Eurocom Sky X9W Review: A True Desktop Replacement

Eurocom has consistently delivered exceedingly powerful mobile systems. Last year, the Canadian company sent us its P5 Pro mobile server (/article/ultimate-speed-to-go), a computer that delivered blazingly fast performance at a premium price. To start off 2016, Eurocom sent us its new Sky X9, a system the company says is the most powerful mobile workstation ever made. With a claim like that, we couldn’t wait to put the Sky X9 through its paces.

Eurocom sells three versions of the Sky X9: a basic version using NVIDIA GTX graphics cards, the X9W and the X9E Extreme Edition with an unlocked BIOS for overclocking. All based on an Intel Z170 Express Skylake chipset, the $2,585 base configuration includes an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU, NVIDIA mobile GPU (graphics processing unit), 16GB of RAM, a 1920x1080 display, and 1TB SATA hard drive, but no operating system. All three versions are housed in similar sculpted charcoal gray cases.

We received the Eurocom Sky X9W, which measures 16.8x12.1x1.6 in. and tips the scales at a hefty 10.8 lbs. This makes the Sky X9W one of the largest and heaviest mobile systems we’ve tested in years. Its huge 330W external power supply (7.7x3.8x1.7 in.) adds another 3 lbs. to the total package. At a time when most modern portable systems are thin and light, the total Eurocom Sky X9W package weighs nearly 14 lbs.

Raising the lid reveals a gorgeous 17.3-in. UHD 4K (3840x2160) IPS (in-plane switching) display with a non-glare surface and 1000:1 contrast ratio, and a backlit 102-key keyboard that includes a separate numeric keypad. A 4.25x2.5 in. touchpad with a pair of buttons and a built-in fingerprint reader is centered below the spacebar. Centered above the display is a 2-megapixel webcam and microphones. There are also a pair of 2.2 watt FORSTER speakers for the Sound Blaster X-Fi MB5 sound system located in raised panels above the top corners of the keyboard, with a subwoofer on the bottom of the case. A round power button is centered above the keyboard and flanked on the left by a panel with LEDs to indicate airplane mode and hard drive activity, and on the right with a similar panel containing the caps lock, scroll lock and number lock indicators. Users can control the intensity, color and effects of both the keyboard backlight and logo illumination on the case lid.

Lots of Ports But Closed Interior

The right side of the case offers an SD card slot, a USB 3.0 port, a USB 3.1 (Type C) Thunderbolt 3 port, a pair of mini DisplayPorts and a Kensington lock slot. The left side provides a pair of RJ-45 network ports, three more USB 3.0 ports (including one that is powered), and audio jacks for line-in, microphone, headphone and S/PDIF-out. The rear panel hosts an HDMI port, an additional USB 3.0 port, and the connection for the external power supply flanked by a pair of air vents. There are lots more air vents along the front and on the bottom of the case. We found it puzzling that a system this big lacked an optical drive bay. The Eurocom Sky X9W is also a closed system: Users are not meant to get inside, although it is possible to open the case from the bottom (after removing a bunch of screws).

Our evaluation unit came with an Intel Core i7-6700K, a 4GHz quad-core CPU with 8MB cache, a maximum turbo frequency of 4.2GHz and a thermal design power rating of 91 watts. This 14nm Skylake processor also includes Intel HD Graphics 530. Several other less expensive CPUs are also available. Eurocom also equipped our system with an NVIDIA Quadro M5000M mobile GPU, with 1536 CUDA (compute unified device architecture) cores and 8GB of GDDR5 memory, increasing the system cost by an $1,379. The base-level Sky X9W comes with an NVIDIA Quadro M3000M.

Although 16GB of system memory comes standard, you have lots of choices. Our evaluation unit came equipped with the maximum capacity of 64GB of 2133MHz memory, installed as four 16GB DDR4 260-pin Micro SODIMMs (small outline dual-inline memory modules), which added $1,095 to the system price.

There are also lots of storage options. The base configuration includes a 1TB 7200rpm Hitachi Travelstar SATA hard drive, but there are actually two 2.5-in. drive bays and Eurocom offers standard drives of up to 2GB capacity and solid-state drives (SSDs) ranging from 128GB to 2TB, both with RAID array capabilities. There are also two internal slots for SSD M.2 card-based drives ranging from 120GB to 512GB. Our evaluation unit came with a pair of 256GB Samsung SSD PCIe drives in a RAID 0 array hosting the operating system and a pair of 2TB Samsung 5400rpm drives in a RAID 1 array for data. This drive configuration added $1,206 to the total system cost.

While a 2-in-1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WLAN+Bluetooth 4.2 plus Intel Wireless-AC 8260 card is included in the base configuration, Eurocom also offers both higher- and lower-end network cards. An eight-cell lithium-ion battery and 330 watt auto-switching worldwide power supply come standard.

You would think that the absence of an optical drive would leave room for a larger battery. But with all those hard drives, a power-hungry CPU and high-end GPU, our evaluation unit managed just 2 hours 17 minutes before shutting down. Throughout our tests, the Sky X9W ran relatively cool and quiet, averaging just 33dB at rest (compared to 29dB ambient background noise). The noise level climbed to 46dB under heavy compute loads (about the equivalent of an office conversation).

Desktop Performance

Thanks to its fast CPU, abundance of memory and high-end graphics card, the Eurocom Sky X9W turned in the best performance we have ever recorded for a mobile workstation. On the SPECviewperf test, which focuses solely on graphics, the Eurocom Sky X9W beat all competitors, often by a wide margin, even surpassing the performance of many desktop workstations.

For our SOLIDWORKS tests, we have recently begun using the new SPEC SolidWorks 2015 benchmark. This new evaluation performs nine graphics tests and two CPU tests. Although this marks the first review in which we are publishing these new results, we did go back and retest several other systems we previously reviewed. With its fast CPU and high-end mobile graphics system, the Eurocom Sky X9W turned in great results on this real-world performance evaluation.

We also ran the SPECwpc benchmark and the Eurocom Sky X9W beat the competition on nearly every aspect of this demanding test. Although the 64.90 second average rendering time on the AutoCAD rendering test was 8 seconds slower than last year’s Eurocom P5 Pro, that still placed it near the top of the field.

Of course, all this power comes at a hefty price. As equipped, our Eurocom Sky X9W priced out at $6,781 (including $172 for the Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit operating system that came preinstalled), just $19 less than the most expensive mobile systems we’ve ever tested. Eurocom also offers other operating systems, or you can order the system without an OS and install your own. The price also includes a one-year warranty with return to depot service, but you can extend the warranty to two or three years for $151 or $323, respectively.

The Eurocom Sky X9W is meant to replace a desktop workstation for power users on the go, and it delivers on this promise. But its weight and price will likely make it a niche product, a super portable for those willing to carry both the weight and the cost that all the power demands.

More Info

• Eurocom

Mobile Workstations Compared