Intel Compute Stick: Will it crunch?

[zombie67]

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html

$134 including shipping (prime)
4 core atom (silvermont) (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Atom-Z3735F-Tablet-SoC.116934.0.html)
2gb RAM
32gb flash storage
Windows included
wifi
usb
BT
microSD


I assume it will crunch just fine. There is even intel HD, so maybe GPU crunching too. The question is, does the math work? You could buy a handful of these for the same cost of a Brix or something similar, with an i5 desktop processor.

[scole of TSBT]

Interesting. TSBT experiments with a lot of low powered systems.

Does it run x86 windows apps?
Do they all support wifi or just some models?
Can you run it headless in a powered USB hub or does it need to be plugged into a monitor?

[pinhodecarlos]

Windows is 32-bit version.

[Shandia]

I've been wondering the same thing. Have a usb hub loaded with these would seem to be an answer for lower wattage power consumption crunching. Seeing that Atom, I'm no longer enthused. Maybe the Atom has gotten better than the systems I have to work on with them. Maybe they will be better since they are just doing computations. Maybe they won't work at all with Boinc. Would still love to get my hands on a few.

[zombie67]

The new atom processor is supposed to be much better than those from the past. Not sure how much better.

Yes it runs x86 apps. It is actually an x64 processor, but the windows version is only 32.

I do not know if it runs headless.

[John P. Myers]

@Shandia: they plug into HDMI ports, not USB :)

[Bryan]

Have a usb hub loaded with these would seem to be an answer for lower wattage power consumption crunching.

It isn't USB, it is HDMI :D

It uses a 5V 2A external supply so I wonder how much processing you can do with 10W. The WiFi, GPU, and audio must take a good portion of that.

[John P. Myers]

@Z: Gigabyte Brix quad core/8 threads with Iris Pro 5200 graphics http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=56-164-012