CWWK/Topton/... Nxxx quad NIC router

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

Becks0815

Well-Known Member
Oct 15, 2022
241
336
63
After 134 pages about the N5105/N6005 routers from Aliexpress I decided to start a new thread for the new versions using N95/N100/N200/N305 CPUs. The CPUs became available early 2023 and offer around 20% more CPU power (N100 vs. N5105) compared to the previous lineup of CPUs.

The first machines with 4 ports (Intel i226v NICs) were spotted in March 23 on Aliexpress, and currently at least three companies offer them in potentially three variations. Potentially, because no review, feedback or YT video exists so far to confirm the findings on the supplier pages on ali.


Variation A: (TOPTON): using the same case used for the variation of N5105/N6005 boxes offering the best cooling solution.
4xi226-V-2-5G-12th-Gen-Intel-Firewall-Mini-PC-Alder-Lake-i3-N305-8-Core.jpg_Q90.jpg_.jpg


Variaton B: (YSJMNPC ) - a case with Y shaped cooler fins used on some I3-1215U boxes (active cooled)
Intel-12th-generation-N-series-8-core-new-member-N95-N100-N200-N305-fanless-mini-host.png_.jpg


Variation C (YSJMNPC, CWWK): this case was already used for some I3 Intel boxes.

New-12th-Gen-Intel-Mini-PC-8-Core-N100-N200-i3-N305-DDR5-4800MHz-4xi226-V.png_.jpg


On top it is unclear what details the cases offer. There are two different pictures shown on the webpages, and sometimes the one showing the cooling solution doesn't match the rest of the case:

Cooling solution of an TOPTON i4 1215U router (case variation C ):
Image 218.jpg

The Nxxx router with case variation B:
Image 219.jpg


So like with the N5105 we can expect several variations, upgrades or changes and BIOS versions. :) At least one detail seems to be clear: the SATA port which was available on the N5105 boxes is gone and only a 4 pin header for SATA power is left on the mainboard. So you either need an adapter or use a NVME drive instead.



My CWWK box should arrive in some weeks. Then we will know more.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

fagonzalezro

New Member
Apr 7, 2023
2
0
1
Hello..

First time posting in the forum, i was looking on a mini firewall for a couple of months, i choose for a topton N6005 from aliexpress on March 12. last week topton send me a menssage sayng that de N6005 has stopped production, now they offered a Intel N200 Cpu.

How is the Intel N200 Cpu vs the N100? im a little lost with the reviews on internet (CPU performance)

Best Regards
 

icecrash

New Member
Jan 19, 2023
6
7
3
My CWWK box should arrive in some weeks. Then we will know more.
Did you get "Version C"? The one with the big heatsinks on the top? Would love to know the idle / max power draw.


How is the Intel N200 Cpu vs the N100? im a little lost with the reviews on internet (CPU performance)
Check out Intel Ark to compare. For convenience, I added all 4 models to the link (N95, N100, N200, N305). I'll highlight the differences:
N95: 3.4 GHz max turbo, 4 cores, 16 EU graphics [15W TDP]
N100: 3.4 GHz max turbo, 4 cores, 24 EU graphics [6W TDP]
N200: 3.7 GHz max turbo, 4 cores, 32 EU graphics [6W TDP]
N305: 3.8 GHz max turbo, 8 cores, 32 EU graphics [15W TDP]
The rest is the same.

N95 and N305 are likely going to draw more power and run hotter, given their higher TDP limits. I think N100 is likely the sweet spot. N200 has about 9% more turbo boost, and 33% more graphics performance. For a mini firewall/router, graphics performance is not needed. The older-generation N5105 was already performant enough it seems, so the N100 should likely be plenty sufficient, and is a bit cheaper than the N200.
 
Last edited:

Becks0815

Well-Known Member
Oct 15, 2022
241
336
63
The router has been flagged as shipped (CWWK, case C) and should arrive until April, 20th. I'll order some RAM (Kingston Fury Impact, 1 x 16GB, 4800 MHz, DDR5-RAM, SO-DIMM), still have an 512GB NVME drive laying around.
 

Mike9474593

Active Member
Aug 5, 2022
120
87
28
N305: 3.8 GHz max turbo, 4 cores, 32 EU graphics [15W TDP]
@icecrash Little copy-paste typo here, the N305 has 8 cores

Let's see if the C-case really has heatpipes (as mentioned on Ali, asked changwang about that. They seem to be busy, just got "will reply later" as answer. Also asked about the USB-C and the HDMI+DP in front or back. Will update here.
 

AdriftAtlas

New Member
Jan 21, 2023
11
5
3
The N305 has some impressive early benchmarks for a 15W TDP CPU. My concern is that TDP does not mean much in terms of max wattage. Will it still stay around 30W max like the others or will it spike to something like 60W?

