A sub-2 liter fanlessly cooled Bay Trail system from Logic Supply courts buyers seeking silent, reliable, maintenance-free computing for kiosks, signage and other industrial/commercial applications. The ML210G-10’s power profile matches its tiny size.
Product | ML210G-10 Fanless Thin mini-ITX Computer |
Manufacturer | |
As Tested | $687.00 |
Improvements in both energy efficiency and computing power continue driving
PCs both smaller and quieter. The trend is omnipresent, and clearly impacts
the industrial and commercial markets as well as the more visible consumer segments.
Logic Supply has been a player in the industrial and commercial sector for many
years, with a heavy emphasis on small, fanless, silent PCs.
The last Logic Supply mini PCs to grace SPCR was the ML400G-50 in late November
last year. This was a fanlessly cooled mini-ITX system sporting an Intel Core
i5-4200M (Haswell) 2.5 GHz mobile processor in a virtually sealed aluminum heatsink
chassis.
The model examined here is the ML210G-10, which employs a Bay Trail Celeron
embedded processor in a Thin Mini-ITX format to shrink the case even further.
The photos below show the lower profile of the new system against the earlier
ML400G-50.
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Aside from a smaller case, the ML210G-10 also features even lower power consumption,
thanks to the Bay Trail processor, even with four cores, double that of the
ML400G-50. The same cheerful and distinctive orange-silver colour scheme is
followed here.
Specifications: Logic Supply ML210-10* (from the product web page) | |
Dimension | 196 x 37 x 213 mm (1.5 liters) 7.7″ x 1.45″ x 8.4″ |
Motherboard | Mitac PD10BI Thin Mini-ITX |
CPU | Intel Celeron J1900 2 GHz (embedded) |
Chipset | Intel Bay Trail D |
Memory | Transcend SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 8GB |
LAN | Realtek RT8111G-CG Qualcomm Atheros AR946x Wireless |
Audio | Realtek ALC888S codec |
Graphics | Intel HD Graphics |
Displays | Dual independent display from HD-Out, VGA, and Embedded Display-Port / LVDS connectivity |
SATA Interface | 3.0 Gb/sec, 2 connectors |
Expansion Type | PCIe x1 PCIe Mini Card (full height) PCIe Mini Card (half-height) |
Front I/O | 2 USB 2.0 ports Power Button |
Rear I/O | 2 USB 2.0 high current ports 2 USB 3.0 ports 2 RS-232 COM ports 1 VGA port 1 HDMI port 1 LAN port 2 Antenna holes 2 Audio jacks 1 DC jack (8 V to 19 V) |
Storage | Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB mSATA (120 GB, SATA-III) |
Power Supply | AC/DC adapter Seasonic SSA 0601D-12 (12VDC, 60W Level V efficiency) |
Mounting | DIN-mount VESA-mount Wall-mount |
Operating Temperature | 0°C ~ 55°C |
OS | Windows 8.1 64-bit Pro |
*Various RAM, SSD and other options available. Price of the above config at time of writing (w/o OS) was $577.00 |
The maximum T-junction temperature of the Celeron J1900 processor is a sizzling
105°C, which partly explains Logic Supply’s confidence in the ability of
this passively cooled system to function safely in up to 55°C ambient temperature.
The ML210 series is available in two models. The ML210G-10 is the embedded
Bay Trail option. The ML210G-50 is a higher performance option in the same case
utilizing an Intel i5-4300U ULV (ultra low voltage) Haswell mobile processor
on a Thin Mini-ITX board.
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TESTING
As with the ML400G, an effort was made to open up the chassis, but the top
and bottom halves of the clamshell case did not want to part. Some form of clamping
is used to effect the heat transfer from the CPU to the processor; the details
of how this is achieved isn’t particularly important for our review. Our load
testing will quickly tell us the efficacy of the cooling system.
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Measurement and Analysis Tools
- CPU-Z
to monitor CPU frequency and voltage. - AIDA64
to monitor system temperatures and fan speeds. - Prime95
processor stress software. - Media Player
Classic – Home Cinema to play H.264/VC-1 video. - Mozilla
Firefox with Adobe
Flash Player to play Flash video. - Adobe
Photoshop as an image manipulation benchmark. - Extech
AC Power Analyzer 380803 AC power meter, used to measure system power consumption. - PC-based spectrum analyzer:
SpectraPlus with ACO Pacific mic and M-Audio digitalaudio interfaces. - Anechoic chamber
with ambient level of 11 dBA or lower
Benchmark Test Details
- Adobe
Photoshop: Image manipulation using a variety of filters, a derivation
of Driver Heaven’s Photoshop
Benchmark V3 (test image resized to 4500×3499). - Eset NOD32: In-depth
virus scan of a folder containing 32 files of varying size with many RAR and
ZIP archives. - WinRAR: RAR
archive creation with a folder containing 68 files of varying size (less than
50MB). - iTunes:
Conversion of an MP3 file to AAC. - TMPGEnc
Xpress: Encoding a XVID AVI file with VC-1. - HandBrake: Encoding
a XVID AVI file with H.264. - Crysis demo
standalone benchmark.
