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Today we are looking at the Sapphire Edge HD4 Mini PC, the latest in their Edge lineup which features an Intel Celeron processor. We reviewed the EDGE HD3 in February 2012, powered by the AMD E450 and the EDGE VS8 in December 2012, powered by the AMD A8 4555M APU. How does the EDGE HD4 Mini PC slot into the lineup and is it worth buying?
At the heart of the Edge HD4 is the new dual core Intel Celeron 847 processor, which according to official specifications demands only 17 watts at the socket. Sapphire wanted to release an Intel based EDGE, following up on the first EDGE PC which we reviewed way back in March 2011. The machine at this time featured the Intel Atom D510 processor and proved popular with the audience who yearned for a diminutive, low power Intel system, particularly for specific certified software.
The EDGE HD4 shares the same slim outline as the other models in the range. It is worth pointing out at this early stage that these machines are not suited for hard core gamers, the graphics performance means that there are strict limitations. They can however replace a bulky desktop PC in a living room or bedroom and are ideal within an office environment, dramatically reducing the physical footprint and overall power draw at the socket.
Sapphire were generous enough to let us hang onto the original EDGE in 2011 and we still have it in action behind a television set in a spare room, it has worked flawlessly now as a media center for several years and is invisible to the naked eye.
Why could this be important? Well it would be fair to say that many men have to deal with unhappy partners, who don't want an ugly computer case hogging floor space in a living room. In this situation, the EDGE is an ideal choice.
In addition to the Intel Celeron 847 processor, specifications of the SAPPHIRE EDGE HD4 include 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 320GB hard drive and built in wireless connectivity as well as high speed LAN port, one USB 3.0 and three USB 2.0 ports. It provides high resolution graphics output with a full HD (1920×1080) HDMI interface (with an HDMI cable and HDMI-DVI adapter also supplied) as well as a VGA monitor output and it has built-in audio with mic-in and line-out sockets.
The EDGE HD4 doesn't ship with an operating system installed so you need to budget the cost of a license to get it up and running. It has full support for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. All the drivers are supplied on a disc which is included in the box.
One of the main selling points for buying the EDGE is the incredibly low power drain. In the past we have documented that these systems will require around a tenth of the power of an average desktop computer system. They can be left on 24/7/365 without having a noticeably negative impact on an electricity bill.
The EDGE HD4 box artwork is very attractive and features images of the unit with the stand fitted. A little break out box is seen bottom left, showing that the company supply several cables for connecting to a monitor or television set.
The rear of the box focuses on the tiny physical size of the HD4, showing it highlighted next to a hand, with details listed on the other side.
The box is layered, with the main HD4 unit protected inside sculpted foam and covered with a bag.
The bundle is extensive. There is an optical disc supplied with drivers for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. The company also supply several video cables (HDMI and DVI) and a power adapter and stand. There is also a well written manual supplied which covers the basics.
The EDGE HD4 stand is made from metal and can be connected to the main unit without the need for any tools. The HD4 has no power supply inside, taking power through the supplied, external adapter. This brick is made in China and is quite small – it is rated 19V / 3.42A.
The EDGE HD4 is finished in an attractive matt black paint which does attract fingerprints rather easily. I had to clean the unit before taking photographs for example, just after taking it out of the box.
The Sapphire company logo is attractively finished into the matt chassis. The power button may be difficult to find first time as it is flush to the rest of the chassis. Under this is a hard drive activity light.
The rear of the HD4 when flipped from both sides. There are two USB 2.0 connectors here alongside a GB lan port, power connector, microphone and headphone jacks, HDMI connector and VGA connector (for older panel support).
Hidden under a flap at the front of the HD4 are two more USB ports, one of these is USB 3.0 capable. The flap stays attached to the HD4 so it can be replaced when these ports are not in use. It also means it won't get lost either.
With the stand fitted the EDGE HD4 is an attractive looking system, approximately the same size as many external DVD and BluRay drives. The stand is well constructed and can be fitted by hand, without the need for any tools.
On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.
For the review today we are testing the Sapphire EDGE HD4 Mini PC with a variety of synthetic, real world applications and an older gaming title.
The EDGE HD4 is not designed for gaming, and the onboard Intel HD graphics are not Direct X 11 capable either. This means you will not be able to run the latest games in DX11, even if the hardware was able to generate smooth frame rates.
It is worth pointing out again that the EDGE HD4 does not ship with a copy of Windows installed on the hard drive, so you need to budget in the extra cost of an operating system and either USB flash drive or external USB optical drive.
If you install from an optical disc you will need to press delete on first post to configure the BIOS, as it will be set to boot from the internal hard drive by default. After the operating system is installed, then all the drivers need installed from the supplied optical disc.
