[section_title title=”Conclusion”]Conclusion
ZOTAC’s aim of the En760 is probably the clearest of the last three Zboxes we’ve reviewed and yet somehow, this hasn’t transferred to the end product. The EN760 is a out-an-out gaming machine and the 4K claim isn’t even ridiculous if you’ve got a monitor that can match it, in comparison the Sphere and Nano were the same machines in different boxes but as I mentioned, the EN760 somehow still ends up muddled.
Firstly the actual gaming performance from the EN760 is great. 40FPS on max settings in both Tomb Raider and BioShock Infinite is great from a machine of this sound which is also mightily quiet even during heavy lifting. Blasting the EN760 with gaming benchmarks and Cinebench and the whirr from the fan was no louder than the noise from my desktop PC when idling. You have to go hearing for the noise to pick it up, add on to this you’re likely to be hearing the game sounds or wearing earphones when playing the very limited sound isn’t an issue.
On the flip side I’ve got reservations about the future gaming capability of the EN760. The CPU, really, is quite weak as shown in our synthetic benchmarks. Given how quiet the system itself is I’m sure ZOTAC could have thrown some extra CPU grunt at the EN760’s cooling solution and sacrifice some noise for better performance now and in the future. The suspected BIOS issues/compatibility need addressing also. Having a powerful GPU like the one included with no new drivers is like having a Ferrari limited to 30MPH.
In addition to this, the questionable exclusion of a USB 2.0 port and Display Port whilst including something like two ethernet connectors is just out-right odd. Having, or even forcing, you use to use extra cables than necessary because of a questionable IO selection seems to go against the whole ethos of the EN760. You’re covered on the wireless front by both wifi and Bluetooth so why include an extra ethernet port at the expense of something sensible? It’s stupid. I couldn’t use the EN760 at my monitors native resolution with sound as I only use a DP cables and my monitor – like most – doesn’t support 4K over HDMI.
Last but not least there is the price. £500 (more with OS) is getting firmly into pre-built territory where you could bag a lot more grunt for gaming. ZOTAC certainly isn’t the most expensive when it comes to SFF builds but £570 all in is a lot for a system you can’t swap the CPU/GPU out of.
Overall, you’d currently be hard pressed to find a more compelling box that you can strap to the back of your TV and give you solid gaming performance, but the issues I’ve experienced during the review and the questions over the longevity of the components are important. For me, getting north of £500 and what you get in return as well as the aforementioned issues just don’t balance out well for the EN760.
A big thanks to ZOTAC for sending out the review sample used in today’s review.
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Performance
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Design
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Value
Summary
Awesome gaming performance in a small box but shortcomings are likely to rear their head sooner rather than later. At £500, £570 with Windows, it’s a lot of money for a system that still has some kinks needing ironed out and questionable design decisions.
