Computers have grown from gigantic sizes with slow processing power to very small form factors with amazing hardware onboard. With more power efficient processors coming up, PC makers today can finally come out powerful PCs with really small form factors that don’t even require powerful cooling systems onboard, such example has been realized on the GIADA F300, a fanless barebone PC that comes with a powerful Intel Haswell CPU onboard made by Chinese PC manufacturer JEHE Technology.
GIADA F300 Video Review
Enterprise Grade Hardware, Consumer Level Internals
The GIADA F300 is one of the rarest hardware design that we’ve seen in the PC market, the chassis has a heatsink like design and looks as if it is a car audio amplifier in disguise, however what truly lies under the hood of the F300 is its processing hardware and generous amount of input ports. On first impressions, the GIADA F300 may look like some kind of server grade hardware, the internals are not.
GIADA F300-B8000 Hardware Specifications
Processor: Intel Core i5 4200U 1.6GHz (Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz)
Storage: Hitachi 500GB SATA Hard Disk
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4400
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 B/G/N 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 4.0
I/O ports (rear): 2 x DisplayPort, 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x Gigabit Ethernet Port, 1 x Serial COM port, 2 x Wireless Antennas
(front): 1 x Line Out, 1 x Microphone, 1 x Serial COM port, 2 x USB 3.0 ports
Expansion slots: 2 x Mini PCI-E
Power: 24W
The GIADA F300 features a fanless design which the company has managed to fit in a copper heatsink and together with the chassis to dissipate heat off the CPU, despite having a ULV Intel Haswell Core CPU, the F300 manages to hold the heat off the CPU with such a low profile cooling solution and maintains a warm temperature just like a normal PC. Best of all, the F300 merely requires similar power like a laptop.
Great performance, designed for multiple displays and peripherals
The F300 performs really well in our daily usage, though we aren’t the enterprise type of user, it has worked really reliably in performing our daily tasks, the device has never failed on us by having any hiccups or freezes. We installed Windows 8.1 Pro into the GIADA F300 and have all its official drivers installed, it runs flawlessly with no driver conflicts or crashes during our tests, startup speeds are fast and our apps ran smoothly as well.
With the number of input ports available, the GIADA F300 is clearly designed to be used with multiple displays and peripherals. Enterprise users will love the flexibility of the F300, the device allow users to simply upgrade the hard drive and memory by simply undoing a few screws
it even includes two Mini PCI-E slots to add on stuffs such as a broadband chip or M-SATA chip to boost the system performance.
However, here’s two things that we don’t really like – a single RAM slot and no HDMI port, though we know that the single RAM slot is able to support up to 16GB of RAM, we rarely find such memory modules in the market and it would cost a bomb to buy one;
without a HDMI port, you’ll have to resort to buying a DisplayPort to HDMI converter since most display devices out there have HDMI as a standard input option. Furthermore, DisplayPort cables aren’t as cheap and mainstream as HDMI cables.
Overall, the GIADA F300 is a capable device that enterprise users will love if they’re looking for a barebone PC form factor without having to compromise for upgradability and performance.
GIADA F300 Benchmarks
The GIADA F300 runs well in most benchmarks thanks to Intel’s Haswell CPU, the only let down would be on the graphics department since this isn’t a gaming device. With no cooling fan onboard, one would usually worry on the heat dissipation on the CPU however we find it to be really good in our tests. In a room without air condition, the F300 is able to maintain an average CPU temperature of 58 degree Celsius when under load and an average of 47 degree Celsius when left idle. Check out the benchmark results that we’ve performed down below.
PCMark08
3DMark
CrystalDiskMark
System Temperature – Idle
System Temperature – Load
Verdict
From a enterprise user perspective point of view, the GIADA F300 is a device that will handle enterprise solutions such as digital signage and point of sales systems really well, the GIADA F300 is silent, powerful, yet power saving and it is a great barebone PC that we simply recommend this to anyone who wants a compact computer without sacrificing too much in computing performance. According to GIADA UK’s website, the GIADA F300 retails at £429.99 (approx. RM2300), it isn’t cheap but reasonable for an enterprise grade hardware in a compact form factor.
The Good:
+ Decent computing performance
+ Requires only 24W of power
+ Self-upgradeable
+ Generous number of input ports
+ Built-in WiFi and Bluetooth
+ Great cooling solution
+ Customization options available
The Bad
– No HDMI port
– Single RAM slot
– Reasonable pricing but not the cheapest
We rate the GIADA F300 at 4 out of 5 stars.