This really isn't an ideal situation for an inexperienced user. We would like to see Sapphire ship a version of these EDGE HD systems with a copy of Windows pre-installed with all the drivers already in place.
Incidentally, all of the software on the optical drive is available on the Sapphire support website, so I would recommend you check that you have the latest versions of each package.
Drivers are available for 32 bit and 64 bit Windows 98, ME, XP, Vista, 7 and 8. We are using Windows 7 64 bit for our review today.
Above, an overview of the hardware as shown in the latest version of CPUz. At the heart of the EDGE HD4 is the Celeron 847 dual core processor which runs at 1.1ghz. It is built on the 32nm manufacturing process and has 2MB of Level 3 cache on board. It is a 64 bit processor and has low power drain characteristics, rated for a maximum draw of 17W. Sapphire include 4GB of 1,333mhz memory in the shape of a single SO-DIMM. This is obviously only single channel.
The Windows Experience Index shows a final score of 3.9 points out of a possible 7.9 in Windows 7 64 bit. The Celeron processor drags down the overall score as this software doesn't correlate an average rating, just taking the slowest parameter as the final result.
Comparison processors:
AMD A8 3870K
AMD A8 3850
AMD Zacate E-350
Atom D525 @ 1.8ghz
Turion X64 X2 L510 @ 1.6ghz
Core i7 3610QM
Core i7 2960XM Extreme Edition (Mobile)
Core i7 2630QM
Core i7 2640M processor
Core i7 2360QM
Core i7 2600K
Core i5 2500K
Core i5 2410M
Core i3 2105 desktop processor.
AMD Zacate APU – E350 (HD6310 graphics)
Atom D525
Turion X64 X2 L510
Software:
3DMark Vantage
PCMark 7
Cinebench 11.5 64 bit
FRAPS Professional
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
ATTO Disk Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark
Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 11
Cyberlink MediaEspresso
HQV Benchmark 2.0
Left4Dead2
Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Asus BluRay Drive
Lacie 730 Monitor (Image Quality testing)
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter
Calibrated Power Meter
Nikon D3X with R1C1 Kit (4 flashes), Nikon 24-70MM lens.
All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.
Some game descriptions are edited from Wikipedia.
SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.
Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.
It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.
Native ports for all major operating systems are available:
- Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86)
- Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64)
- Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64)
- Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01)
- Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02)
All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of:
- SMP – Multi-Processor
- MC – Multi-Core
- SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading
- MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions
- GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics
- NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access
- AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86
- IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit
The Celeron 847 is certainly no powerhouse, although it is faster than the ATOM D510 and D525 processors of yesteryear, highlighting noticeable gains in memory bandwidth throughput.
PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.
The EDGE HD4 scores 1,211 points showing an improvement over the older HD3 model. It is however noticeably slower than the Edge VS8 which scores 1,641 points in the same test.
CINEBENCH R11.5 is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.
CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all: It’s completely free.
The Celeron 847 inside the EDGE HD4 shows a slight performance improvement over the X64 X2 L510 however it is way behind the AMD A8 4555M which is inside the EDGE VS8. If you need to handle some basic 3D renders, then the EDGE VS8 is a much better option.
Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.
Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk.
Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:
- Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
- Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
- Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
- Multicore CPU support
- Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
- Powerful C++ API
- Comprehensive performance profiling system
- Flexible XML-based data structures
We use the following settings: 1280×720 resolution. Anti Aliasing off. Anisotrophy 4, Tessellation normal. Shaders High. Stereo 3D disabled. API: Direct X 11.
Neither EDGE Mini PC is designed for hard core gaming duties, but it would be safe to assume that some users might like to play some games at lower image quality settings. The EDGE VS8 has the clear edge in this benchmark, although the settings would need to be much lower to produce smoother frame rates.
Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.
We used the entry level test to compare both EDGE VS8 against the HD4. The Celeron 847 based system scores much lower – 3,270 points compared against 5,434.
Crystalmark is a useful benchmark to measure theoretical performance levels of hard drives and SSD’s. We are using V3.0 x64. We are testing the onboard 320 GB 2.5 inch 5,400 rpm drive.
Sadly Sapphire are using another slow 5,400rpm 2.5 inch drive which drags down the overall performance of the system, considerably. We keep feeding back to Sapphire that they should release a version with an SSD inside. A small SSD based EDGE PC wouldn't actually cost much more than a larger mechanical version, considering the recent price drops of solid state technology.