My local ISP (Ziply Fiber) is now selling 5Gbps internet for $120/mo. It's time these came with 10Gbps ports. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Alfa147x and Stovar

tusk9541

Member
Nov 23, 2022
59
72
18
I think there's still some efficiency to be gained in other areas that aren't the CPU. Maybe LPDDR5 can help shave a few more watts, and soldered storage as well, at the cost of upgradeability which I'm sure at least some of us would take.
 

dgcorp

New Member
Apr 9, 2023
1
0
1
# Will 32GB memory be possible? #

I know it's 'early days' for these models of CPUs / MiniPCs, so I'll have to wait a while for some real answers...

I understand 32GB memory (RAM) is not officially supported (Intel specs for all Alder-Lake-N say: 16GB Max Mem, Single Channel ONLY )...

...but I'd really like to know if anyone has tried putting in a 32GB stick, to see if it works on any of the Intel N100/200/300/305 CPU's ??
e.g. Crucial CT32G48C40S5 (1x32GB DDR5-4800 SODIMM)

I'm looking at buying a new Mini Server (e.g. Beelink / Topton / Kingovy / etc) and it would be much better if it could run 32GB memory in the future!

Cheers, D
 

Stovar

Active Member
Dec 27, 2022
184
91
28
The N305 has some impressive early benchmarks for a 15W TDP CPU. My concern is that TDP does not mean much in terms of max wattage. Will it still stay around 30W max like the others or will it spike to something like 60W?

Am guessing it still spikes to 60watts like most of the 8 core mini pcs out there from amd and intel but hopefully some bios options if not power capping can be done to keep it capped.

I would have much preferred an N300 @ 6watts really baffling why they went with the more power hungry N305 not unless they want the N305 aimed at being a more fuller desktop pc replacement.
 

Becks0815

Well-Known Member
Oct 15, 2022
241
336
63
16 GB RAM are here now, an older SK Hynix BC511 also is waiting and if DPD doesn't have an error on the tracking page, the N100 should arrive in about 5-7 days. Then let's see how warm the machine gets and how much power it consumes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stovar and Patrick

oneplane

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2021
872
529
93
I wonder how the global numbers on Nxxx chip SKUs are doing, seems it's available in a few pockets of retail supply chain but not nearly as broad as I would expect.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Patrick

DarthCirrus

Member
Dec 12, 2022
51
51
18
Is it too much to ask for these do ECC UDIMMs….

I mean, I know they don’t… because Intel ARK says so, but why can’t we have a nice low power platform based on a new architecture that supports ECC to do routing? Ice lake appears soooo much worse than Alder Lake…

I mean, if the real experts and professionals here say “ECC not required or significantly beneficial in a non production home environment” then I guess I’d go with it… but otherwise it seems like the only options for low power ECC routing on a newish platform would be artificially PL limiting a W680 motherboard to get low power, or ice lake Atoms/Xeon-Ds
 

marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
157
34
28
39
Specs on Ark say these new N CPUs have only single channel memory controller and support max 16GB of RAM. But Aliexpress sellers offer 32GB RAM bundles. Wondering whether these mini PCs have 1 or 2 memory slots and whats real max capacity.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Patrick

roarking

New Member
Aug 28, 2022
18
27
3
Specs on Ark say these new N CPUs have only single channel memory controller and support max 16GB of RAM. But Aliexpress sellers offer 32GB RAM bundles. Wondering whether these mini PCs have 1 or 2 memory slots and whats real max capacity.
1) While Gemini Lake/Elkhart Lake/Jasper Lake (J41xx/J64xx/N51XX/N6005) support two memory modules, there is evidence that Alder Lake-N really only supports one memory module. Intel ARK says so and in addition the Alder Lake-N mainboard pictured below has only one SO-DIMM slot, while the predecessor from the same manufacturer for Jasper Lake N5105/N6005 had two SO-DIMM slots in the same spot in a very similar PCB layout.

2) Intel ARK states the maximum memory supported as 8GB for Gemini Lake, 32GB for Elkhart Lake and 16GB for Jasper Lake but the actual maximum memory is higher: Gemini Lake supports 2x16GB = 32GB and Jasper Lake 2x32GB = 64GB. There are reports that Elkhart Lake supports 2x 32GB = 64GB too, but I do not have a system with this CPU and two slots to confirm this.

3) Alder Lake-N's maximum memory according to Intel ARK is 16GB. Manufacturers mention 32GB for these systems already, so like for the predecessors the actual maximum memory seems to be higher than what Intel states. Since Alder Lake-N supports only one memory slot, the maximum at the moment is 1x32GB. There is a possibility that 1x64GB will work but DDR5 SO-DIMM's with a capacity of 64GB do not exist yet.

alderlake-n.png
 

Iko

New Member
Apr 1, 2023
5
4
3
Just thought I'd mention an alternative: last week I ordered a similar box with another Alder Lake processor, the pentium gold 8505, currently available more cheaply than the N95/N100/N200/N305 boxes, but with specs that seem higher in some respects (cache size, total threads and max turbe freq). It does have a much higher wattage though so I guess the catch will be to see whether it overheats. The box I ordered has an active fan. It's coming by slow boat so I guess I won't know for some time, but thought I'd mention it here in case anyone else is interested.