GIGABYTE BRIX GB-BXBT-2807 Ultra Compact PC (Barebone) Review, Tear-down, and Install Linux
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2014
- GIGABYTE BRIX GB-BXBT-2807 Ultra Compact PC (Barebone) Review and Tear-down
* Intel Celeron N2807
* DDR3L SO-DIMM 1333MHz 1.35V (one slot) up to 8GB (I've tested mine with 4GB notebook RAM)
* WIFI and Bluetooth 4 in a half mini PCIe slot inside
* Gigabyte LAN
* 1 USB 3, 2 USB 2.0
Got this one at Micro Center.
Motherboard inside: MZBAYAP REV 1.1. In this revision the GPIOs connectors are missing.
The included WIFI Bluetooth 4.0 inside is marked: D13J073344, AW-NB159H
The side walls are thin plastic.
The bottom is thin steel. It also holds the 2.5 inch hard drive.
The top cover is acrylic - easy to scratch.
Included is a VESA mount to attach to your monitor.
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Update Aug 25, 2014:
64bit Operating Systems Tested: ( Aug 24, 2014)
* Mint Linux 17(Mate, Cinnamon, KDE, XFCE)
* Debian 7.1 stable did not boot in any setting
* Slackware 14.1 ( BIOS settings: CSM on, OS: win8.1)
* Windows 7, 8.1
So far the CPU heat sink temperature never went above 120F/48C.
I removed the WIFI/Bluetooth card from the PCIe slot.
I also removed the top cover. The cover includes the GigaByte logo and the attached power button.
I cut open the top almost entirely. That means I also removed the antennas. The CPU heatsink is now permanently exposed.
It will run 24/7 all day and all night. It won't be turned off.
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Update Jun 2015:
Tested a friend's BRIX, same model. I noticed they fixed that loud pop that happens when you reboot. I believe its in the hardware of the newer models.
recorded: 8/19/2014 to 8/20/2014 (midnight) 
Наука
Thanks Lee!
Your video was a great help in learning how to remove the system board for cleaning the fan at the top. After removing the two silver screws - I done the wiggle/shake trick to ease the system board downwards and out! The fan and heatsink were very dusty after 3 years constant use and the slight fan whine has now been cured and all running like new again! ;-)
Mine still is always on too. Glad you were able to clean yours.
fantastic design love the box no noise no fan
no fans inside, that's all i wanted to know !
thank you anyway for all your explanations ^^
What I appreciate, is the complete tear down, beyond actually necessity. I have my Brix in front of me, and will be installing Mint 17 Trusty 14.04 and Kodi. "Good on You Sir ! and a great demo, for the first time purchaser, I will probably rig a a very small PC fan
Take care
+viking90706 ...someone must have flagged your comment. Don't know why. Well its been 'approved'
Update Jun 2015:
Tested a friend's BRIX, same model. I noticed they fixed that loud pop that happens when you reboot. I believe its in the hardware of the newer models.
leefiles Thanks for the in depth video. I'm interested to know if there's any significance in your choice to boot Linux from a disk? I don't have a powered optical drive handy - is there any reason why this wouldn't work from a usb drive?
Good review
thanks
Thanks for the great video. My Brix is a J1900 and it performs well, but it did not like my Logitech wired mouse. Maybe it is to old, and it was time to upgrade.
I have booted MX-15 beta 2 Linux with Live USB media. I downloaded the Distro and used Unetbootin to create the Live USB.
Live media was great, and i installed to a 120 gig SSD.
Again thanks for the video, it made me take another look @ this unit that was still in the shopping bag not working, changed the memory and it has booted and installed a easy to use Linux.
I am running a wireless connection across the room from router, where my chromebook lives as a test.
JR
+JR Namida Awesome! I find that Mint Linux 64bit runs fine with its defaults and built-in drivers. No other drivers installed.
Same here, MX-15 beta 2 just boots and runs.
