Zotac MEK1: A powerful PC but a little too bulky

Zotac has for some years specialized in the commercialization of complete and compact PCs, which one can almost call “mini”. If the Magnus range puts on sobriety, the MEK1 tested this week more in a pure aesthetic “gamer”. A more radical bias, which will not please everyone. Fortunately, the power is at the rendezvous.

Difficult to describe the MEK1 “mini PC”, as its format is finally closer to that of a classic tower. In this niche, it clearly struggles to compete against competitors much more compact, such as the Corsair One, the Magnus EN1080 (Zotac also) or the MSI Vortex G25. With its 42 cm wide by 41 cm high and 12 cm deep, it is much more bulky than any home console, and even a mini ITX case can hold him high, as you can see on the picture below. It will be difficult to advise his installation in a living room near a TV; it will do more business as a desktop PC, accompanied by a monitor.

On the design side, the MEK1 undeniably evokes a PC gaming, with its aggressive lines and customizable LED lighting. The appreciation of his look is of course subjective, but again, this lack of sobriety makes it fits poorly into a living room. More annoying: its quality of construction and finish disappoints, especially for a PC at nearly € 1,500. The plastic used for the case tends to “crack” and the assembly would have deserved more care: two screws on the back are badly plugged and, worse, we realized during our test that the power cable the built-in 1TB hard drive was badly connected, making us believe for several days that the configuration received in test only offered a 256GB SSD.

Similarly, the front panel door, which provides access to the power button, two USB 3 ports, a headphone output and a microphone input, tends to close badly and it is usually necessary to give a rap to to keep her well. In short, a sum of small details that stain at the time of the assessment.

All is not fortunately to throw away concerning the external aspect of this MEK1. The rear panel thus hosts a particularly rich connectivity: 4 USB 3 ports, 2 USB 2 ports, 3 DisplayPort, 1 HDMI output, 1 DV-I Dual Link output, 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 2 SMA for WiFi antennas AC / B / G / N provided, as well as a set of audio connectors.

Also, the record concerning the management of noise and heat is good: after one hour of benchmark under Metro: Last Light, the rear panel releases up to 68.4° C but the sides do not exceed 51.9° C. But it is especially the noise which is satisfactory: at 50 cm facing the housing, it does not exceed 38 dB, a noise of barely audible ventilation. At the rear, the noise is slightly more present; our sound level meter is mounted up to 41 dB, which remains quite correct.

Finally, on the consumer side, we recorded 50 W on the Windows 10 desktop, 1.1 W on standby and between 243 and 246 W at stake (here Metro: Last Light). Again, very correct figures given the embedded configuration. 

Also know that the MEK1 is quite scalable, its components are easy to access. The side panels are quickly removed by removing two screws on each side. You can then access the graphics card, storage, RAM and even the processor.

The Zotac MEK 1 is what we call a “well-equipped PC”. Embarking an Intel Core i7-7700 processor and 16 GB of RAM (2 x 8 GB Samsung DDR4 2400 MHz), a 256 GB SSD and a hard drive of 1 TB, it delivers an excellent level of performance. Our power index based on a series of benchmarks (file compression, audio and video conversion, 3D calculation, photo editing) thus rises to 156, an expected figure for a PC equipped with such a processor.

So be reassured: the MEK1 is also a very good working tool in addition to being a real game machine. Whether you have needs in 3D creation, photo editing, video editing or audio, you will be perfectly at home. easy.

Again, it is difficult to give less than 5 stars to this part of the test. With a GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (8GB) from Zotac in the box, the MEK1 is a high-end gaming PC. Recall that the GTX 1070 Ti is, in terms of performance, between a GTX 1070 and a GTX 1080. Based on a GP104 chip engraved at 16 nm, it has 2,343 units of calculation – 512 more than the GTX 1070 and offers a base frequency of 1,607 MHz. This Zotac model included in the MEK1 goes up to a frequency of 1 898 MHz.

The power rating based on 3D Mark rises to 141. A very good figure, promise of excellent performance in game. Not surprisingly, the MEK1 can run at more than 80 frames / second most of the latest games in the market. Full HD. During our test, we have thus noted 81 i / s Metro: Last Light, 109 i / s Rise of The Tomb Raider, 89 f / s on The Witcher 3, 114 i / s Star Wars: Battlefront II or still 71 fps on Assassin’s Creed Origins. All these results were obtained with the maximum level of graphic detail, except “Hairworks”, disabled on The Witcher 3.

Nothing to say that the quality of the headphone output at the front: it offers a low distortion rate but good power output. The sound is clear and fair on all aspects.

From a performance point of view, the Zotac MEK1 is a very good gaming PC, its processor and graphics card delivering sufficient power to play in Ultra HD. It is also very scalable and particularly well provided with connectivity. However, the MEK1 is very bulky for a PC supposed to be “compact” and its finishes leave something to be desired. The purchase can be considered if you are looking for a powerful game machine and “turnkey”, but you are not too much looking at the aesthetics.