Topton Jasper Lake Quad i225V Mini PC Report
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I'm considering buying either a 4x i226 N5105 or N6005 (barebone) unit, but curious if anyone got some experience wrt. thermals when placing the device inside a closet/wall box for networking devices? Most of the reviews I've read are based on placing the devices on a desktop, where there at least is some air circulation.
All the ethernet cables in my house are wired to a box similar to this ( , but only larger - the one I got is about 40cm width, 80cm height, and 7cm depth) that is embedded into the (dry)wall, thus, not too much air circulation in there. Today I got a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X-SFP in there, together with a 8p L2 managed switch, a RPi4b and the fiber ONT. My plan/hope is to replace the ERX-SFP and the RPi4b with a one of these mini PCs running Proxmox with OPNSense/PFSens VM and one Ubuntu (or similar) VM for the Unifi controller+PiHole. Don't plan to do much else than what I do today (a couple of VLANs for main network/IoT/guest network/office network, etc). I do plan to setup a VPN so I can connect to it when on the out on business trips, etc, but no high throughput otherwise.
Also, is there any advantages buying from one "store/seller" to another except for that price may vary a bit? E.g. I see that CWWK Store explicitly mentions V5 (pcb?) in some of their advertisements, whereas I can't see it being mentioned for e.g. the Topton ones on Ali.
I was first thinking of this (Topton , 4x i226, €210 for N6005, €157 for N5105), a bit due to form factor, about 1cm shorter in height compared to e.g. this (CWWK, 4x i226, €242 for N6005, €184 for N5105, this also explicitly mentions V5 for pcb), but then again, the extra 1cm will probably be handy wrt. thermals, but I haven't heard people mention this CWWK store that much compared to Topton when reading reviews over the last year.
If anyone have experience with placing the devices inside a closed environment with less air circulation I'd be happy to hear some details about that. Also, any suggestion on device/store/seller (e.g. if there's anything I really should avoid, etc) is also greatly appreciated.
All the ethernet cables in my house are wired to a box similar to this ( , but only larger - the one I got is about 40cm width, 80cm height, and 7cm depth) that is embedded into the (dry)wall, thus, not too much air circulation in there. Today I got a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X-SFP in there, together with a 8p L2 managed switch, a RPi4b and the fiber ONT. My plan/hope is to replace the ERX-SFP and the RPi4b with a one of these mini PCs running Proxmox with OPNSense/PFSens VM and one Ubuntu (or similar) VM for the Unifi controller+PiHole. Don't plan to do much else than what I do today (a couple of VLANs for main network/IoT/guest network/office network, etc). I do plan to setup a VPN so I can connect to it when on the out on business trips, etc, but no high throughput otherwise.
Also, is there any advantages buying from one "store/seller" to another except for that price may vary a bit? E.g. I see that CWWK Store explicitly mentions V5 (pcb?) in some of their advertisements, whereas I can't see it being mentioned for e.g. the Topton ones on Ali.
I was first thinking of this (Topton , 4x i226, €210 for N6005, €157 for N5105), a bit due to form factor, about 1cm shorter in height compared to e.g. this (CWWK, 4x i226, €242 for N6005, €184 for N5105, this also explicitly mentions V5 for pcb), but then again, the extra 1cm will probably be handy wrt. thermals, but I haven't heard people mention this CWWK store that much compared to Topton when reading reviews over the last year.
If anyone have experience with placing the devices inside a closed environment with less air circulation I'd be happy to hear some details about that. Also, any suggestion on device/store/seller (e.g. if there's anything I really should avoid, etc) is also greatly appreciated.
I wouldn't worry too much about the included brick. Mine was from a different seller, but a no-name 4A brick with a fake "Delta" sticker. I ordered a genuine Delta 3A brick (ADP-36PH A) to see if it was any better, but the original PSU was actually more efficient and seemed to be a better circuit design. At least it had a more complex output filter.. So I'm just using the original unit now, and wish I hadn't spent $15 on another PSU.
Can't help any with running a N6005 inside an enclosure like you're showing but I purchased the NUSN RJ03L with the N6005 mini. My open air testing results may provide some insight on what to expect. See my post:
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/hunsn-model-rj03l-w-n6005-v5-w-4-i226v-nics.38464/
For me, this box will only be running pfsense for now but I have tested (and stress tested it) with Win10 Pro and Win11 Pro and stressed it with Prime95. A fan on the top blowing down onto the aluminum fins get's great results and lowers the CPU temps by 10°+ in open air. You can get USB powered 60mm x 10mm and even 80mm fans that can be mounted onto the top:
( https://www.amazon.com/Ronyaoko-80x10mm-Brushless-Connect-Computer/dp/B08Z7JH38S/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2X1VF5RT673TZ&keywords=80mm+x+10mm+usb+powered+fan&qid=1671756490&s=electronics&sprefix=80mm+x+10mm+usb+powered+fan,electronics,71&sr=1-4 )
Then depending on your configuration, you could put a 60mm x 10mm 5/12V fan inside to help cool the NVMe.
I have experience with equipment being used in enclosures used in the ITS industry (Intelligent Transportation Systems) for both inside and outside use. You're gonna need airflow.... The temps in that enclosure will easily get to 120°F plus. As I mentioned in my post, the case got up to 125°F without any fans after several hours of stress testing. Add in your other equipment and you'll soon have a nice slow cooking oven. The vents on your box are great but you need air flowing to keep temps within operating range - or risk shortening the life of the equipment.
BobS
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This module is the one that I am using a pair of in the J6413.