+JR Namida
Strange, it's not listed on distrowatch com. I see they have a website though.
A version of AntiX - the 64 bit version
Torrent = MX-15-b2_x64.torrent
watching your video gives me hope that i can install Mint on the new version (Gigabyte Barebone BRIX GB-BLPD-5005)
Can these transmit audio over HDMI? I would love to have one as a HTPC
i know this vid has been around years
but im curious to know about GPIO CNT
i cant seem to find any information about it.
perhaps docyou have any idea about it?
A good video but You can clean your screen if you want !
Another issue is that I got a hold of someone else's BRIX that bricked for no apparent reason.
I must be real lucky mine hasn't bricked yet.
ever find a way to fix it bro?
Mine stopped working today for no reason. The PSU tested fine, but no power, no blue light, just dead.....
probably heat. Do you have another power supply? Another 12 volt DC source? The AC adapter is marked 12 volts DC and 2.4 amps. The power jack and plug are standard DC type at 5.5mm x 2.5 mm. But not the US type which is 5.5mm x 2.1mm. The tip is a little larger. It is the Asian/European type. Very common in Asia. ( I forgot how I got this sizes and their popularity, I could be wrong. ). Any 12 volt source will work as long as it supplies at least 2 or 3 amps. If its the common US type, and it likely is, then it wont fit. So you'll have to buy an adapter from 5.5x2.1 to 5.5x2.5. OR you can cut the wires and crimp them together. Or solder them together. OR use screw terminals.
See, the thing is, mine is on all the time. I never turn it off. Right now, I gave it to my kids to play with. But the thing is, I had the top part completely cut open for ventilation. And the hard drive is mounted on the outside. So, lots of cutting and drilling.
Thank you!
question if u wanna add your storage does it have to be an ssd? is there some type of cheaper harddrive solution? and is the ram like laptop type memory?
***** There's a SATA connector for an internal 2.5in HDD. You can use any 2.5inch drive mechanical or solid state. It has one slot for RAM: 1 x 204Pin SO-DIMM DDR3L 1333 1.35V. Yes laptop type. I have 4GB but some people have reported 8GB. But a single 8GB would cost more than the computer itself.
2.5 inch drive mechanical? srry i know a bit about computers, the basic stuff for you know custom gaming pc's but idk exactly what that is like what's the storage amount on one of those where can you buy it? for me i only know about ssd's and harddrives
***** SSD is a type of harddrive. 2.5 inch mechanical or spinning plates is another type of hard drive. Although they should rename 'hard-disk-drive' because its becoming obsolete.
You can put in any 2.5 inch drive. SSDs cost more. Just look for 2.5 inch hard drive on amazon. Pick the cheapest one you like.
thank you
I should also note that I took off the top plastic cover for better ventilation.
jgfjgfify This one is fanless. I have it on 24/7 Its been about a year. Not a problem yet. Except when I unplug the HDMI - it becomes unresponsive in linux.It was made to run windows 8.1. But win XP runs also.You should also look into the ECS LIVA. See the new one on newegg. It has mem and ssd, execpt that you cant change them.
jgfjgfify It runs at around 2GHz out of the box. It can get pretty hot if you force it. Why overclock it? I'm running linux and 1080 videos run fine. so if you're running windows, it comes with drivers or download them from their website. it should be even more awesome under windows.
jgfjgfify that's correct. it does adjust frequencies. mine never really went above 120F/48C when watching 1080 movies. I didn't over clock mine.
leefiles I have this, and it won't let me install the Intel Graphics Driver..It gives me a message saying "This computer does not meet the minimum requirements" and so on do you know what I can do to fix it?
***** where did you download it from? get it from gigabyte's website only.
How did you do? Mine seems stuck, right at the corner where you plug the power cord. Screws already removed, I'm frightened to break something
I didn't have any trouble. If it doesn't come out then perhaps you still have a screw somewhere. Or one of the two wifi antennas is still hooked.
