HYSTOU FMP04 Mini PC with an i5-7200U Processor

Today I’m reviewing a computer with a “industrial” form factor that’s rather unusual for most users. But that’s not all: it also has at least two COM ports and a relatively powerful i5-7200U processor.


A couple of years ago, I reviewed the Hystou FMP03 with an i3 5010U processor. Later, I got my hands on its less powerful sibling, the FMP06 with a Celeron N3150.
This company is fairly well known and mainly builds and sells fanless mini PCs. Unfortunately, they also have some design “quirks,” but more on that later.
Of course, they’re not the only ones doing this. I’ve had a computer from another company running since June 2016, and it’s very similar to that Hystou model.

Specifications:
Operating system: Not installed
Processor: ICORE-I5-7200U
Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 620
Memory: max. 16 GB, SODIMM DDR3L, 2 slots, 8 GB installed as standard
SATA — 2 x SATA 6 Gbps + 1 x mSATA (256 GB installed)
Wireless: 802.11b/g/n WiFi 2.4/5GHz
LAN — Gigabit LAN
Video outputs: HDMI and VGA
External interfaces: 4x USB 3.0, 3x USB 2.0, 2x COM (RS232)
Audio output — 3.5 mm jack
Audio input — 3.5 mm jack
Dimensions: 234 x 100 x 50 (excluding feet, antenna, and connectors)
Weight: 1250 g

The computer is available in four configurations:
1. No RAM or SSD
2. 4 GB RAM and 128 GB SSD
3. 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD
4. 16 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD


When I received and unpacked the parcel, I thought they’d accidentally sent me the same model I already had. But the other side of the box simply showed the different case options offered by the manufacturer. There are actually four, but recently, with the arrival of eighth-generation processors, a fifth option has appeared.
Everything inside was packed pretty well, although the box itself got a little dented during shipping.


People often ask me how the FMP03 I wrote about in 2016 is holding up. It’s doing great, actually. It’s been running as my main computer 24/7 for almost two years. During that time, I added a RAM stick, bringing it to 12 GB, then added a couple of SSDs, for a total of 250+480+240 GB. I removed the WiFi module after the review and haven’t even bothered to find where I put it, since I have a gigabit connection to my router.
The computer runs reliably. I usually only reboot it when the power goes out or the circuit breaker for the apartment trips. As of now, for example, it’s been up for more than three weeks.

I’ll also answer the question of why I decided to replace one computer with another. Mainly because of occasional resource-intensive tasks. The old computer has a fifth-generation i3 processor; the new one has an i5, and it’s seventh-generation, too.
There’s already an eighth generation, but it has one drawback: major problems installing Windows 7. As it turned out later, things aren’t entirely smooth here either.


The package contents are straightforward:
1. FMP04 computer
2. Power supply
3. Power cable
4. SATA power cable
5. SATA cable
6. Two antennas
7. Mounting hardware
8. Manual
9. Driver CD.


1. The manual is generic for all models and isn’t particularly interesting. The disc included drivers for 64-bit Windows 7 and 10.
2. The cables for connecting a SATA hard drive or SSD. As last time, they included just one SATA cable and a single-connector power cable, which isn’t very convenient.
3, 4. A 12 V, 5 A power supply. Last time, the power supply was rated for 3 A, and I ended up having to replace it because it was running at its limit after I added RAM and an SSD.


As a bonus, they included a branded mouse pad, but it’s about two-thirds the size of the one I’m used to.


The computer’s dimensions aren’t much different from mine: it’s a little longer and narrower. For some reason, I expected it to be bigger.


The front panel has three USB 2.0 ports, a power button, and a status indicator.


There are quite a few more connectors on the back:
1. Two sockets for WiFi antennas
2. Audio input and output
3. Four USB 3.0 ports
4. Gigabit Ethernet
5. VGA
6. HDMI
7. Power
8. Two COM ports

There are few differences from mine: they added one USB 2.0 port and two COM ports, which could come in handy for me too. In fact, connectors of this type are often found on computers like these.


The entire case is one large heatsink. The cooling fins are laid out properly and are 7 mm high; they’re located not only on top but also along the sides.


The WiFi antennas are installed next to each other, which isn’t ideal. It would have been much better to place them on opposite sides of the rear panel, though I’ll probably remove them along with the WiFi module this time too.


