Zotac goes small on desktops, big on graphics

By Matthew S. Smith Published October 30, 2015

Niche hardware manufacture Zotac, already known in the world of pint-sized PCs for its popular ZBox systems, has shown two new models just ahead of CES 2015.

The ZBox CI321 is the smallest of the pair. It’s a tiny box with a passively cooled Intel dual-core for silent operation. Despite its size, the system offers two Ethernet ports, 802.11ac WiFi, several USB 3.0 ports, and an SDcard reader.

Recommended Videos

Slightly larger, but still quite tiny, is the Zbox EN860. This wider, glossier box also uses an Intel Core processor, but it’s paired with Nvidia graphics to enable support for 4K monitors and G-Sync. Connectivity spans three USB ports, HDMI, DisplayPort, TOSLINK audio, two Ethernet ports, and 802.11ac WiFi. Zotac says the EN860 is “gaming capable,” but without specifics on the graphics chip it’s hard to say what, exactly, that means.

zotac shows tiny ci321 and en860 desktops zbox nano 2

zotac shows tiny ci321 and en860 desktops gtx 970 amp extreme core 2

Gamers with a full-size desktop, meanwhile, may be excited by Zotac’s new Nvidia GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition video card. The card is overclocked to a maximum boost speed of 1,380MHz. That’s just over 200MHz better than a standard GTX 970’s maximum clock of 1,178MHz. The heavily tuned GPU is kept in check by a custom cooler than has three fans for maximum airflow.

All of these products will be show on the show floor at CES 2015. The more intimate details, such as exact processor specifications and pricing, will not be available until then.

Matthew S. Smith

Former Senior Editor, Reviews

Matthew S. Smith is the former Lead Editor, Reviews at Digital Trends. He previously guided the Products Team, which dives…

Topics

Computing

What’s the Right Laptop for a Student on a $1,000 Budget?

The best college laptop isn't the one with the longest spec sheet. It's the one that fits your budget and the way you'll actually use it.

Dell XPS 14 Review: Sticker

This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Dell

Buying a laptop for college isn't a decision made in isolation. Tuition, textbooks, housing, meal plans, transportation, and course materials all compete for the same budget, leaving most families with one question before the semester begins: how much is enough to spend on a laptop without paying for features that may never get used?

Wearables

Siri is about to hear everything you say, but Apple’s privacy approach has me cautiously on board

Apple's new Audio Intelligence features want to hear almost everything you say. A privacy document released alongside them explains why I am mostly okay with that.

Apple Watch Audio Intelligence features

Apple used its September 2026 launch event to enter a feature category it has mostly avoided until now: ambient listening. Siri Recap, Live Rewind, Music Recognition with Shazam, and Sound Recognition all landed on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. All four depend on the watch microphone picking up sound around you far more often than any previous Apple product has.

Siri Recap listens for conversations throughout your day and turns them into short AI summaries you can check later. Live Rewind is smaller in scope but arguably more useful day-to-day. It transcribes the last 15 seconds of whatever was just said with a double-press of the crown. This is perfect for catching a name, a book title, or directions you missed the first time. Music Recognition uses Shazam to identify songs playing nearby without you lifting a finger, much like Now Playing on Google's Pixel devices. Sound Recognition is a useful accessibility feature that listens for sirens, doorbells, and alarms to alert users who have a hearing impairment.

Computing

Can You Turn a Mini PC Into a Local AI Agent?

Furniture, Table, Computer

This post is brought to you in paid partnership with MSI

Not every AI task needs the scale of the cloud. An employee searching company documents, a retail kiosk answering product questions, or a digital sign reacting to customer behavior all need fast responses, but they don't necessarily need to send every prompt to a remote data center. Running those workloads locally reduces latency, keeps sensitive information closer to where it's generated, and can lower the ongoing cost of AI deployments. As a result, many organizations are moving toward hybrid AI architectures that handle routine requests on-device while reserving cloud models for tasks that genuinely need more processing power.