ZOTAC Shows Off the Mek Gaming PC

[btarunr]

ZOTAC broke new ground with its first tower-type SFF gaming PC, the ZOTAC Mek. This is one of the first ZOTAC PCs that isn't brick or box-shaped, and competes with your game console or the likes of Falcon Northwest Tiki in looks. It comes in white and black with blue LED accents. A sliding door up front covers the power button, status LEDs (ring-shaped), a pair of USB 3.0 type-A, and HDA jacks. Under the hood is some serious gaming hardware - an Intel Core i7-7700 quad-core processor, 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory, and GeForce GTX 1080 graphics. Also featured is a 240 GB M.2 NVMe SSD. Powering it all is a 450W SFX power-supply.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[qubit]

That's interesting, a tiddly 450W PSU powering a GTX 1080? Given the powerful CPU I'm surprised that it's enough.

The PC doesn't look too bad either and I prefer the dark one on the right.

 

[ensabrenoir]

....looks like a properly done silverstone Raven

 

[silentbogo]

Should've named it ZOTAC Bumblebee
I hope Hasboro won't sue them, because it's a nice looking PC (at least the yellow/black version).

 

[erixx]

No, no, no! You need both 2 tiny towers: one for the cpu and one for the gpu!

Just... well... mek!

 

[Dethroy]

That's interesting, a tiddly 450W PSU powering a GTX 1080? Given the powerful CPU I'm surprised that it's enough.

What? That's more than adequate to drive said hardware.

 

[qubit]

What? That's more than adequate to drive said hardware.

Well clearly, or they wouldn't make it. I've always seen much bigger PSUs recommended for PC's at this level, so it's not such a stupid observation is it?

 

[Dethroy]

Well clearly, or they wouldn't make it. I've always seen much bigger PSUs recommended for PC's at this level, so it's not such a stupid observation is it?

Simply because most recommendations are baseless. A frequently observed phenomenon on TPU as well.

 

[Frick]

Well clearly, or they wouldn't make it. I've always seen much bigger PSUs recommended for PC's at this level, so it's not such a stupid observation is it?

I'm a bit surprised at this statement from you actually. Official recommendations are based on crappy overrated PSUs. Any decent 400W will easily power a GTX1080 based build (unless overclocking).

 

[qubit]

Simply because most recommendations are baseless. A frequently observed phenomenon on TPU as well.

I'm a bit surprised at this statement from you actually. Official recommendations are based on crappy overrated PSUs. Any decent 400W will easily power a GTX1080 based build (unless overclocking).

I never mentioned forums, you assumed it. Are reviews baseless? This one recommends a 600W unit so yeah, 400W is real small and worthy of comment, like I did. Enough now of trying to prove I'm making a stupid comment. It's getting old real quick.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-review,8.html

Note that I couldn't find a PSU recommendation in the TPU review, hence this third party one from an established site.

 

[Dethroy]

I never mentioned forums, you assumed it. Are reviews baseless? This one recommends a 600W unit so yeah, 400W is real small and worthy of comment, like I did. Enough now of trying to prove I'm making a stupid comment. It's getting old real quick.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-review,8.html

Note that I couldn't find a PSU recommendation in the TPU review, hence this third party one from an established site.

No need to get all defensive. By the way, I made no assumption. That very statement had nothing to do with your post.

 

[Frick]

I never mentioned forums, you assumed it. Are reviews baseless? This one recommends a 600W unit so yeah, 400W is real small and worthy of comment, like I did. Enough now of trying to prove I'm making a stupid comment. It's getting old real quick.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-review,8.html

Note that I couldn't find a PSU recommendation in the TPU review, hence this third party one from an established site.

Ah, I thought you meant official recommendations, which would be surprising as I know you to be more knowledgeble than that. But them review recommendations depend on your POV probably. If you're overclocking and run an i7K overclocked you probably want 600W, but for a lower specced CPU even 400W will be enough, and 450W is plenty enough. And 600W is a good recommendation to cover their bases I guess.

 

[Andromos]

It does look good, but why make that door glossy? It doesn't match and it's the one part you might touch the most!

 

[Blueberries]

I'm definitely of the smaller/thinner is better persuasion, and that being said, I think the chassis looks nice.

Airflow looks really tight for an air-cooled GTX 1080, probably too tight.

 

[qubit]

Ah, I thought you meant official recommendations, which would be surprising as I know you to be more knowledgeble than that. But them review recommendations depend on your POV probably. If you're overclocking and run an i7K overclocked you probably want 600W, but for a lower specced CPU even 400W will be enough, and 450W is plenty enough. And 600W is a good recommendation to cover their bases I guess.

Thing is, while 400W will work, I think it's too small regardless.

Look, according to TPU's review, the card draws a max of 185W, so let's call it 200W for edge cases where it runs flat out and product variance. The CPU is another 65W+ potentially. The mobo and other components also draw power of course, so you can see how ramping up the usage on that PC will push that PSU too close to its limit for comfort at 300W or so. I've never seen a high spec PC with such a tiny PSU, which will be for these reasons. Even ordinary gaming will still put a significant load on that PSU. This smacks of penny pinching by Zotac beancounters and it will affect the reliability of this PC. I'll bet any review of it will criticize that PSU as being far too small.

 

[silentbogo]

Thing is, while 400W will work, I think it's too small regardless.

ZOTAC Magnus 1080 gets by just fine with 2x180W external PSUs (effectively even less than 360W). The configuration is quite similar to "The Bumblebee" (and I will call it this way, until Zotac renames it).

Also, a key moment is that the official press release only mentions "7th gen Core i7", which is not necessarily a 91W K-version, or 65W regular version. It may as well be a low-power 7700T, which in the hi-power scenario stands at 35W max TDP, or can be limited to 25W (still, with more or less adequate performance for gaming).

I doubt Zotac will use a K-version, so the absolute worst case is 65W CPU + 180W GPU + ~35W for the rest of the system(motherboard, RAM, typical NVME && SATA SSDs and WiFi).
Now, we divide total of 270 by 0.7, so even at the impossibly highest load the PSU will stay at no more than 70% load, while keeping an average consumption at least above 20% for efficiency reasons, and we get a magic number 400W.
And this is a highly overestimated value. Very-very safe, though...

 

[rtwjunkie]

I had to read several times before I realized it is the Mek gaming PC, and not the "Meh" gaming PC, which is what my brain kept seeing.

 

[HopelesslyFaithful]

Simply because most recommendations are baseless. A frequently observed phenomenon on TPU as well.

most people recommend PSUs to run at 50% load because it is more efficient and maximizes PSU life and also allows future expansion.

Doesn't mean you can't run a PSU at 90% load...its just not ideal.

so 450W is more than enough but its pushing 400 watt under worst of worst case scenarios. Like you have some 3 usbs pulled 20-30 watts and CPU and GPU overclocked and 100% maxed with fans maxed and SSD running.

You could brick it but it would be tough to pull off.

The thing is your just going to burn out the PSU really fast if the PC is at 90% load 24/7 and the power quality will get crapper as it ages.

For me I rather disk out the extra 50 or so bucks for a 1000-1300 watt PSU that is gold or platinum and not worry about the PSU being an issue.

I think best I have ever doen was 500 watts off my PSU.

6700K 4.8GHz like 120W TDP
1500mhz 980TI plus a bunch of fans and HDDs.

Sidenote....I want that damn lego! Lego my Lego!