The biggest disappointment for buyers in the TV box market is dishonest reviews made by bloggers. The authors of the videos are interested in sales because they receive financial rewards for it. An example is the TV-box X10 MAX Plus 4/64 on AMLOGIC S905X3, which can be immediately discarded after purchase. However, there are dozens of positive reviews on YouTube channels urging to buy this box.
TV-box X10 MAX Plus 4/64 on AMLOGIC S905X3: declared specifications
| Chipset | Amlogic S905X3 |
| Processor | 4x Cortex-A55, up to 1.9 GHz |
| Video Adapter | ARM Mali-G31MP |
| RAM | DDR3, 4 GB, 2133 MHz |
| Internal Storage | EMMC Flash 64 GB |
| Storage Expansion | Yes |
| Memory Card Support | up to 32 GB (SD) |
| Wired Network | Yes, 100 Mbps |
| Wireless Network | Wi-Fi 5G Hz |
| Bluetooth | Yes, version 4.1 |
| Operating System | Android 9.0 |
| Update Support | Yes |
| Interfaces | HDMI, RJ-45, 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0, SPDIF, AVDC |
| External Antennas | No |
| Digital Panel | Yes |
| Price | $65 |
At first glance, everything looks great. Powerful chip and excellent hardware. Except for the wired network module at 100 Mbps, which seems to be a weak link. But. Even at the first connection, in the standard Android settings, significant differences can be observed. Not to mention the information from the AIDA64 app.
- The A95X_F chipset is a trimmed version of Amlogic 905 – a reject. That is, for some reason, the chip did not work and was classified as defective.
- The processor frequency is actually 1.7 GHz. But, under minimal load, the core speed drops to 1 GHz.
- The announced system update refuses to load. The latest firmware version is from August 5, 2018. Although the kernel instructions are dated November 28, 2019.
First impressions of the TV-box X10 MAX Plus
Externally, the device does not resemble a gadget costing $65. Cheap plastic and misaligned interface ports with the case niches give the impression that the TV box was assembled on the knee. Although the design of the device is not bad. Plus, there are many holes on the bottom panel for cooling. Maybe we got a defective unit, but our device would not hold the RJ-45 cable inserted into the corresponding port. Even a new clip did not fix the problem.
Connecting to the TV and the internet caused no problems. The device started quickly, but something was wrong. The sharp jumps in shortcuts in the main menu seemed strange. After launching the CPU monitor, it became clear. The processor lacks power to handle tasks. And most unpleasantly, the system temperature at idle is high – 72-76 degrees Celsius.
Testing the TV-box X10 MAX Plus 4/64 on AMLOGIC S905X3
Having encountered the LAN port dropout issue, we immediately switched to Wi-Fi. Strange issues common to all budget TV boxes were observed.
| X10 MAX Plus | ||
| Download, Mbps | Upload, Mbps | |
| Wi-Fi 5 GHz without USB 3.0 flash drive | 180 | 140 |
| Wi-Fi 5 GHz with USB 3.0 flash drive | 110 | 100 |
And immediately moved on to throttling testing. In the very first minute, instead of the expected green graph, red-yellow stripes could be seen. The test was accompanied by a drop in CPU frequency to 1 GHz and an increase in chip temperature to 80 degrees Celsius. At this point, it was enough to stop. Because torrents and games simply will not work under such conditions.
This was confirmed immediately after playing a Full HD movie. Not to mention 4K or 8K, which the manufacturer claimed. Oh, yes, the TV-box X10 MAX Plus 4/64 on AMLOGIC S905X3 works perfectly with YouTube. Although in Full HD, no issues were noticed. There were about a hundred drops, but that was due to the Wi-Fi module constantly losing connection. And this is in conditions where the router works stably with other devices.
The verdict on the TV box review is one. The gadget is not intended for multimedia. It simply cannot be bought, let alone promoted in video reviews as bloggers do. If you want a decent TV box, for $65 you can find more interesting and functional solutions.
