**The Z Zotac ZBOX Gaming Unit: A Closer Look**

The main issue with running benchmarks on the 3206 version of the Z Zotac ZBOX is that it's an older operating system. This results in a huge disparity when comparing the device to other video cards, highlighting the importance of driver updates. However, the true extent of this disparity can only be truly understood by benchmarking on a newer operating system, such as 3378.

Fortunately, we can take a closer look at the internal components of the Z Zotac ZBOX to get an overview of its features and capabilities. The device is targeted towards gaming enthusiasts and offers impressive I/O options. There are four USB 3.0 ports, with two located on the back, one on the side, and one on the opposite side from the back. Additionally, there are two 3.5mm jacks for audio input/output and a 4-in-one card reader that supports SD, SDHC, SDXC, and USB cards.

Furthermore, the Z Zotac ZBOX comes equipped with its own wireless receiver, eliminating the need for an additional USB stick to establish a wireless connection. The device also features a power button, antenna connector, optical spiff (a port for connecting audio equipment), RJ45 Ethernet ports, DVI port, HDMI port, and DC power input. It's worth noting that this unit does not have internal power supply and instead relies on an external adapter to connect it to the wall.

There are two versions of the Z Zotac ZBOX: the standard 760 model and the more expensive 760 Plus model. The main difference between the two is that the 760 Plus comes pre-installed with RAM and a hard drive, while the 760 does not. For those looking for a more affordable option, it's recommended to purchase the 760 model and install their own RAM and SSD. This allows users to take full control of the device's performance and customize it to their specific needs.

Installing RAM and an SSD on the Z Zotac ZBOX is relatively straightforward. The unit has two slots that can accommodate standard laptop RAM, making it easy to swap out existing RAM for faster models. Additionally, the device comes with a drive sled that supports SD cards, providing users with an option to install their own storage solution.

To further enhance the user experience, we can explore the internal components of the Z Zotac ZBOX. Looking internally, we find a large heat sink attached to the GPU, as well as a small fan cooling the device. The wireless adapter is also present, along with ports for connecting audio equipment and installing an external hard drive. This information provides valuable insight into the device's design and capabilities.

With this newfound understanding of the Z Zotac ZBOX, we can now proceed with setting up the device and running benchmarks to compare its performance to other video cards. However, it's essential to note that the compatibility of the drivers is currently an issue, and updates are required to ensure accurate results. As soon as the drivers become compatible, we'll be able to provide a comprehensive review of this gaming unit and its features.

**Technical Specifications**

* Operating System: 3206 (older) or 3378 (newer)

* USB Ports: 4 x USB 3.0

* Audio Input/Output: 2 x 3.5mm jacks

* Card Reader: 4-in-one

* Wireless Receiver: Yes

* Power Button: Yes

* Antenna Connector: Yes

* Optical Spiff: Yes

* RJ45 Ethernet Ports: 2

* DVI Port: Yes

* HDMI Port: Yes

* DC Power Input: Yes

**RAM and SSD Installation**

Installing RAM on the Z Zotac ZBOX is a straightforward process. The unit has two slots that can accommodate standard laptop RAM, making it easy to swap out existing RAM for faster models. To install an SSD, users can simply pop the device's drive sled into place and connect their preferred storage solution.

**Internal Components**

Looking internally, we find a large heat sink attached to the GPU, as well as a small fan cooling the device. The wireless adapter is also present, along with ports for connecting audio equipment and installing an external hard drive.

**Comparison to Other Devices**

The Z Zotac ZBOX is targeted towards gaming enthusiasts and offers impressive I/O options. However, its performance may be affected by compatibility issues with newer operating systems. As soon as the drivers become compatible, we'll be able to provide a comprehensive review of this gaming unit and its features.

**Pricing and Availability**

The standard 760 model of the Z Zotac ZBOX is available for purchase at $550, while the more expensive 760 Plus model comes with pre-installed RAM and hard drive. However, due to the lack of RAM in the 760 model, it's recommended to purchase the 760 Plus for optimal performance.