In real world terms, the EDGE HD4 takes well over a minute to boot from cold and become responsive in Windows 7. Generally it feels sluggish and applications will take some time to load. Performance in Crystalmark is rated around the 75 MB/S mark for both read and write tests, which is slower than the performance from the VS8, which was already less than stellar. Even the adoption of a quality 7,200 rpm drive would improve this situation a little.
The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.
ATTO shows the same miserable levels of performance, peaking at around 80 MB/s in both sequential read and write. We really would remove this drive, put it into an external USB enclosure and use it for storage. Fitting a quality Solid State Drive into this system would transform it dramatically.
Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 is one of the finest solutions for the BluRay experience on Windows and we found this software to work perfectly with this chipset. We tested with the new extended Bluray Disc of Lord Of The Rings.
BluRay playback performance is actually quite good, averaging 13 percent CPU time. The EDGE VS8 takes the top slot thanks to improved hardware acceleration from the AMD A8 APU.
The Matroska Media container is a very popular, open standard Multimedia container which is usually found as .MKV files. It is a very popular format in enthusiast circles and can be played directly in Windows Media Player with suitable codecs installed. We use the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP).
We ripped our BluRay disc of Sniper Reloaded to 1080P MKV and use Windows Media Player to playback the file.
MKV contained High definition playback can a demanding test, depending on the encoded settings. The HD4 delivers a decent result, demanding 38 percent CPU Time. The AMD A8 4555M takes top spot, demanding 35 percent CPU time. The AMD E450 in the EDGE HD3 is slightly less efficient in this test, dropping to 42 percent CPU time.
Many people using this system will be enjoying Flash related content so we feel it is important to test with some of the more demanding material available freely online. Full hardware acceleration is enabled.
We re-ran this test on all EDGE systems, averaging the results over a 40 minute period.
The EDGE HD4 scores well in this real world test, with an average of only 16 percent CPU time throughout the test. The VS8 is a slightly better performer, averaging 14 percent CPU time.
CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats.
Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology.
New and Improved Features
- Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously.
- Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention.
- Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices.
- Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment.
- Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A.
- Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier.
For our testing today we are converting a 3.3GB 720p MKV file (2h:12mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power. We are using the newest version which has been optimised for Sandybridge processors.
No hardware decoding was available in the latest version of MediaEspresso with the Celeron 847 processor.
The overall results show the performance differences between the AMD A8 4555m and the Celeron 847 dual core processor. The EDGE VS8 is almost twice as fast when encoding video. On the positive side, the Celeron 847 is around 20 minutes faster than the older Atom D525 processor.
HQV Benchmark 2.0 is an updated version of the original tool and it consists of various video clips and test patterns which are designed to evaluate motion correction, de-interlacing, decoding, noise reduction, detail enhancement and film cadence detection.
There are two versions of the program, standard definition on DVD and high definition on BluRay. As our audience will be concentrating on HD content, so will we.
This has a total of 39 video tests which is increased from 23 in the original and the scoring is also up from a total of 130 to 210. As hardware and software gets more complicated, the software has been tuned to make sure we can thoroughly maximise our analysis.
Read our initial analysis over here.
| Sapphire EDGE HD4 Mini PC | |
|
Dial
|
4 |
| Dial with static pattern | 5 |
| Gray Bars | 5 |
| Violin | 5 |
| Stadium 2:2 | 5 |
| Stadium 3:2 | 5 |
| Horizontal Text Scroll | 5 |
| Vertical Text Scroll | 5 |
| Transition to 3:2 Lock | 5 |
| Transition to 2:2 Lock | 0 |
|
2:2:2:4 24 FPS DVCAM Video
|
5 |
|
2:3:3:2 24 FPS DVCam Video
|
5 |
|
3:2:3:2:2 24 FOS Vari-Speed
|
5 |
|
5:5 FPS Animation
|
5 |
|
6:4 12 FPS Animation
|
5 |
|
8:7 8 FPS Animation
|
5 |
|
Interlace Chroma Problem (ICP)
|
5 |
|
Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE)
|
5 |
|
Random Noise: Sailboat
|
5 |
|
Random Noise: Flower
|
5 |
|
Random Noise: Sunrise
|
5 |
|
Random Noise: Harbour Night
|
5 |
|
Scrolling Text
|
3 |
|
Roller Coaster
|
3 |
|
Ferris Wheel
|
3 |
|
Bridge Traffic
|
3 |
|
Text Pattern/ Scrolling Text
|
3 |
|
Roller Coaster
|
3 |
|
Ferris Wheel
|
5 |
|
Bridge Traffic
|
5 |
|
Luminance Frequency Bands
|
5 |
|
Chrominance Frequency Bands
|
5 |
| Vanishing Text | 5 |
|
Resolution Enhancement
|
15 |
|
Theme Park
|
5 |
| Driftwood | 2 |
|
Ferris Wheel
|
3 |
|
Skin Tones
|
3 |
| Total | 175 |
Image quality from the HD4 is very good, scoring 175 points out of a possible 210.