The bottom, as well as the front and rear panels, are made of brushed aluminum. There are four rubber feet on the bottom, along with four mounting holes. I plan to use them to screw the computer to the side of my desk. That should improve cooling, and it’ll be less in the way under the desk.


The bottom is held in place by four screws. Before testing, I took a look inside, just out of curiosity.


At this point I couldn’t resist tidying up the cables a bit. The left shows how they were; the right, how they are now. It doesn’t really matter, I just felt like doing it.


Before the tests, here’s some information about the BIOS. I can say two things: there are lots of settings, which is great, but I couldn’t find an option to power on automatically when power is applied, which is disappointing :(


This is actually only a small portion of the options. If you’re interested in anything else, let me know and I’ll take a screenshot.


I turn it on, and surprise: there’s an OS, even though one wasn’t listed as included. The specs only say that Linux, Windows 10, or Windows 8 can be installed (the last one is a little odd).


Windows 10 Pro is preinstalled and activated, with a Chinese activator included :) I assume this is what they call a “demo” version.


The SSD is split into two primary partitions and one additional partition. The first primary partition is 78 GB, with 60 GB free; the second has all 160 GB free.


Some information from Device Manager.


CPU-Z provided general information about the installed processor and very little about the motherboard. That was to be expected, since it’s clearly not a brand like Gigabyte or Asus.
The RAM frequency changes depending on the load, and the memory is listed as being made by Samsung.

And, of course, the first tests. As usual, I’ll put most of the results together in a comparison table later.


The computer has an mSATA SSD from a manufacturer I don’t recognize, but even the markings show which controller it uses: a 2246.
The SSD is new, with zero hours of use. Of the eight power-ons, about three or four were mine, but there’s practically no other information about the drive.


And a few tests. First, AS SSD


And, of course, HD Tune. The speed is a little uneven at the beginning, but the operating system may be to blame, since all the tests were run from Windows.


The SSD doesn’t have the usual drop in speed after 5–10 GB of continuous writing. I tested it with 40 GB, and the write speed held steady at 250 MB/s.


And the equally familiar CrystalDiskMark test.
1, 2. SSD with 1 GB and 32 GB files
3. External SSD connected via USB 3.0


The Cinebench result is about one and a half times higher than the i3-5010U’s.


The PerformanceTest benchmarks were run using two software versions, 8 and 9.


Comparison results.


Version 9


The 3DMark result isn’t much higher, since the graphics core is only slightly more powerful than mine. Then again, I gave up gaming a long time ago. What I regret most is that I can’t play Serious Sam 3, let alone the eagerly awaited 4. But in the first case, the problem is probably not the graphics card's performance, but the fact that the third Sam won't run on integrated graphics at all, requiring a discrete graphics card, even if it's less powerful.


And the new version of 3DMark. Just in case, I ran several different tests.


Geekbench 4


Interestingly, in the WinRAR archive test, the speed is only 10–15% higher, even though other software above showed a difference of one and a half times.


And of course, tests under heavier workloads. First, as usual, the LinX test. After the first run, the processor reached 91 degrees in just 11 minutes, but it's worth noting that performance didn't drop.
Yes, as usual, I check whether the overheating protection kicks in not by looking for the throttling flag, but by measuring actual performance and how it relates to temperature. That's more reliable.


That wasn't enough for me, so I ran the test again. The temperature rose to 96 degrees, but performance not only didn't drop, it even increased slightly. The first run took 11 minutes 17 seconds, and the second took 11 minutes 11 seconds. In reality, the average speed was about the same; in this case, that's simply measurement error. Either way, there was no drop in performance.


During the test, I initially noticed that the case was heating unevenly. On the thermal image, this appeared as a bright spot around the processor. The difference was only a few degrees, but it felt greater to the touch. The second photo was taken after the second test finished. It was hot; the case temperature was about 54 degrees.


But I was more interested in the OCCT test, which can put the computer under maximum load. First, the power supply test, which loads both the graphics and math cores at the same time.
The test gave a slightly strange result: just 86 degrees, considering the LinX test results.


Later, looking at the graph, I saw that for some reason there was no full load for about 2/3 of the test, followed by a sharp rise.




But in the all-math test, the heat really showed its full force, triggering throttling, while the processor temperature reached 99 degrees. In OCCT's settings, the protection threshold was set to 100 degrees.


Judging by the graph, the temperature rose fairly gradually and peaked about 5–10 minutes before the test ended. Both tests lasted 54 minutes.




