New Zotac SFF Contender EN980

I would be totally into this if it wasn't going to cost an arm and a leg and you are of course stuck with the 980 years down the road. Kudos to zotac to putting the R&D into such a niche product though.
 
So is this the "desktop" 980 we saw in some high end gaming laptops or this is a 980m part similar to how the 970 Magnus and other "gaming" mini pc's were including MXM cards? Hopefully the former.
 
I really do think this will be the future for mainstream desktop soon. If nvidia and AMD create MxM version of their desktop gpus, I do expect the DIY market to follow suit. It will be more portable than a Dan A4, Ncase M1, and even the NFC S4-Mini. Alienware should really update their gpu and processors for their Alienware Alpha lineup. I hope that Zotac offers an i7 option. Is the i5 a 35w/45w variant or an ulta-low voltage one in the past EN series boxes?
 
Don't get too excited, guys. Take a look at this.
It seems to be about three times the size of the SN970 and it has two external power bricks, much like the ASUS G20. Not impressed by that.
 
iFreilicht said:
Don't get too excited, guys. Take a look at this.
It seems to be about three times the size of the SN970 and it has two external power bricks, much like the ASUS G20. Not impressed by that.
Click to expand...
I had the feeling it would be a good 6-7L if it included a 980 GTX. I will reserve judgement until they give out full spec information. I am excited though how powerful the smaller EN/SN zotac boxes or Alienware Alpha will get when the new Nvidia and AMD gpus come out.
 
From the look of the unit, I'd wager it's about twice the thickness of the SN970, and based on those two power inputs (personal pet peeve) it's likely the desktop spec GTX980 MXM. I found what appear to be all the promotional pics of the unit if anybody's curious.
 
I wonder if they could have just used a 240w external power brick or made their own 300w. The two power inputs really hurt this product a bit. I see them only using at the highest a 65W intel S variant cpu. Most likely, a 35w, but preferrably a 45w T series.
 
No reason they couldn't - I'm curious to see if the dual input changes for the final unit. Plenty changed between the initial SN970 announcement and final product (including introduction of an offshoot product, the EN970.) For now at least, it's still a fairly interesting puzzle - it has a custom liquid cooler (apparently), dual display port, dual HDMI, dual LAN, dual WI-FI antennas, a cluster of four USB 3.0 on the back, one on the front, a type-C port, mic and headphone jacks and SDHC/SDXC reader. Like you, I'd be curious to see what CPU is in there - I'm not sure where the cutoff would be with the low power i5s before they start to bottleneck the 980, but I'd be willing to be it's at least an i5 6400s.
 
Update - Info out of this year's GDC goes as follows.

CPU - Skylake i5-6400 (socketed).

GPU - Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 MXM (not 980m).

RAM - DDR3L (not sure how much at the moment).

M.2 interface is SATA.

Dual power input - one for the components, and one for the cooling system, both routed to a single power brick apparently.

CPU and GPU are both technically serviceable, but they're very difficult to access.

This is a first for me - I'm kinda put off by some of the design choices here.
 
It would be nice to see a 65W TDP i7 version as well for this machine. I am really curious what the external power brick looks like if it is plugged into two power inputs. The main thing that worries me is the cooling system and the possible malfunctions or DOAs for the first few batches of this PC. I also wonder if Zotac will include in their manual how to maintain this cooling system as well as how to troubleshoot it.

I feel that Zotac rushed this product a bit because of MSIs showing of their version of Apple's Mac Pro. Although MSI is slightly bigger (6.5L vs. Zotac's 5.8L) and will cost more, it would include an i7 6700K and up to dual 980 GTXs. It would be nice if they made an air-cooled version of it with a 92mm or 120mm fan and somehow make it just 3.5 to 4in tall instead of the 5in height currently in the WC prototype.

I wonder if Zotac could have squeezed a non-K i7 6700 into the machine with their proprietary WC ing design.
 
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