Testing Procedures
Our main test procedure involves recording various temperatures, fan speeds,
power consumption, and noise level, with the system in various states. This
includes idle, H.264 and Flash playback, video encoding with TMPGEnc, and full
CPU and GPU load using Prime95 and/or FurMark, as appropriate. This is followed
by a series of both CPU (timed tests of real-world applications) and GPU-centric
(gaming tests and synthetics) benchmarks. For the ML210G, the Furmark test,
an overkill 3D stress test, was ommitted as inappropriate; this system is not
meant to run 3D games.
TEST RESULTS
The Logic Supply ML210G-10 barely sips at power and runs extremely cool even
under the highest loads.
Logic Supply ML21 0G-50 Measurements (Extended Use) | ||||
System State | CPU | SSD | External* | Power (AC) |
Idle | 25°C | 42°C | 33°C | 7W |
MPC-HC H.264 Playback | 26°C | 43°C | 34°C | 12W |
TMPGEnc Video Encoding | 27°C | 45°C | 35°C | 13W |
Prime95 | 27°C | 46°C | 35°C | 14W |
*measured at the hottest point on the top of the machine Ambient temperature: 20°C. |
None of the hardware monitoring utilities at our disposal fully identified
the Mitac PD10BI board within. Only the CPU and SSD temperature sensors showed.
The individual CPU core temperatures did show as well; none ever rose past 46°C
during our testing. It’s safe to say there is adequate cooling headroom even
in the hottest tropical summers.
As with the last Logic Supply fanless system, there is no need for any tables
or graphs showing acoustic performance: Our sample makes no noise of any kind.
This includes the AC/DC adapter. It is possible that the adapter may make some
noise at some point, but the level is low enough that we never noticed it, and
as you probably know we run an extremely quiet lab. (11 dBA in the anechoic
chamber.)
CPU Performance
For CPU tests, we compared the ML210G-10 to a selection of lower-end, energy
efficient CPUs/APUs, the ultra-low voltage Ivy Bridge chip found in the original
Intel NUC, and the Pentium G2120, a 55W desktop CPU that is commonly paired
with thin mini-ITX LGA1155 motherboards.
The ML210G-10 is quite responsive, similar to the other Bay Trail Celeron system
we tested before, built around a Havey MITX-6771. In terms of benchmarks, it’s
not quite at the level of the i3 Intel NUC but close to an Athlon 5350 system.
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We calculated the relative CPU performance score by giving each system/chip
a proportional score in each benchmark with each test having an equal weighting.
The scale is adjusted so that the Logic Supply ML210G-10 is the reference point
with a score of 100. By this metric, the Athlon 5350 and the Habey MITX-6771
systems are close matches.
Energy Efficiency
All systems compared have similar hardware: Single SSD and a DC power supply
with high efficiency 12V/19V adapter.
The ML210G-10 is considerably more efficient than any mini-ITX board we’ve
tested thus far. Idle power is especially low, nearly matching the most power
efficient NUC at just 7W AC.
Under high loads, the ML210G-10 is a champ. To draw just 17W under a 3D game
(admittedly at low frame rate and detail setting) is quite a feat. The significant
2~4W edge it has over the other Bay Trail Celeron system may be explained party
by the fact that it is running Windows 8.1, reputed to provide improved energy
efficiency than Windows 7, especially with newer hardware. All the other systems
ran Windows 7 (64 bit).
FINAL THOUGHTS
The energy consumption of the Logic Supply ML210G-10 matches its diminutive
size. Under high loads, it is the most energy efficient PC we’ve reviewed —
in nearly 13 years of testing. In the industrial and commercial arena for which
it is designed, the sub-2 liter volume and absence of fans or vents which can
accumulate dust and hinder cooling in the long run are highly desirable attributes.
The ML210G-10 is well suited for the role, and its external casing provides
both excellent protection for the components within as well as irreproachable
cooling.
The performance doesn’t quite reach the levels of a discrete Core i3 system,
but its quad-core processor is certainly competent. The ideal role is in harsh
and demanding environments where dust resistance and absense of any need for
physical maintenance are boons. The inclusion of an SSD in the system is a natural
and logical choice. Logic Supply has created another worthy product in the ML210G-10.
Our thanks to Logic Supply for the ML210G-10 sample.
POSTSCRIPT – March 4, 2015 Darek from Logic Supply explained that the two halves of the ML210G case |
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