI Wind Box which scored 665. This shows that the real differences between processors is due to more than just clock speed.
The design goals of the Atom 330 begin to show in the multi CPU test. The Dell Vostro scored 5930, which is 94% higher than it scored with a single CPU. The MSI AE2220 Wind Top scored 4488 which was 92% higher than the single CPU score. For the Atom 330 based systems, the MSI Wind Box and the NVIDIA ION both scored a performance multiplier of 2.85! This is a synergistic result since two CPUs accomplish more than 200% of what a single CPU can do.
MSI Wind Box Power Consumption
For decades past, energy usage has only been concerning to those who run a tight budget and resource conservationists. But times are quickly coming where individuals will be required to account for the Watts they consume. Don't expect that the computing or working demands will diminish in the future, they will likely be increased. For these and many other reasons it will become increasingly enticing to be more efficient at accomplishing the same or more work.
The MSI 6667BB-004US was designed to squeeze as many cycles and work out of every Watt consumed without spending any unnecessary energy. The chart below shows energy usage in Watts for the entire platform.
The MSI Wind Box scored between twenty and fifty percent of the performance of the desktop, but it did so using 30% of the power. This accomplishes two things. First, average energy consumption for all tasks is reduced by two-thirds. Second, by using less power to accomplish the same tasks the nettop platform operates at higher efficiency. This drives down manufacturing costs which results in a leaner chain of manufacturing and consumption. These kinds of solutions are needed to maintain the same expectations in quality of life while reducing the impact felt by future generations.
MSI Wind Box User Experience
When I evaluated the Wind Box I was looking specifically for a Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC). Besides benchmark performance I also considered how well it performs the desired functions, how easy it is to integrate into my existing entertainment setup, and the versatility provided by the platform.
The MSI Wind Box fits best into the HTPC category. It comes outfitted with the necessary HDMI port, audio, network and a few spare USB ports; just enough to get the job done. My main habits consist of recording and watching my favorite TV shows (Chuck), watching movies, and browsing the internet. In the past I've tried using small media box to access my computer files from my TV, but I got frustrated by the lack of options and limited interface. I prefer to have lots of features that are accessible using a keyboard and mouse. For this purpose the Wind Box is great.
Despite the many applications available, I tested using Windows 7 defaults. Despite being on the lower end of Windows 7 requirements, the OS boots reasonably fast and operates without slow-downs. Internet Explorer also ran without hitches and provided fast access to Hulu and other media sites. I was able stream TV shows and other high definition content without stuttering or any noticeable degradation. Even self-recorded high definition shows played with ease. This proves that the Wind box will do great as a front end.
I also wanted to evaluate how it would perform as a back end. Since it lacks PCI slots, any recording requires a USB input device. I didn't have one to perform tests so I opted for another approach. I recorded a raw TV stream on my desktop and transcoded it on both the Wind box and Dell Vostro. The Wind box took nearly three times as long to transcode a one hour video. Since the desktop uses between 20% and 30% system resources for PCI recording I estimate that the Wind box will consume most of the system resources for USB recording. While not the best performance some NewEgg users have reported success using this method.
When integrating into my existing entertainment setup my requirements are simple. The small size of the Wind box makes space a non-issue. Heat and noise were also non-issues. Despite being cramped in a small space, the temperature on the CPU heat sink never exceeded 35°C. Even with the fan at full speed the noise was unheard. The fan operated silently except when the Wind Box turned on or off. Since I change around my hardware setup frequently it was very convenient to have both HDMI and VGA available for video output. There are sometimes when I need to use the VGA for some unintended reason. It might be nice to take on a road trip to Grandma and Grandpa's and still be able to watch movies.
The versatility of the Wind Box is refreshing. For a longtime I used XBMX on an original XBOX as my media center. I could watch movies, listen to music and play games, but web-browsing was barely functional. My DVR made recording and watching shows extremely easy, but that's all it would do and I had to pay every month. The Wind Box gives me that ability to perform all of those functions on one platform and without monthly fees. Additionally, I'm a big fan of the CF slot on the motherboard. I installed a 256MB CF card with a small distribution of Linux. This gives me a limited desktop interface for web browsing, light gaming, network administration, but most importantly system recovery. Some users may want to use the CF card to boot a media front end. Personally, I squeeze every ounce of utility out of my computers, and the MSI Wind Box shows plenty of squeezing room for rudimentary functions.