If the system is stable for another week, I plan on swapping out the N6005 bare metal pfsense with the J6413 running Proxmox because it lets me flip my connection back and forth between pfsense and opnsense more easily. I have both up and running with 2 ports passed through to each and a bridge between them for pfsync. I realize having 2 guests on the same physical defeats the point of HA - it just makes swapping between pfsense and opnsense firewalls for testing super convenient.
Hi thanks for sharing the pin layout, are you able to share link where you bought the connector?
This is a very relevant setting for powersavings, from my measurements I was able to determine that without option 3 the system never sleeps deeper than C3. With the ASPM set to auto i reaches easily C8.
Topton N5105 (FMI07 N5105 JK 4L-V02 CBOX )
C3 = 7.6 watts
C8 = 5.0 watts
Thanks for sharing this info.
@lukasig you may face the same issue if I understand your question well.
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I did not find documentation, but most of the times some power consumption reduction you read about. Intel had a lot of troubles with the I-225 in the past, rev 03 is better than 01. The Intel I-226 in my N5105 box is called rev04 ;-) Like others said, the want to get rid of the negative rumours around the I-225 line and called the I-225 rev04 -> i226.
Indeed you need to wait a few months before the I-226 is supported in the 2.7.0 pfSense CE version.
Indeed you need to wait a few months before the I-226 is supported in the 2.7.0 pfSense CE version.
I think the main advantage is the lower TDP. According to Intel Ark 1.95W for the i225V vs 1.3W for the i226V. Unclear if the i225 datasheet is for v1, 2 or 3, don't know if there are any differences between these in terms of thermals. Intel i219 has 0.5 W. So there is a little bit less heat which is always good with a passively cooled device.
Driver support will get better, OPNsense is already supporting them and linux is no problem.
Not only Intel had its problem with 2.5G, Realtek made also three versions of their RTL8125 (without suffix, A and B)
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From a pfsense/opnsense perspective, i225 and i226 are functionally identical. Power difference seems to be negligible (1.95W TDP vs 1.3W theoretical) and actual behavior is the same. I think i225 exposed some unexpected behaviors in a lot of cheap switches like tp-link and d-link. I have some 1g switches that both i225 and i226 won't negotiate more than 100mbit on. HP and Aruba 1g switches, no problem at all. Netgear switches have been hit or miss. Aquantia/Marvell multi-gig NICs don't have issues with those same switches so its hard to point a finger at the switches.
To get pfsense installed on devices with i226, you wind up having to either use a USB NIC as WAN initially to get it to pull down the updates or, easier, if you install on something like Proxmox, you use a bridged virtio NIC and let it update, then you can do PCIe passthrough of the i226 NICs. OPNsense doesn't have this problem since they're on a more recent kernel with support.
Glad it worked for you
I did make a mistake by disabling Energy Efficient Turbo, which disabled P-state control in OPNsense. The CPU would still downclock to 800MHz at idle, but any load would make it boost to the full 2.8GHz even with P-states set to 99. So I re-enabled it and removed that from the post I made.
Running a loopback iperf3 test, I'm getting 10Gb/s with P-states set to 99 (1.6GHz limit), and 20Gb/s with P-states disabled (2.8GHz)
I got my J6413/6x-i226 out of UPS jail. Despite being direct from CWWK, it's not externally CWWK branded (maybe there's not room on the faceplate.) The packaging wasn't as nice as my Topton-bought N5105/4x-i226 and unbranded wall wart power brick isn't very nice looking, but it works. (I forgot to mention the N5105 came with a questionably Samsung-branded 60w brick.)
The inside heat paste isn't as nice as my N5105 and for better or worse I don't see a copper shim. I didn't disassemble further, and put a 32GB Crucial RAM kit and a Transcend MSATA drive in.
I was worried about this one as it seemed to run hotter initially - I saw 72C running Memtest+. The BIOS had C-states disabled so I enabled those. This J6413 will hold 2.8ghz all-core running mprime and CPU temps didn't go over the mid-60s.
My existing Atom C2000-based firewall must have sensed my infidelity as it died out of the blue and refused to POST. So I pressed these boxes into service - first the N5105 with baremetal OPNSense and then the J6413 with Proxmox. So far I've had no hardware-related issues.
The inside heat paste isn't as nice as my N5105 and for better or worse I don't see a copper shim. I didn't disassemble further, and put a 32GB Crucial RAM kit and a Transcend MSATA drive in.
I was worried about this one as it seemed to run hotter initially - I saw 72C running Memtest+. The BIOS had C-states disabled so I enabled those. This J6413 will hold 2.8ghz all-core running mprime and CPU temps didn't go over the mid-60s.
My existing Atom C2000-based firewall must have sensed my infidelity as it died out of the blue and refused to POST. So I pressed these boxes into service - first the N5105 with baremetal OPNSense and then the J6413 with Proxmox. So far I've had no hardware-related issues.
I used a USB to Ethernet adapter to get 2.6 running then upgraded to 22.05. Worked fine. Did the same to test the Beta 2.7 version.
BobS
Thanks for the link to your testing, i had missed that for some reason!
Yeah, I've been thinking of mounting a fan both inside the unit and in the door/lid to the enclosure. The enclosure is in a "technical room" where the motor for the ventilation system in the house is located, so some noise from two fans wont be an issue at all.
But as for what and where to buy, maybe the safest (in terms of receiving a unit with v5 PCB) option is to buy one where it's specifically mentioned in the ad? Or do all these devices (from the more "known" companies) cone with a v5 PCB these days?