CES 2020: ZOTAC Edge CI341, A SFF PC With 6 W Passively Cooled Intel Gemini Lake CPU
by Gavin Bonshor on January 8, 2020 4:00 PM EST
With CES 2020 expected to be dominated with announcements of new mobile processors from both Intel and AMD, ZOTAC has taken things in a slightly different direction, preparing a few new ZBOX Edge SFF PCs. Chief among these is ZOTAC ZBOX Edge CI341, which features an Intel Celeron N4100 quad-core processor with Intel UHD 600 integrated graphics, and two SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 8 GB of DDR4-2400 memory.
The ZOTAC ZBOX Edge CI341 is designed with edge computing in mind with a small size and equally low power consumption, thanks to Intel Celeron N4100 and its 6 W TDP. While the Intel Gemini Lake architecture (which is based on the 14 nm process node) isn't new, it nonetheless allows ZOTAC to produce a PC with a slim 32 mm chassis and a passively cooled design. This means that the ZBOX Edge CI341 is near silent. For storage, a single M.2 slot is present which supports both M.2 2242 and M.2 2280 form factor SSDs.
Located on the front panel is a power button, a microSD card reader, and a single USB 3.1 G1 Type-A port, with a further USB 3.1 G1 Type-A port located on the rear panel. Also featured are dual Intel Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11ac Wi-Fi antenna port which also features BT 5.0 support. As for display connectivity, there are both DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 outputs.
ZOTAC hasn't unveiled any pricing or when the ZBOX Edge CI341 will hit retail shelves, but we do know that two versions will be available for purchase; one with Windows 10, and one without. We also know that both models will ship with just 4 GB of DDR4-2400 memory which populates one of two available SODIMM slots.
Source: ZOTAC
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Great_Scott - Wednesday, January 8, 2020 - link
2 NIC, nice. And a proper quad-core, unlike many other Atom-based SFFs.Looks like a good option for a firewall.
JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, January 8, 2020 - link
and intel nic at that, which matters for freebsd driversStevoLincolnite - Wednesday, January 8, 2020 - link
Yeah... But that CPU is almost 3 years old now... And only has a 1.1Ghz base clock. The UHD 600 chip is missing a few more modern features as well, especially in the video department.They could have at-least went with Gemini Lake refresh... Or the Pentium Silver N5000.
vladx - Wednesday, January 8, 2020 - link
Gemini Lake is enough for 4K HTPC, which I assume is the main target for this kind of device. I have a Apollo Lake tablet and it plays 4K HEVC movies without a hitch and that is even older than Gemini Lake.Sliderpro93 - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
What? N4100? This is nice, for 80$ or so.name99 - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
“designed with edge computing in mind”Is this the latest euphemism for X-term?
coreyinoz - Wednesday, March 11, 2020 - link
For surfers hitting this article after the fact, there is misinformation up top. It's not Intel NIC's, it's Realtek RTL8111GS, which is basically in line with everything else that Zotac does.I too was excited for a cheaply priced Zotac/Intel NIC box, but it looks like you'll still need to pay for Jetway or other exotic boxes to get your SFF Intel fix.
Source: Sent an e-mail to Zotac to ask. They replied right away.
user1920 - Friday, March 27, 2020 - link
@coreyionoz Thank you for your input. I don't get it, what is better with intel nic in your experience ? Or is this an issue with realtek linux support or whatever ?Namisecond - Sunday, April 5, 2020 - link
The perception is that Realtek NICs were just inferior to Intel in terms of performance, hardware and driver stability, and perhaps most importantly, reputation. It helps that Intel has lineups of server-grade NICs that earned them that reputation whereas Realtek only offered consumer-grade solutions. Intel server NICs are pretty much industry standard in the server world.