I removed both screws, as you showed There are no more visible ones, specially in the area where it's stuck. The wifi module is unplugged, same as the ram. I can't figure it out
hello is it possible to have a guide for installation? Thank you
That one is not sold anymore. what are you looking to do?
I'm really excited for this thing, but I'll be using it just for streaming steam from my rig to this tiny box. Does it need ram, hard drive windows etc? Also, can I stream from w8 to Ubuntu?
It comes with a built in cpu. It has one slot for notebook RAM. It has space for one 2.5" HDD. Windows will run. Linux: ubuntu, mint ran for me.
OK, so ram, HDD, and OS needed. Is it possible to stream from w8 to Ubuntu?
Kerrigan Marois
I'm pretty sure you can.
Hi, I'm planning to use this unit as a st(r)eambox too. Does it work alright?
harleysq harleysq
I don't have an answer to that. maybe someone else has experience in streambox.
But videos and flash games work very well. I've played full HD videos at 1920x1080 without much issues. a few skipped frames. and that's in Linux too. So people running windows with the proper drivers should get even better performance.
Is this a 12v power or 5v?
OK which side up?
do you need to take the whole motherboard out in order to install the RAM?!
No, just the bottom cover.
how many DDR3 can be installed on GIGABYTE BRIX GB-BXBT-2807
It has one slot. same type of memory as notebook. You can still buy this item from newegg
is there a cheapier version of this? i need one for my projects... but less powerful a bit but i havent a high budget max is 250€ which is about 208 dollars i guess
ECS LIVA has everything you need. RAM, SSD storage, CPU. newegg has them cheap
what about the raspberry pi. Its not an x86 though. Its an ARM processor. $20USD
raspberry pi is to low on ram. I need atleaset 8GB Ram... and sime i5 processor
250€ is about $400
t800 Check the markets, Euro/Dollar is quite the same now :)
hello does the cpu is upgradeable?
No. It is soldered on. This is an old unit. You are probably looking to buy a more modern model. Most of these fanless models are modified so that the CPU runs slower and less hot. So, usually, you cannot change the CPU.
can you go bigger 8 gig 2tb ssd
+Daryl Ogle 2TB ssd yes. I don't know about the 8G. But why 8G?
I have the brix pro barebones and I can't figure out how to install Linux.....can u help?!
start by download a very good distro like mint or ubuntu. Then get a powered CD ROM/DVD drive. It must be a powered one. I found an old IDE DVD/CD drive that is powered that is plugged in.
I struggled with one of those portable ones, the ones with the Y USB adapter. It would spin up the disc but the BRIX would never recognise it.
Only the powered one did. And in the BIOS boot settings it would show up as in my case USB CDROM Pioneer.
Older Linuxes kernels do not boot or fail at some point.
Do those first.
I'm using the gigabyte brix right now. and its on 24/7. video on linux is also pretty decent. skips a few frames at 1920x1080.
I should also note that in the newegg reviews some people report that the brix keeps going into BIOS over and over again and never booting. That's because its looking for a boot device. But that's the fault of the BIOS maker and Gigabyte who makes the motherboard. It should tell you strait up instead of leaving you to guess.
but once you get in going it works well.
leefiles I bought one of these today and after connecting I cant get a display on the tv, is there a reason why you have taken the motherboard out to set it up..
Cant get into the bios screen and on the net a poster says to keep pressing the delete button but still no joy, want to install win 7
Any info would be appreciated
iw22@hotmail.com
I believe it's either F 11 or f12 keep pressing it after you turn the computer on and it should bring up the BIOS
Irwin Wineerg
like what greenleaf said. plus if you have really quick hands, you can also click the bios button with your mouse button. Dont give up on it. Its a nice little machine. I'm using it right now.
Probably Brix like their crap motherboards.
haven't had a problem with it so far. Its on 24/7. hope it'll last.
leefiles Wish you luck!