17866 Improve the performance of Intel NUC hardware from Kingston

Improve the performance of Intel NUC hardware from Kingston



Think about the last time you had problems with everyday tasks on the computer due to the fact that the processor can’t keep up. That’s just objectively. Modern hardware, even in low-end segment, provides good performance: it is the time when the “brakes” in the system quite well, no longer depend on the “Windows is cursed”, cores or megahertz. If that’s the lag, this is the fault in most cases hard slow or lack of RAM. Want proof? Easy.

Slow HDD and little RAM — the root of all evil

Browsers have become hypertrophied combines, almost a mini OS in virtualtech? Yes, it is. And guzzle a lot of memory. But due to this many cool features, the sites are beautiful, and they work quickly.

Office? Microsoft, of course, increases the system requirements of your package from year to year, but compare how Word works 2017 on any Pentium G with a couple of gigabytes of RAM now and Word 2003 under XP ten years ago by the time Celeron’E. Comfort has become ten times more and the speed increased. And so — why not take it.

Intel NUC

Even monstrous Adobe Photoshop works tolerably well on an inexpensive piece of hardware, as long as you don’t require challenges and graphical station not cope quickly. He’s only the RAM is more mound — and normal.

But slow work with the drive kills any computer. Take Intel’s fastest Core i7, overclocking to GHz under heavy dropsy, docente to him a couple of “Titans” and put “Windows” on a 500-gig notebook HDD. Yes, by the time you finish configuring the OS and installing all the drivers want ago, on the i3, but with SSD. And all because the system performance is determined by its slowest part, and for the vast number of tasks is exactly the drive.

Test platform

But from words to deeds. As a test platform was chosen as the ideal candidate for the role of “humble worker” mini-PC Intel NUC Intel Core i3-7100U.

Intel NUC

What is a NUC? In essence, this Barebone is a clone of the Apple Mac Mini. Wildly popular these devices is easy to explain: small and silent “boxes” provides you with everything you need “for mere pennies” Here and in the Internet to get out and documents to process photos from home to parse and pull, in the end, the iOS code.

Intel NUC

Intel NUC Intel NUC

Abroad, they took second to the third to fifth Mac home. We loved with a tender love for the fact that it is the most affordable ticket to the world of Apple desktop axis.

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What’s inside Korobchenko

Inside the metal housing Board of UCFF format with it soldered on Intel Core i3-7100U (2 cores at 2.4 GHz) and integrated graphics Intel HD 620 (24 Shader frequency up to 1000 MHz, memory bus 128 bit, she climbs in the RAM — its reserves are not).

Intel NUC

For RAM, the Board provides two “notebook” connector SO-DIMM in universal design: supports the memory up to DDR4.

Intel NUC Intel NUC

For data storage provides two connectors. The first is a traditional 2.5″ SATA III with thickness up to 7,5 mm. — standard slide bottom cover. The second high-speed M. 2 on the “motherboard”.

Intel NUC Intel NUC

According to the logic of Intel assumes that you will put a large HDD and a small “buffer” SSD and enable in the UEFI signature Intel Optane, which will itself decide what to put in the fastest cache. But we’ve got the full M. 2 connector for SSDS, and is compatible with two types of connection — PCI-E x4 and a set of instructions NVMe, and SATA600. Easier just to put something decent on.

CPU limitations

Not only that, in subjects with sed i3 is disconnected, automatically increasing frequency within the available heating package, so even with the RAM set up. According to Intel ARK, the memory controller can only communicate with a DDR3 memory frequency of 1600 or 1866 MHz, Yes DDR4 2133 modest.

Intel NUC

On the one hand, it is clear the younger, “why do you need more?”. With other integrated graphics, among other things, depends on it in memory bandwidth. Sorry that you flash the normal profiles and to allow to put 2666 or 3000 MHz modules? Oh well, AMD series Raven Ridge is on the way, there will be a little brighter.
 

Eliminate the “bottleneck”

For testing we used the maximum available hardware amount of RAM: 2 modules of Kingston KVR21S15S8 for 8 GB each. With the drive still got a couple of nuances. M. 2 connector universal thing, inside can be as SATAIII interface and PCI-E x4.0.

The first, in fact, no different from the usual connectors on the motherboard — the other case and the Pinout of the contacts, not more. The same limitations on throughput 600 MB/s, the same set of commands. But the second, in addition to the high speed bus, uses modern instruction set NVMe was developed specifically for SSD.