1. Case temperature before the first test ended
2. Before the second test ended
3. Power supply temperature before the second test ended.


The computer has a gigabit network card and a 2.4 GHz WiFi module, although the product page also lists 5 GHz.


WiFi sensitivity is quite good; the scanner immediately found more than 60 access points.


But the data transfer speed isn't all that high: around 20–30 Mbps within a large room, depending on the distance from the router.


No problems with a wired connection: 800–900 Mbps.


After playing around with the tests, I decided to check whether Windows 7 could be installed—not because it's better or worse than Windows 10, but simply because it gives me fewer compatibility problems with both software and hardware for the things I do.
I also wanted to check the drivers included in the box.

I remove the original SSD and install a new 120 GB Kingston.


But then came a nasty surprise: the USB ports wouldn't work, neither USB 3.0 (as expected) nor USB 2.0. In the end, I had to dig out an almost antique mouse with a COM port—fortunately, the computer has two of them.
Then I enabled the on-screen keyboard and booted the computer. After that, I removed the SSD, connected it to my computer, copied over the included drivers, and... nothing. Almost all of them either didn't work or produced an installer error.
Interestingly, WiFi worked right away, so here's what I did next:
Connect the computer over WiFi
Look for network and USB drivers
Find them after several failed attempts.
Get the network and USB working, connect a proper mouse and keyboard, and plug in wired Ethernet.
Look for the remaining drivers.


In the end, I spent about a full day on it. During that time, I reinstalled the OS around 6–7 times: 7 Max, 7 Pro, 10 Pro, 7 Pro, 10 Pro, 7 Pro.
Most of the reinstalls were to test the drivers I'd found with different operating systems and versions. Along the way, I figured out the driver installer error and found a compatible file. I'll upload all the drivers to Google Drive later.


But there was one problem I just couldn't solve: sound absolutely refuses to work in Windows 7. The computer has a standard Realtek chip, but to install its driver, you first have to install the Intel driver. Then, when two other devices appear in place of “Multimedia Audio Controller,” you can install the Realtek driver. Installing it before that is pointless.
So although the Intel audio driver is supposed to work in Windows 7 and 10, in practice it only works in Windows 10 (where I had exactly the same sound problem). In Windows 7, all I get is what's shown in the screenshot.
But here's the interesting part: in the reviews for this particular model, I saw someone say they'd installed Windows 7 and everything worked perfectly...


On that sad note, let's wrap up the OS reinstall saga and move on to disassembly, a look inside, and ways to improve its performance.
Remove the extra cables and take off the rear panel.


Here's the computer itself, without any cables.
There are two RAM slots, so one of my 8 GB sticks will go in here. I also think two 2.5-inch SSDs will fit without any trouble; they're currently mounted in a “sandwich” configuration, along with their modified power adapter.
The case is taller than the one on my previous computer, but my SSDs are mounted beside the board rather than above it. One small bonus: you can use standard (non-right-angle, non-mirrored) SATA cables here.


1, 2. Samsung memory with a Hystou sticker.
3, 4, 5. Indilinx SSD with Intel flash memory.
6. AzureWave WiFi module, although the included disc has Intel drivers.


The board with all the extra hardware removed.



1. Early on, I noticed that the power indicator was barely glowing. It turned out there are a couple of blue LEDs inside, but the hole was drilled completely at random.
2. There’s a warranty seal with a production date of July 2018—pretty recent.


A fairly large part of the board is taken up by various voltage converters. There are a lot of them.


It’s very strange that the manufacturer went with an mSATA connector for the SSD instead of the more modern M.2. The mPCIe slot is visible on the left; in my case it’ll either stay empty or I’ll install something like a USB or Ethernet controller in it.


As before, the board is held in place by four screws, which were clearly tightened “for all they’re worth.” I criticized this design last time, and I’ll criticize it again. The processor is pressed against the heatsink solely by the stiffness of the motherboard. On top of that, it’s not centered, which is wrong. But two years have passed, and everything still works.


Heat is transferred to the case by a 5 mm-thick aluminum plate. The idea is sound, but the plate’s thickness and material, along with the way it’s clamped, noticeably reduce heat transfer—and then there’s the Chinese thermal paste. The plate is glued to the case along the sides with silicone sealant to keep it from sliding around.


