The development in direction of miniaturization of desktop programs was kickstarted by the Intel NUCs within the early 2010s. The rising recognition of compact PCs additionally led to the introduction of quite a lot of barely bigger form-factors. Custom boards falling in measurement between the NUC’s 4″ x 4″ ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) and industrial-applications oriented 3.5″ SBC have additionally gained traction. The ECS LIVA Z5 PLUS is one such system, designed and marketed in direction of enterprise and industrial use-cases.
Intel’s Raptor Lake sequence of merchandise (based mostly on a heterogeneous CPU structure with each efficiency and effectivity cores) for the cell market was launched in early 2023. The P (28W) and U (15W) sequence had been meant for mid-range notebooks and ultrabooks, with the H (45W) / HX (55W) sequence filling in for gaming and desktop substitute notebooks. Though the UCFF market began off with U sequence chips working at 12W – 15W, the enhancements in thermal design have enabled the cramming of processors with TDPs of 28W and better in recent times. As a consequence, most mini-PCs utilizing Raptor Lake opted for the P sequence SoCs. The ECS LIVA Z5 PLUS has a special take available in the market – it adopts a U-series SoC with a barely bigger form-factor in comparison with the normal NUC.
The evaluate beneath offers an in depth look into the efficiency and options of the ECS LIVA Z5 PLUS. Prospective enterprise prospects have processor selections starting from the RPL-U U300 to the Core i7-1365U. The reviewed system is a mid-range configuration with the Core i5-1335U. The advantages of ECS’s cTDP-up setting, bigger form-factor, and selection of I/O ports are additionally mentioned.
Introduction and Product Impressions
The ECS LIVA Z5 PLUS is a 148mm x 120mm x 39mm mini-PC that lies someplace between the normal UCFF system and a 3.5″ SBC in measurement. Similar to different current LIVA programs, ECS is advertising this in direction of enterprise and industrial customers. The inner motherboard carries the RPLU-MINI tag. While the underside and casing are metallic, the highest cowl is plastic (ostensibly for higher WLAN efficiency). Despite the marginally bigger measurement, ECS has opted to place all USB ports within the entrance together with the ability button and the audio jack. There are two LAN ports within the rear along with three devoted video outputs.
While most RPL-P mini-PCs opted to go together with DDR5 SODIMMs, the LIVA Z5 PLUS comes with DDR4 SODIMM slots. However, the M.2 slot operates at Gen Four speeds for the first storage duties. This is complemented by a wealthy set of I/Os – two 2.5 GbE LAN ports, a full-featured USB4 port (with help for Thunderbolt peripherals), and three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports.
The system package deal features a VESA mount and related screws. A 19V/4.74A 90W DC energy adapter and a geo-specific energy wire are additionally current.
Access to the SSD and RAM slots are by way of a detachable panel on the underside saved in place with assistance from 4 screws.
Our evaluate system got here pre-installed with 2x 8GB DDR4-3200 SODIMMs and a PCIe 4.zero x4 DRAM-less NVMe drive. There was unusually no SSD thermal answer connected to the underside, although some markers are current to information in inserting thermal pads straight on prime of the M.2 slot. The full specs of the evaluate pattern are offered within the desk beneath.
| ECS LIVA Z5 PLUS Specifications (as examined) |
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| Processor | Intel Core i5-1335U Raptor Lake 2P + 8E / 12T, as much as 4.6 GHz (P) as much as 3.Four GHz (E) Intel 7, 12MB L2, Min / Max / Base TDP: 12W / 55W / 15W PL1 = 20W, PL2 = 39W |
| Memory | ACPI Digital 7D402331 DDR4-3200 SODIMM 22-22-22-52 @ 3200 MHz 2×8 GB |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80EU @ 1250 MHz) |
| Disk Drive(s) | FORESEE XP2000F256G (256 GB; M.2 2280 PCIe 4.zero x4 NVMe;) (Micron 176L 3D TLC; Silicon… |
