Samsung ArtPC: Cylindrical PC with 360º audio, i5/i7 plus NVMe, Preorders from $1200
by Ian Cutress on October 10, 2016 2:15 PM ESTFor most PC enthusiasts, if you ask them to name a cylindrical machine, the Mac Pro comes immediately to mind. Not to tread too heavily on Apple’s toes on what would now be a 2-3-year-old product, Samsung is entering the market with a more consumer focused ‘ArtPC Pulse Premium Desktop’ in a cylindrical aluminium chassis. The PC is self-contained with an Intel 6th generation Core i5 or Core i7, and an AMD Radeon RX based graphics card. On the top is a harmon/kardon 360-degree omni-directional audio speaker.
Preorders for both the Skylake-based Core i5 and Skylake-based Core i7 start from $1200 and $1600 from Amazon respectively. The exact CPU models have not been listed by either Samsung or Amazon as of yet, however it states the Core i5 is at 2.7 GHz, which is akin to the i5-6400 at 65W TDP or i5-6600T at 35W – the latter seeming more appropriate. For the Core i7, it is listed as 3.4 GHz, which would put it as the i7-6700, at 65W.
Here’s the breakdown of the two systems, with the more expensive MSI Vortex G65 that has a full i7-6700K and dual GPUs:
Specifications of Samsung ArtPC and MSI Vortex G65 | |||||
ArtPC Pulse Desktop DP700C6A-A01US |
ArtPC Pulse Desktop DP700C6A-X01US |
MSI Vortex G65 SLI-011 |
|||
CPU | Intel Core i7-6600 4C/8T, 3.4 GHz 65W |
Intel Core i5, 2.4 GHz either i5-6400 (65W) or i5-6600T (35W) |
Intel Core i7-6700K 4C/8T 4.0 GHz |
||
PCH | Unknown 100-series | Intel Z170 | |||
RAM | 16GB DDR4 Unknown Config |
8GB DDR4 Unknown Config |
4 SO-DIMM Slots 2 x 8 GB DDR4-2133 |
||
GPU | AMD Radeon RX 460 2GB |
2 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 3 GB |
|||
SSD | 256 GB NVMe | 2 x 128 GB PCIe 3.0 x4 | |||
HDD | 1TB HDD Unknown Form Factor |
- | 1 TB HDD 7200 RPM |
||
LAN | Unknown GbE | 2x Killer E2400 | |||
WLAN | ?? | Rivet Killer Wireless-AC-1535 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth (2T2R) with MU-MIMO |
|||
PSU | ?? | 450 W 80Plus Gold | |||
DisplayPort | Maybe via Type-C? Otherwise no. | 2 x DP 1.2 | |||
HDMI | Yes, Unknown | 2 x HDMI 1.4 | |||
Thunderbolt | No | 2 x TB3 via Type-C | |||
USB | 4 x USB 3.0 | 4 x USB 3.0 | |||
1 x Type-C, Unknown Speed | 2 x USB 3.1 via TB3 | ||||
Dimensions | 5.51 x 5.51 x 12.18-in | 7.61 x 7.01 x 10.55-in | |||
Volume | 6.06 liters | 6.5 liter | |||
Weight | 7.4 lbs (3.4 kg) | 8.8 lbs (4.0 kg) | |||
Price | Pre-order: $1600 | Pre-order: $1200 | $2199 |
We don’t have pictures of the internals, but one would assume that both systems would offer dual channel memory and Samsung NVMe drives, however it is unclear if these are user upgradable. The Core i5 is listed as having 8GB of DDR4 (probably DDR4-2133) and a 256GB NVMe SSD, whereas the Core i7 is listed as having 16GB of DDR4 and a 256GB NVMe SSD with another 1TB SATA HDD. It doesn’t state that the 1TB is mechanical, or a 2.5-inch drive, so until we can see the insides it is hard to tell. It is stated that the 1TB is a ‘module’ and users can add their own ‘modules’, but no further information is given. Both systems come with an AMD Radeon RX 460 graphics card, which we would assume would be the MXM version similarly used in notebooks, but in this case with 2GB of GPU memory.
Clearly visible are four USB 3.0 ports, a USB Type-C port (unsure on the speed), a HDMI output, an Ethernet port, an SD card reader and a single headphone jack. For this price it seems a little strange not to see any front facing Thunderbolt 3 ports here, and given that there are harmon/karmon speakers fitted, and something more in the audio ports might be worthwhile. It would be interesting to get a breakdown and see which audio codec they’ve fitted for the headphone audio port, as well as the Ethernet port controller. A note about the speakers - the Amazon listing for these machines indicates that 3xAA batteries are required, which might mean for the speaker itself as a separate entity, or these machines might come with a remote control.
The design is fairly minimal in design and measures 5.51 x 5.51 x 12.18 inches (13.9 x 13.9 x 30.9 cm) and uses the single central fan concept we’ve seen on a few other devices like the Mac Pro, the MSI Vortex and the GIGABYTE UHD Brix.
The Samsung ArtPC is available for preorder today at $1200 and $1600 from Amazon, to be delivered on the 28th of October in the US.
Source: Liliputing, MS Power User
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evilspoons - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Well, in the press pictures the speaker has some sort of locking switch on it, so it probably comes off, which would make the batteries make (some?) sense. 3xAA batteries in a remote would be insane.I'm guessing the speaker moves around because who the heck would want your PC in the middle of your desk to get 'balanced' audio (getting in the way of your screen) or would want audio from a single speaker off to one side, where you'd inevitably end up putting a cylinder?
BobSwi - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Looks like a bomb to me.negusp - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Awfully ugly bomb, for a bomb, which is undoubtedly a bomb.dsraa - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Looks stupid.....like a camping lantern.....Now I want to go camping.....hey I bet it even starts fires for you!!! lolhp79 - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
No fire, but I agree it really looks stupid.It may work for a niche market, but then they should have done a better job at hiding the cables.
Zak - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
I'm sure it's not inconvenient at all to insert an SD card in that slot between power, Ethernet and video cables. Can Samsung at least copy something from Apple that makes sense? Oh, wait...gammaray - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Why so expensive??spookym - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
That reminds me a lot of B.I.C. Soundspan TPR-200 speakers from the 70s-80s.Samus - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Hahaha omfg really Samsung? Really!?HollyDOL - Tuesday, October 11, 2016 - link
In the table, I think"Intel Core i7-6600
4C/8T, 3.4 GHz
65W"
should be i7-6700