ZOTAC ZBOX MAGNUS EN980 Gaming Mini PC (ZBOX-EN980-U)

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Going in I was looking for a windows PC with a small form factor, relatively quiet (under normal operation) with as much horsepower as would fit into a small package. For the price I think its essentially impossible to get a cheaper, more powerful box in such a small and quiet package. That said - it is certainly not quiet under the load of most modern games - upon purchase the noise was almost deafening but after some research it appears that Zotac overtunes their fans out-of-the-box and so a firmware update later, and even under gaming load the noise is reasonable. Over all I have loved the box, it has performed exceptionally, and I have recommended the brand to multiple friends who have also had great experiences. pros: compact, powerful, good value, reliable cons: no upgrade path, loud out of the box, could be prettier (note that for my needs these were non-factors)

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Just got this a week ago, working great so far! Gets consistent 60 fps playing Skyrim with 290 active mods, high res texture packs, and maximum graphics settings all around. Doesnt even get noisy or overly hot when doing so. Will update later if anything changes. There are cheaper and equally powerful options out there, but nothing compares to this tiny form factor. This thing is barely bigger than my wifi router, and totally unobtrusive. If you need something small and are okay paying about $200 extra for the size, this is your box. I highly recommend the GTX 1060 version.

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First off it took them way too long to arrive and when they did they didnt work. Not one. Had to return and re-source on a mega rush. Boo

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ZOTAC ZBOX-EN1060K-U-W2B MAGNUS Gaming Mini PC by itself is a pretty good deal. It is indeed very compact and powerful gaming computer. However, the both computers I ordered were defective. The first one had dead HDD in it. ZOTAC tech support was extremely unhelpful and basically blamed myself or suggested I "play with it" and fix it myself (despite it being a hardware issue - I tested the HDD on different laptop). So, I had to order a replacement from Amazon. The second computer was much better - the HDD was mounted without any problems and works fine. However, now the CPU became a problem - it is pretty hot even without any load and it is extremely NOISY. The noise is NOT related to fan speed - just to CPU load and it gets pretty crazy when computer works for some time. All in all - great model, perfect design. IF IT WORKS AS INTENDED. I wasnt that lucky. Maybe you will be. Right now Im still thinking whether I want to try my luck with THIRD replacement or should I just return it and try a different brand with actually caring tech support.

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Last year I purchased a mini Z series Zotac Box. Worked Great, Great experience decent support. zero problems. Added this second machine bigger faster better. No. Buggy as heck. Have had to reset it to factory state. Cannot Load the Nividia Drivers, and Windows updates are failing at a higher rate than the other zotac. So far, Support is slow to respond. Disappointing. Left Gigabyte machines for returning a defective machine that they state was not defective.

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Graphics card failed two days after the return window closed.

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I bought a used zotac magnus a great deal. As soon as I hooked the PC up; I get an error saying the GTX 1060 has an error code in the device manager. So I let Windows update and install Nvidia drivers and the screen went black. I restarted the PC and now its just a balck screen. I see now why the PC was so cheap: the gpu did not work properly and was returned. Looks like the unit was not fully tested before it went out to be sold.

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Bought right under usd$500, with a i5 6400 and gtx 980(mxm card, but is full spec 2048cuda cores), it got a gtx 1060-ish performance, considering the fact that it is just 500 bucks, that is preety great. By the way, it is a mini itx pc, so tiny yet manage to not thermal throttel, in 100% load in games, it usually sits somewhere 60 to 70 °C. Worth noting that it only support one m.2 sata(NOT NVME), one sata3 2.5 inch hdd/ssd, and 2 ddr3L memory slot(the laptop kind).

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Its a nice little box. But keep in mind this is essentially a laptop in a box. Its nowhere near as strong as a regular desktop. I had to return it because a popular game I played would stutter because the CPU was too weak.

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I use this little computer as a mobile demo PC for VR. It works great for that, and even some light Unity work. Ive played many games at high detail settings with major skipping issues. Very affordable alternative to VR ready latptops. I added a 500gig SSD and 32Gb RAM (which was maybe a little overkill). I bought a USB-C Hub to expand extra ports for keyboards, mice, controllers, etc. I definitely recommend for making your VR rig mobile without breaking the bank.

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