**Conclusion**

The Z Zotac ZBOX is a powerful gaming unit that offers impressive I/O options and customizability. While compatibility issues with newer operating systems may affect its performance, we're confident that this device has the potential to provide exceptional gaming experiences once the drivers become compatible.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone this is Steve from Gamers nexus.net and today we're looking at Zotac ZBOX 760 I really have to sneeze it is not working I'm looking at the light and it's not working so we're just going to roll with this and see what happens this is the en 760 ZBOX the ZBOX looks like this if you're curious what a ZBOX is it is basically an htpc a home theater PC also known as a Mini PC in zota branding they've been making these for a few years now I've seen them at paxis for at least 3 years and the th far they haven't really made a gaming grade one this is a gaming grade one so I am told the ZBOX is a custom form factor Mini PC it's a little bit smaller than Mini ITX it's got a CPU on board it's got a GPU soldered on board you install your own RAM and hard drive they also sell one with those pre-installed but let's let's run through all the specs of this and then talk about why uh I have not yet benchmarked this and what you can expect when I do Benchmark it so for the specs this like I said has a a mobile GPU it is using an Nvidia 860m which is one of their Maxwell gpus they actually have two 860m one is based on Kepler and one is based on Maxwell this to my knowledge is the Maxwell GPU and that is also why we're having issues with the drivers right now the CPU is an i5 it's Intel of course I5 4200u which is another uh a laptop component it operates natively at 1.6 GHz and turbo boost up to 2.60 GHz if you are wondering if that is slow the answer is yes 1.6 is pretty slow but if turbo boost works like it should uh and and jumps up to 2.6 when gaming then will be in okay shape because the GP will make up for the rest for the most part for most games obviously there are some games that will be more CPU bound than others but the the ZBOX right now does not function with Nvidia 3378 drivers so unfortunately I can't Benchmark it yet I do have benchmarks coming but I'm just waiting on Zotac to get back to me with the updated driver uh compatibility so the main issue here is that right now it's running on 3206 I want to say which is it's a little bit old at this point and unfortunately if I Benchmark on 3206 with the 860m against all of our other video cards you're going to see a huge disparity that doesn't actually exist in Hardware it's entirely on the driver side cuz all the other cars I benchmarked on 3378 and you I want to use Watch Dogs for the bench but it's not going to work without the newest drivers because of a million reasons I've discussed if you have seen my diet tribe on Watch Dogs so uh we are waiting for the benchmarks on that but we can at least look at the internals today and get a an overview of what the ZBOX is so this is targeted as a gaming unit in terms of IO let me just read off the back here we have four USB 3.0 ports there are two on the back one on the side sltp however you look at it and then one on on the opposite side from the back which I suppose would be the front so that's what we have for the uh USB IO there's no USB 2 it's all three there are two 3.5 mm Jacks for out and input there's a 4 inone card reader so that includes your SD SD HC SD XC all of those things and then we have a Wi-Fi antennas included with the ZBOX so it actually has its own Wireless card internally you don't need to buy a USB stick for wireless which is good because we only have four USB ports and then we have uh like I said wre wireless receiver there's a power button antenna connector for uh more antennas there's an optical spiff which is one of my favorite words to say uh so that is an optical reader for uh audio of course if you want to use it in a proper htpc setup where you would have highquality speakers two RJ45 ethernet port ports and then we've got a DVI port and HDMI port another antenna connector for the second wireless antenna and DC uh Power input so it actually connects to an adapter that connects to the wall so it's it's doesn't have an internal power supp it's actually external that's how they can make this so small and the unit that I have here is the uh I believe it is the 760 whereas the more expensive unit is the 760 plus so the difference between them is the 760 does not come with Ram or hard drive pre-installed the 760 plus doeses and the pre-installed Ram is one stick of 8 GB at 1600 MHz the hard drive pre-installed is a 1 TB drive at 5400 RPM so I would advise you strongly to buy this model which has nothing pre-installed buy your own Ram buy your own SSD and go from there this unit ships at $550 should be available later this month and the pro model with the RAM and drive ships at 700 I yeah it ships at 700 so not the best value if you're capable of installing your own drive and RAM and I'm going to show you how to do that right now because it's pretty darn easy and uh and then we'll get to the benchmarks as soon as the drivers are compatible with this device but for today we're just going to install everything things are pretty simple here looking internally we have of course the board there's a giant heat sink with a small what looks to be perhaps a uh maybe I don't know if that's 60 or 80 mm but it's a small fan on the GPU and then next to that we have of course the wireless adapter and you've got a port for your drive and underneath that you can remove that one screw holding in the drive uh Drive sled we'll call it underneath that is where the ram is installed this is actually laptop Ram it is so dim Ram uh and you can basically take it out of any laptop if you have one or uh of course just buy new RAM and it will take two slots so for maximum efficacy you can fill both of those slots right now I've got some uh some pretty mediocre Kingston laptop Ram in here just for testing purposes pop your RAM in just like a laptop pop the SSD into the sled install it it will connect to the ports very cleanly do not force anything because you'll break it and then just close it off and that's that's really all there is to it so at this point we install an OS we install some games we hope that the drivers are updated and then play and uh and I'll have a benchmark for you shortly so uh