Gigabyte debuts new BRIX hardware in growing micro-PC market

By Jon Martindale Published July 30, 2015

gigabyte micro pc brix brixhardware — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The battle for the spot in our hearts that is just large enough to accommodate a micro-PC has begun in ernest, with a good number of system builders announcing their own miniature hardware. Recently Intel showed off the new lineup of its NUC systems, and Gigabyte is set to follow suit with its new lineup of BRIX hardware, which all feature Intel CPUs and ultra-low power requirements.

Although not officially announced by Gigabyte, we know a lot about the little systems thanks to a document obtained by FanlessTech which has the basic specifications of each of the new systems.

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Set to provide a replacement and alternative to the already existing GB-BXBT-2807, the new BRIX boxes come in two flavors. The first, the GB-BACE-3000, is the same dimensions as the older 2807, but comes with the more energyefficient Celeron N3000 Braswell CPU. It also has support for faster memory up to 1600MHz and four USB 3.0 ports for added connectivity.

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Related: Intel rumored to be preparing Skylake NUCs and compute sticks

Much like its older variant, it also has a VGA and HDMI port, and support for Gigabyte ethernet, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

The newest, most powerful version of the BRIX platform, the GB-BXCE-3205, is actually the smallest of the bunch. That’s because instead of supporting more traditional 2.5″ hard drives, this one is designed with external storage in mind and features just a single mSATA SSD slot.

Its CPU has been upgraded, with a Haswell Celeron 3205U powering the device, along with the usual Intel HD graphics for any 3D or video rendering. It also offers expanded memory support, with space for two RAM sticks, for a total of up to 16GB.

No word yet on a release date for this hardware, nor is there a price tag for either of them, but considering that the currently available Bay Trail BRIX model are priced a bit above $100, we wouldn’t expect these to cost much more.

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Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…

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