Test Methodology
            
  
    
      | Comparison Systems | 
    
      | System Name | Asus ET2321INTH | Gigabyte Brix Pro | Intel NUC D54250WYK | PC Specialist Vanquish Mini 130 | Zotac Zbox Nano ID69 Plus | 
    
      | Overclocked | No | No | No | No | No | 
    
      | Processor | Intel Core i7-4500U @ up to 3.0GHz | Intel Core i7-4770R @ up to 3.9GHz | Intel Core i5-4250U @ up to 2.6GHz | Intel Core i3-4130 @ 3.4GHz | Intel Core i7-4500U @ up to 3.0GHz | 
    
      | Cooler | Asus ET2321 Reference | Gigabyte Brix Pro Reference | Intel NUC Reference | Intel Reference | Zotac Zbox Nano Reference | 
    
      | Motherboard | Asus ET2321 Reference | Gigabyte M4HM87P | NUC QS87 reference | Asus H81I-Plus | Zotac reference | 
    
      | Memory | 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) | G.Skill 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) (added) | Corsair 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) (added) | Kingston Hyper-X Genesis 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 | Crucial 4GB DDR3 (1x4GB) | 
    
      | Memory Speed | 11-11-11-28-1T @ 1,600MHz | 11-11-11-28-1T @ 1,600MHz | 11-13-13-30-2T @ 1,600MHz | 11-11-11-28-1T @ 1,600MHz | 11-11-11-28-1T @ 1,600MHz | 
    
      | Integrated Graphics | Intel HD 4400 | Intel Iris Pro 5200 | Intel HD 5000 | - | Intel HD 4400 | 
    
      | Discrete Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GT 740M | - | - | Palit GeForce GTX 660 2GB | - | 
    
      | Sound Card | Onboard audio | Onboard audio | Onboard audio | Onboard audio | Onboard audio | 
    
      | Storage | 2TB Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 HDD | 180GB Intel mSATA SSD (added) | 128GB Plextor M5M mSATA SSD (added) | 1TB Toshiba HDD | Samsung ST500LM012 500GB HDD | 
    
      | Optical Drive | Blu-ray Combo Drive | - | - | Lite-On DVD Writer | - | 
    
      | PSU | Asus (90W, external) | Gigabyte (135W, external) | Intel NUC (65W, external) | Corsair VS 450 (450W) | Delta Electronics (65W, external) | 
    
      | Chassis | Asus ET2321 AIO | Gigabyte Brix Pro | Intel NUC | Cooler Master Elite 130 | Zotac Zbox Nano | 
    
      | Operating System | Windows 8.1 (64-bit) | Windows 8.1 (64-bit, added) | Windows 8.1 (64-bit, added) | Windows 8.1 (64-bit) | Windows 8.1 (64-bit, added) | 
    
      | Standard Warranty | Two years | Two years | Two years | Three years (one-year collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour) | Two years | 
    
      | Approx. System Cost | £1,200 | £750 | £450 | £550 | £520 | 
  
  
    
      | CPU Benchmarks | 
    
      | HEXUS PiFast | Our number-crunching PiFast test is used to benchmark the computational power of each system's CPU. | 
    
      | Cinebench | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible. | 
    
      | HandBrake | Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores. | 
    
      | Memory and Storage Benchmarks | 
    
      | AIDA64 | Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency. | 
    
      | CrystalDiskMark | Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge sequential performance and aggregated 4K QD32 speeds. | 
    
      | System and Gaming Benchmarks | 
    
      | PCMark 8 | System-wide examination that uses the Home preset, run with OpenCL acceleration. | 
    
      | 3DMark | DX11, run at the Firestrike default test. | 
    
      | Aliens vs. Predator | 1,920x1,080 resolution, 2xAA, 4xAF, medium quality. | 
    
      | Miscellaneous Benchmarks | 
    
      | Power Consumption | Noted for system idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator. | 
    
      | Temperature | Noted for CPU idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator. | 
  
Notes
The Asus ET2321INTH is the first premium (>£1,000) PC to pass through our new benchmark suite, but do bear in mind the price tag reflects a complete system, including display, keyboard and mouse.