subscribe to the YouTube channel for that and of course check the website for full information on this product as well as the other Z Zotac ones and I will see you all next time peacehey everyone this is Steve from Gamers nexus.net and today we're looking at Zotac ZBOX 760 I really have to sneeze it is not working I'm looking at the light and it's not working so we're just going to roll with this and see what happens this is the en 760 ZBOX the ZBOX looks like this if you're curious what a ZBOX is it is basically an htpc a home theater PC also known as a Mini PC in zota branding they've been making these for a few years now I've seen them at paxis for at least 3 years and the th far they haven't really made a gaming grade one this is a gaming grade one so I am told the ZBOX is a custom form factor Mini PC it's a little bit smaller than Mini ITX it's got a CPU on board it's got a GPU soldered on board you install your own RAM and hard drive they also sell one with those pre-installed but let's let's run through all the specs of this and then talk about why uh I have not yet benchmarked this and what you can expect when I do Benchmark it so for the specs this like I said has a a mobile GPU it is using an Nvidia 860m which is one of their Maxwell gpus they actually have two 860m one is based on Kepler and one is based on Maxwell this to my knowledge is the Maxwell GPU and that is also why we're having issues with the drivers right now the CPU is an i5 it's Intel of course I5 4200u which is another uh a laptop component it operates natively at 1.6 GHz and turbo boost up to 2.60 GHz if you are wondering if that is slow the answer is yes 1.6 is pretty slow but if turbo boost works like it should uh and and jumps up to 2.6 when gaming then will be in okay shape because the GP will make up for the rest for the most part for most games obviously there are some games that will be more CPU bound than others but the the ZBOX right now does not function with Nvidia 3378 drivers so unfortunately I can't Benchmark it yet I do have benchmarks coming but I'm just waiting on Zotac to get back to me with the updated driver uh compatibility so the main issue here is that right now it's running on 3206 I want to say which is it's a little bit old at this point and unfortunately if I Benchmark on 3206 with the 860m against all of our other video cards you're going to see a huge disparity that doesn't actually exist in Hardware it's entirely on the driver side cuz all the other cars I benchmarked on 3378 and you I want to use Watch Dogs for the bench but it's not going to work without the newest drivers because of a million reasons I've discussed if you have seen my diet tribe on Watch Dogs so uh we are waiting for the benchmarks on that but we can at least look at the internals today and get a an overview of what the ZBOX is so this is targeted as a gaming unit in terms of IO let me just read off the back here we have four USB 3.0 ports there are two on the back one on the side sltp however you look at it and then one on on the opposite side from the back which I suppose would be the front so that's what we have for the uh USB IO there's no USB 2 it's all three there are two 3.5 mm Jacks for out and input there's a 4 inone card reader so that includes your SD SD HC SD XC all of those things and then we have a Wi-Fi antennas included with the ZBOX so it actually has its own Wireless card internally you don't need to buy a USB stick for wireless which is good because we only have four USB ports and then we have uh like I said wre wireless receiver there's a power button antenna connector for uh more antennas there's an optical spiff which is one of my favorite words to say uh so that is an optical reader for uh audio of course if you want to use it in a proper htpc setup where you would have highquality speakers two RJ45 ethernet port ports and then we've got a DVI port and HDMI port another antenna connector for the second wireless antenna and DC uh Power input so it actually connects to an adapter that connects to the wall so it's it's doesn't have an internal power supp it's actually external that's how they can make this so small and the unit that I have here is the uh I believe it is the 760 whereas the more expensive unit is the 760 plus so the difference between them is the 760 does not come with Ram or hard drive pre-installed the 760 plus doeses and the pre-installed Ram is one stick of 8 GB at 1600 MHz the hard drive pre-installed is a 1 TB drive at 5400 RPM so I would advise you strongly to buy this model which has nothing pre-installed buy your own Ram buy your own SSD and go from there this unit ships at $550 should be available later this month and the pro model with the RAM and drive ships at 700 I yeah it ships at 700 so not the best value if you're capable of installing your own drive and RAM and I'm going to show you how to do that right now because it's pretty darn easy and uh and then we'll get to the benchmarks as soon as the drivers are compatible with this device but for today we're just going to install everything things are pretty simple here looking internally we have of course the board there's a giant heat sink with a small what looks to be perhaps a uh maybe I don't know if that's 60 or 80 mm but it's a small fan on the GPU and then next to that we have of course the wireless adapter and you've got a port for your drive and underneath that you can remove that one screw holding in the drive uh Drive sled we'll call it underneath that is where the ram is installed this is actually laptop Ram it is so dim Ram uh and you can basically take it out of any laptop if you have one or uh of course just buy new RAM and it will take two slots so for maximum efficacy you can fill both of those slots right now I've got some uh some pretty mediocre Kingston laptop Ram in here just for testing purposes pop your RAM in just like a laptop pop the SSD into the sled install it it will connect to the ports very cleanly do not force anything because you'll break it and then just close it off and that's that's really all there is to it so at this point we install an OS we install some games we hope that the drivers are updated and then play and uh and I'll have a benchmark for you shortly so uh subscribe to the YouTube channel for that and of course check the website for full information on this product as well as the other Z Zotac ones and I will see you all next time peace\n"