Gaming Performance
When I sit on the couch for some entertainment I often want to do more than watch shows. Sometimes I want to game. Since I'm a PC buff I haven't kept current on gaming consoles, so there's no games to be played from my couch - until now. If you are considering the nettop platform for your next build, gaming will be an important consideration. Based on the benchmark results we've seen so far, it is unlikely that anyone will want to use the MSI Wind Box for intensive gaming. But many popular games are not graphics intensive and don't require a top end system. I have several web games that I like to play frequently including Quake Live, Battlefield Heroes, and OGame.
For feasibility I tested a few 2D and 3D games on the Wind Box to see what was possible, and what was comfortable. As with flash videos, flash games played with ease. When playing Battlefield Heroes the Wind Box managed to pull only 30FPS at 1024x768, high video and fullscreen. At 1280x1024 it managed 20FPS, and at 1600x1200 it haltingly drew 10FPS. Really the game was only enjoyable at 1024x768 with low settings. In comparison, the Dell Vostro managed 90FPS at 1024x768, 60FPS at 1280x1024 and 50FPS at 1600x1200, high video and full screen.
Quake Live is less graphics-intensive and designed for better playability. In this game the MSI Wind Box maintained 90FPS at 1024x768, 75FPS at 1280x1024, and 60FPS at 1600x1200, high video and full screen. The Dell Vostro easily pegged the frame rate at 125FPS for all modes.
Since the integrated ATI 4330 supports DirectX 10 I decided to test the 3D capabilities using Devil May Cry 4. At low settings frame-rates were in the low 30's and playable though not very enjoyable. Under the heaviest setting the performance crawled to under 10FPS. While perhaps not the most enjoyable, 3D gaming was proven to be feasible for even some newer games.
Sitting on the couch probably isn't the best option for competitive gaming, but it may be an option to move last year's game to the nettop for some casual, low resolution fun. One last comment from me. I've been keeping a Pentium II PC alive for several years because I am a retro junkie. But silicon and metal have a limited lifetime and the Pentium II is dying. I have not wanted to muck-up my Vostro with buggy compatibility software and old games so I've been suffering from abstinence. Now that I have tested the Wind Box I will probably load some hardware emulation software and dump all my old games for hours of 8 bit fun. This is the kind of solution I have unconsciously desired for years. I'll bet you have your own void to fill, and a nettop might be the perfect platform.
MSI Wind Box Final Thoughts
The raw benchmarks used in the review provide a solid measure of how well nettop style computers will perform against a full desktop arrangement. The marks are expected to be lower but not too low. While the MSI 6667BB-004US was not originally intended for Windows 7, it showed that it could run the OS and provide decent performance. Some newer games were attempted in Windows 7, but they were only playable at the lowest of resolutions. This may be all that is wanted for many users. While the benchmarks were not spectacular, they proved to be sufficient to play high definition video at reasonable frame rates and perform basic computing needs. This is a computer that will be great next to a television for the slew of web gaming now available. It will also prove capable of running a high quality front end media center, and will even perform adequately to maintain the back end recording and encoding business.
If deciding whether to buy a nettop, all-in-one PC, or an old desktop, the decision will be based on needs. The MSI Wind Box scored lower on most marks but is really a budget platform. The Wind Box is meant to be connected to a television and consume a minimum of space and resources. It performs best when playing video and very light games, or other non-intensive tasks. The next step up in price and performance is the all-in-one option. The performance is better and it offers a form factor including a monitor. It will do better in the processing field but still won't keep up with a desktop. As far as gaming it might do better than the Wind box, but not much. Finally, a desktop performs better than the other platforms tested. But even old desktops come at a premium of power consumption and price. A complete Wind Box system can be built under $220 new (with really good deals), but a desktop still takes $400 to get in on ground floor (with great deals). For me the performance offered by the Wind Box is well worth the savings, and it fills my needs.