Left 4 Dead 2 is a cooperative first-person shooter game. It is the sequel to Valve Corporation’s award-winning Left 4 Dead.
Like the original, Left 4 Dead 2 is set during the aftermath of an apocalyptic pandemic, and focuses on four survivors fighting against hordes of the infected. The survivors must fight their way through levels, interspersed with safe houses that act as checkpoints, with the goal of reaching a rescue vehicle at the campaign’s finale. The gameplay is procedurally altered by an artificial intelligence engine dubbed the “Director” that monitors the players’ performance and adjust the scenario to provide a dynamic challenge. Several new features have been introduced: new types of infected, melee weapons, and a story-arc that connects the game’s five campaigns together.
We are tesing at 720p with settings on high/medium.
We configured Left4Dead with modest settings at 720p resolution. (Vertical sync was disabled for the test).
Overall results aren't too bad. The system averages 33 frames per second, dropping to 22 frames per second in the most intensive sections of the environment.
We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the chassis and 4 foot from the ground with our Extech digital sound level meter to mirror a real world situation.
KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet take off/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
The system is silent when idling and the fan spins up a little when watching a high definition movie. When gaming and a 100% load on the processor, the noise levels rise further as the fan has to work harder to maintain a stable thermal curve.
The system can be heard under load but you would need to positioned close-by to hear the fan spinning.
To test power consumption today we are using a calibrated energy meter. We loaded the system with Cinebench and 3DMark11 and measured results at idle and load.
The Sapphire EDGE HD4 Mini PC sips power at the socket, taking only 14.6 watts when idle. When under load this rises to around 24 watts. It would be fair to say that this is one of the most efficient little systems we have ever tested!
Sapphire are keen to point out that they have several ranges of EDGE system available now. The high powered EDGE VS8 (AMD A8 4555m) is their fastest system and we were really impressed with the performance when we reviewed it back in December last year. The only weak link in the chain was the slow 5,400rpm 2.5 inch hard drive. Replacing this with a Solid State Drive totally transforms the system, no matter how basic the tasks may be.
The system we reviewed today is the latest in the HD range, following on after the AMD E450 powered EDGE HD3 which we reviewed in February last year. The dual core Celeron 847 is actually more of a direct replacement for the EDGE-HD system which was covered in our original article way back in March 2011. The ATOM processors are now end of life, so it makes sense for Sapphire to update this model, even if it is slightly confusing the way they keep switching between AMD and Intel processors in the HD range.
The EDGE HD4 makes most sense as a replacement for the EDGE HD System. The Celeron 847 processor is a significant improvement over the older ATOM processors, especially when we look at the throughput potential. Memory bandwidth is more than doubled between old and new platforms which has a positive impact on tasks such as video encoding and 3D rendering.
That said, I wouldn't recommend the EDGE HD4 for intensive tasks. Also, if you want to game, the EDGE VS8 makes much more sense, although the cost of ownership is greater.
The strengths of the Edge HD4 are based around the efficiency of the platform. It demands between 14 watts and 25 watts of power, which is such a tiny figure that it wouldn't have a negative impact on an electricity bill, even if this system was left on 24/7 all year.
The system is so tiny it can be easily slotted in behind a television set, or next to a monitor, without taking up desk space. When we factor in the low noise output, tiny power drain and diminutive size there are plenty of reasons why many people would opt for an EDGE system in their house.
Sadly Sapphire are ignoring feedback and all of their EDGE systems use horrifically slow 2.5 inch 5,400 rpm hard drives. With all the feedback over the years, we really shouldn't be mentioning this again. Cost really isn't a primary concern anymore either as a 320GB 5,400 RPM 2.5 inch drive can be picked up on Amazon.co.uk for £33 inc vat and a 60GB SSD is only £20 more expensive.
We don't have confirmed pricing yet in the United Kingdom but will update this review as soon as we can.
EDIT: 11th February: Pricing is now online at Overclockers UK. EDGE HD4 is available for £295.00.
Pros:
- Extremely small.
- tiny power drain at the wall.
- Good build quality.
- Supports XP, Vista, 7 and 8 OS
Cons:
- 5,400 rpm 2.5 inch HDD is painfully slow.
- Need to install the operating system and drivers, which includes bios boot changes. Newbies might find this too complex.
- Not ideal for gaming.
- budget extra for the operating system.
Kitguru says: A very practical PC with such a tiny footprint you can hide it almost anywhere.
