Gigabyte’s Latest BRIX PC Is for IoT

If you’re looking for a tiny NUC-like desktop PC that’s small enough to be mounted on the back of a monitor, the Gigabyte BRIX is a popular choice (if you can get past the UEFI vulnerabilities(Opens in a new window)). Recently, a couple of new models have been quietly added to the range, but these aren’t aimed at those of us looking for a desktop PC. These BRIX are for the Internet of Things (IoT).

FanlessTech(Opens in a new window) was the first to notice new listings for the BRIX IoT models on Gigabyte’s website(Opens in a new window). Two versions will be available running 14nm Apollo Lake processors. The cheaper of the two uses an N3450 quad-core Celeron processor running at 1.1GHz (Burst Frequency: 2.2GHz). The other model uses an N4200 quad-core Pentium processor also running as 1.1GHz (Burst Frequency: 2.5GHz). Both chips have a 2MB L2 cache and a TDP of just 6 Watts, meaning they are suitable for this fanless BRIX IoT design measuring just 165-by-105-by-27mm.

These are barebones systems, so RAM, storage, and an operating system are required. They support up to 8GB of DDR3L RAM(Opens in a new window), an M.2 SSD such as the Samsung 960 EVO(Opens in a new window), and as it’s an Intel platform you can choose between Windows 10 and your favorite Linux distro.

As they are meant for IoT, Gigabyte included a mini PCIe slot for a 3G module and a Micro SIM card slot, meaning you can set this up as a remote computing platform if you so wish. Alternatively, the included VESA bracket allows mounting on the back of a monitor and it’s capable of handling two displays thanks to having two HDMI ports. It’s also got two LAN ports, four USB 3.0 ports, a Micro SD card slot, microphone/headphone combo, and even an RJ45 COM port.

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For now, these BRIX models have only been made available through a Russian online retailer, with the N4200 version costing $330. Hopefully listings will appear closer to home in the near future.