Now for a few thoughts on possible improvements.
1. Replace the aluminum with copper, but around $20 for a couple of pieces of copper seems a bit expensive.
2. Replace the thermal paste with something better.
3. Use a plate that’s 6 mm thick instead of 5 mm. The downside is that this could cause more board flex, so a compromise might be a 6 mm plate plus 0.5 mm washers on the case standoffs. That would effectively increase the plate thickness by 0.5 mm rather than 1 mm.

By the way, the plates on AliExpress are slightly larger than the one installed here, which should also improve the results.


There’s another bunch of different voltage converters on the underside of the circuit board.


The processor power supply. There isn’t a single conventional electrolytic capacitor on the entire board; they’re all either ceramic or tantalum.


1. Processor
2. Gigabit Ethernet chip—pretty much a classic.
3. Audio is also handled by Realtek, another mini-PC classic.
4. Flash memory for storing the BIOS firmware
5. DisplayPort-to-VGA converter
6. RS232 transceiver with a built-in voltage converter.


Additional chips.


All the expansion connections are brought out to several pin headers:
1. Audio
2, 3. USB
4, 5. COM ports
6. Front panel (indicators and power button)

There’s no protection against plugging in a connector the wrong way, so be careful when connecting them.


Nearby are:
1. Footprint for a fan connector
2. Three-pin connector marked “Power.”
3. EDPPWR SEL—presumably jumpers for switching the EDP connector’s power supply
4. The EDP connector footprint itself
5. Above that are two SATA connectors and a footprint for a third.


As I said, there won’t be any gaming tests, since the results are fairly predictable. Besides, this computer isn’t marketed as a gaming machine. But I did run one practical test: video encoding for YouTube, which I have to do from time to time.
The source video was 4K, then I cropped it, adjusted the brightness and contrast, and added a few photos. The test clip was about 4 minutes and 40 seconds long.

My computer with an i3-5010U encodes it in 31 minutes and 43 seconds.


The computer under review does it more than one and a half times faster. The test used not only the same video and software, but also the exact same software version (build).
Encoding speed is about the same in Windows 10 and Windows 7.


During encoding, the processor clock speed reached its maximum of 3.09 GHz.


Power consumption is slightly higher than on my previous computer with an i3-5010U. Its maximum was about 35 W; here we have:
1. Powered off
2. Desktop
3. Maximum OCCT load
4. Maximum recorded power consumption.


A few comparison tests. The LinX test result is shown for a 4096 MB workload, just like in the i3-5010U test.


And, of course, some brief conclusions based on the tests and a period of using the computer for testing.
First, the bad news: it gets hot—very hot—and in some situations it can even throttle. You can reduce the temperature by mounting the computer vertically; at least in my case, the temperature dropped because cooling improved. But, as I mentioned, these temperatures were measured during stress tests. Under normal use, they will be significantly lower. Recommendations for modifications are included in the review.

Second, the Windows 7 drivers: I still couldn't get the sound card working, but I'll keep trying to sort it out.

Now for the good news, and fortunately there's a bit more of it.
Performance is about one and a half times higher than the i3-5010U, at least in the resource-intensive tasks that matter to me.
It comes with a preinstalled SSD that is essentially unbranded but quite decent. Its speed doesn't drop after the usual 5–10 GB of continuous writing. It's a shame they kept the mSATA slot instead of adding an M.2 slot.
The RAM is made by Samsung, which is also a plus.
Four USB 3.0 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, two monitor outputs, and two COM ports.

Not many people need two COM ports, of course, but if you do, they're there. They could be useful for me, for example.
I like this computer's form factor better than the alternatives.

The computer's design itself isn't much different from other models, whether from this manufacturer or others. It still has the same odd mechanism for pressing the processor against the heatsink, but otherwise it's reasonably good. Some people have raised concerns about problems caused by this design. I'd recommend simply leaving it on; that way, thermal expansion and contraction of the board will be reduced, and it should last longer. As I wrote at the very beginning, my previous one has been running almost two years in 24/7 mode without any issues.

I asked the store to make coupons not just for the model reviewed here, but for all the other configurations too. So far, though, they've only provided coupons for the two most expensive ones.
With 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD - GBHY01 $359.99 50 pcs
With 16 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD - GBHY022 $409.99 50 pcs


That's all from me. I hope you found the review useful. I may have forgotten something in the conclusions, so feel free to ask—I'll be happy to answer. Also, after a while I'll put this computer into regular use and can share details as I go. If anyone knows how to get the sound working on this computer under Windows 7, I'd be very grateful.