Intel NUC Intel NUC

Agree, in 2017 a bit strange are the attempts to work from pure digital storage methods, which were developed in the 80s for a rotating magnetic pancakes. But there is a PCI-E drives and a reverse side of the coin: they need the appropriate speed (and price), a powerful memory controller, and heat will provide more than usual. That is a flagship SSD in every laptop and supercompact come and you’ll overheat the controller — it will drop revs and lower speed.

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So as a test platform we take relatively affordable and quick SM2280S3G2 Kingston SSD 240 GB. Within its M. 2 connector — classic SATA interface, and according to the manufacturer’s speed closely matched to the theoretical limit of SATA III — 600 megabytes in 1 second.

Performance testing

Start with the basics, namely, from the synthetic tests. At the same time and make sure that the manufacturers on the website write the truth. SSD measure in ATTO Disk Benchmark. Results are visible as testing, and abnormal behaviour of the drive can be recognized on the fly. So, on the official website we promise to 550 MB/s read and 300 write (data is for the 240 GB model, speed may depend on the disk capacity: the more chips soldered — faster parallel work).

Intel NUC

The results were even above par. Nice when the manufacturer specifies guaranteed speeds, not attainable only riding on a spherical horse in vacuum.

To get to sweat a little in 3DMark TimeSpy not out — built-in IntelHD 5500 is not like a benchmark and it refused to run. Okay, never mind, torment him live gaming tests.

To play? At the same time?

Frankly, the Junior model Core i3 with integrated graphics it is difficult to call a great option for modern games. But as they say, not the AAA gaming is one IGROPROM alive?

There are plenty of fun ways to kill time, not having a top-end gaming hardware. And the first priority then come the familiar “sessionkey”. For example, the world’s most popular League of Legends and (much more popular in the former Soviet Union) Dota 2. Them graphics is not important, but the gameplay drags.

Intel NUC

Conjuring a bit with the settings, get stable 40+ fps at a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. And it is not at the minimum salary, and the “High” of models and textures and “medium” post-processing! Playable? Completely. To lose another a bit of the load, and a stable 60 fps will submit a super compact PC, which is over the hill I think in General for the Media Streaming Device.

Intel NUC

No less popular among the fans of Counter Strike: Global Offensive on the “medium” and disabled the anti-aliasing gave at least a decent 45 fps – though at a resolution of 720p. However, fancy graphics were never a main feature of this series, so you can go to ultra-low and chopped at a good 60+ fps. For one nostalgia from the times of 1.6 slovita: according to the chart, just closer to “those days” at the maximum speed.

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But there is also good old games at all times: the entire Orange Box, for example, is played beautifully in 2017. As they say, “it’s a classic, it is necessary to know…”

Intel NUC

Portal 2 on high stable 40 to 60 fps, good old DiRT2 – good soroket in HD resolutions, even in EVE Online you can stay all night long: 30+ fps at FullHD, cosmic landscapes and meditative gameplay hide simple graphics settings. And all PvP Zaruba here do not depend on the graphics card, but from direct hands and Neuhauser interface.

And modern products igroproma on “minimum” 30 fps cherished exchanged Dirt 4, SW Battlefront, MGS:V, but a lot more.

Where does the SSD?

It’s very simple. Human beings are hardy and adapt to all kinds of conditions. Low graphics? It does not matter, imagination will add the missing parts. Low frame rate? You can get used to, living somehow console gamers with their 30 FPS and the mantra “the human eye doesn’t see more than 24 fps”. The main thing in all the above cases, the stability of the result.

Intel NUC

As long as everything goes evenly and at the same pace — no problems. But any drawdown from pumping of textures or patterns in memory, any skipping several frames due to the lag OSes at once will wear you out video. Then the brain will do everything for you: remind you on what you are playing and make again sadly flipping catalogs of high-performance hardware at night.

Upgrade

Not always we have the possibility to change the “main” glands: cheap laptop, old PC, which if to upgrade — so all at once, but the same crisis with the mining and frantic prices. But that doesn’t mean that you should deny yourself the pleasure. Core i3 is quite capable of providing its owner a decent resources both for work and for entertainment. In some everyday tasks he steadily catching up with the flagship processors from five years ago. Provided, of course, that memory and storage will not be the “bottleneck” of the platform. In our case, the hardware from Kingston did not disappoint — the SSD more than offset all the software requirements, and the sea RAM helped him.

Learn more about the Kingston SSD M2

Learn more about DDR4 Kingston SO-DIMM

Source: 4pda.ru

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