In considering the MSI Wind Box package, the software supplied was minimalistic, containing drivers and manuals. It always feels like a bonus to get some kind of extra content. For the Wind Box some sort of entertainment software seems appropriate. Also, rather then supply an optical disk with a computer that has no optical disk drive why not depart from routine and provide the software on a flash drive. In a similar vein, the BIOS options were stark and nondescript. No overclocking or memory configuration options. The boot menu only showed devices presently installed in the system rather than a list of potentially available devices. I was unable to get the computer to boot over a network which seems like a necessary feature for this nettop.
Finally, thumbs-up on providing a gigabit network adapter on a system that will be network dependent. It is easy to take that feature for granted. I also appreciate the VGA port. Sometimes I want to fall back on an old reliable standard for whatever reason.
MSI 6667BB-004US Conclusion
One aspect of presentation that may have been overlooked is the marketing of the Wind Box platform. MSI has a huge range of "specialty" computing products, though they don't call them such. From barebones to all-in-one systems they cover a wide variety of platforms. People don't know what they don't know, and this is something that people should know. Holiday sales of late took the little known name of netbook and turned into a household term and thereby a household item. The same needs to happen for the nettop.
The look of the system is appropriate for something that will most likely end up on the entertainment center. Tall and skinny, black and shiny, and a unique shape all add to the contemporary home theater mood.
The construction leaves much to be desired. The case is soft plastic which will not stand much punishment. The look of the case is great, but with any abuse it will mar. I had the case on it's side for only a few hours of testing and already there are visible scratches. The side is easy to remove, which is great, but trying to put the cover back on is just the opposite. The odd shape of the case makes the rails difficult to line up, and the cover does not simply slide into place. It has to be adjusted and readjusted then held carefully while the screws are tightened. In order to use the computer the hard drive and memory must be installed. The memory can only be accessed by completely removing the motherboard and turning it over. Likewise, the front panel must be removed to install the HDD. While these nuisances are not insurmountable they are quite inconvenient. Adding just a quarter inch more would solve the HDD issue, and an access panel could solve the memory issue. One bright spot of construction is the cooling system. Though small and compact, the fan is silent and effective. During the most intense testing the processor heat sink never exceeded 35°C.
Anyone that buys a nettop or netbook knows up front that software installation and maintenance will provide some level of logistical challenges. As such, the platform should not receive review deductions from consumers. There are a wealth of guides and methods available online that can provide the necessary knowledge. One simple method of installing Windows was provided in this review. Once the OS was installed, the nettop performed the same as the desktop in routine tasks, web browsing, watching movies, and playing light games. However, as the benchmarks show, the differences are apparent when performing demanding, intensive, or long running tasks such as gaming, number crunching, and even video rendering. If higher performance is desired from these light platforms, running a lean OS is a necessity. But for basic needs, Windows 7 ran fine.
The value category is where the nettop shines. The MSI 6667BB-004US was not designed to be an all-purpose, all-powerful, cure-cancer machine. It was designed to be an interface between you and the virtual world. It will hold plenty of movies and music, surf the internet, and play some games. It will sit quietly by the television (or projector) and do it's job well. This MSI nettop can be found for $169.99 at NewEgg. Netbooks offer similar features at nearly double the price. You pay for portability and a small screen, but they won't compete in performance or in the high definition spectrum. The price range on nettops is quite large as they are intended for diverse applications. As such, the Wind Box runs the middle of the road with much cheaper, leaner options on one side and much more expensive, nearly full PCs on the other side. If you were to try to build the same setup from an older computer you would have to sacrifice threading performance, power consumption, space, high definition, price, or all of the above.
While there a few detractors when considering the Wind Box PC, none of them affect the core operation of the unit. I once heard that good engineering is about building a bridge that is strong enough and not stronger. I bet the same can be applied to computers. The nettop was designed to do its job well and do it efficiently.
Pros:
+ Small Case
+ Vertical Profile
+ Low Power Consumption
+ Runs Cool
+ Inexpensive
Cons:
- No Network Boot
- Hardware installation requires total deconstruction.
- Soft plastic exterior.
Ratings:
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Presentation: 8.00
-
Appearance: 9.75
-
Construction: 7.00
-
Functionality: 8.00
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Value: 9.75
Final Score: 8.5 out of 10.
Recommended: Benchmark Reviews Seal of Approval.
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