nice...thanks for your info
I think it better for me to get my own prefer RAM & Disk locally here, rather than from CWWK .
CWWK/Topton/... Nxxx quad NIC router
- Thread starter Becks0815
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I think it better for me to get my own prefer RAM & Disk locally here, rather than from CWWK .
I recently found a 6 NIC variant of the 12th gen Intel CPU's. It's a Pentium Gold 8505 with one (Hyper-Threaded) P-core (1,2 to 4,4 GHz) and 4 E-cores (0,9 - 3,3 GHz) for $285.
Ordered from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1TVXQ93?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details. Took about 10 days to show up.
A "maybe" question @Loaky : what size does the copper brick have? Maybe it is worth a try to replace it with a vapor chamber in the same or a bigger size?
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I also ordered direct from CWWK and received variation B, but that's what I expected based on the pictures on their website. I think CWWK on AliExpress has variation C as well.
Just FYI about the thermal paste, at least in my case the reason there was so much of it is because when you remove it all there is a gap of about 0.5mm between the CPU and the copper block! I cleaned all the thermal paste, applied new paste and put it back together. Then I took it apart again and there was no paste imprint on the copper block. Maybe you are lucky and there is less/no gap. I solved it by putting a 0.5mm thermal pad between the block and the case and thermal paste between the CPU and the copper block. Temps now get to mid to high 40s during a perf test run. At idle they are low to mid 30s.
There are instructions earlier in the thread about installing the PassMark performance test. I am running proxmox, so I SSH to the proxmox host using multiple sessions and run:
Code:
watch -n.5 sensors
Code:
watch -n.5 "grep \"^[c]pu MHz\" /proc/cpuinfo"
Code:
sudo ./PerformanceTest/pt_linux_x64
Code:
stress-ng --matrix 0 -t 1mThe copper block is 35mm x 25mm
Both the beelink S12/pro and minisforum N100 (which is much more expensive) are sata m.2 and gigbit LAN vs NVMe and (Intel) 2.5Gbps here. I've stacks of nvme drives ready to use and preferred the faster and Intel LAN (though that was less of a deal breaker). This one also has a 2242 sata slot. I've got a small one of those that i'll probably use to host proxmox if I don't go bare metal.
I could have done with the 2.5 sata slot on the other ones though (to reuse a 2tb drive) but that was less of a deal breaker.
There seems to only be 4-5 designs out there in various guises. This looks like a variant of the morefine ones that were widely reviewed soon after the n100s first appeared.
I'll be using this for roon/MySQL/Home assistant etc.
The other question is, for the same sort of price point, does the N305 make sense compared to the i3-1215U or the older Ryzen 5600U. With the Ryzen having the advantage of being all the same core compared to the i3 which is a mixture of P and E that may not be as well supported on some platforms.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.
Looking at CWWK systems
N305 US$328
i3-1215U US$341
5600U US$327
All have a "claimed" 15W TDP, 2.5gb 226 based ethernet (with the i3 having 6ports).
Everyone's use case will be different, I am trying to figure out the best option for a bare metal Opnsense system with currently a gigabit WAN service, that balances power consumption with performance. From what I have researched so far, the N100/N200 would be fine for general purpose, but once you start adding on any of the extra's such as ntopng/zenarmor etc, you hit single threaded performance limits due to how they tap the packets so a performance core would be better. Then whether there is any benefit to the E cores at all when you have P+E given the underlying FreeBSD version doesn't have a scheduler to deal with it.
Given the lack of performance benefit of having more cores, leaning towards higher clock/performance cores being the better option. Which for power consumption would be a N200, or going all performance cores with something like the 5600U, or the i3-1215 which is a newer platform and just dealing with the P+E setup rolling the dice
Has been hard to find good stats on the lower end devices, most seem to be the higher 58xx Ryzen or the 1235. Though the 5825U review on STH was showing some pretty good power stats, 9W or so idling on the windows desktop, 20-30W single core benching, though multithreaded testing 65W, though that'd be absolute worse case scenario. N305 mini desktop reviews seem to top out 35W full load and about the same 7-9W idle, but a little behind on the single core.
I wonder when we will start to see some of the newer Zen4 based ones.
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Hello gals and guys, and thank you for the update on the copper thickness @Drev !
My Aliexpress order from Topton came after 11 days (from China to Germany, no added costs to toll/import taxes, and with it came a lot of import papers). The N200 gets around 6700~6800 CPU points with the test from Passmark (the 5254 number is way lower than my test) at the PL1 20/ PL2 25 Watts default setting from the BIOS. Tested with linux command line under ubuntu 22.04.02 LTS, all cores up to 3.7GHz. Single (only one slot) channel DDR5 4800 CL34 (see screenshot). I did not change the thermal paste yet, because from the first look at things just the CPU die is (correctly) pasted to the copper block on my case.
Weirdly governor to Powersave and ballanced power settings are higher than on performance and high power:
But I have an issue connecting my monitors to the HDMI port. Connecting my Phillips only brings up 5 error beeps from the BIOS without boot. My LG works, sometimes at least, and boots up, but even a command line reboot "crashes" my monitor (yes, it seems that is possible, no buttons / monitor menu works in this state, just a black screen, not even the status LED works any more) and I have to unplug it from power and reconnect it again for it to work. I haven't tested it yet with my third monitor, also a slightly bigger HDMI LG. But I think something is not completely right between the BIOS and the HDMI. Today my LG monitor, which worked yesterday, brought up 5 BIOS error beeps as well. I unplugged and replugged HDMI and power from the monitor, after that it worked. I also could hotplug the Phillips monitor on to the mini-PC afterwards. Very strange.
I also will test it later with an DP to HDMI adapter (if I can find it again). Maybe that solves the issues. ** Did not find the adapter, bought a new one.
*** Trying different cables now
**** Temps while benchmark 30°-79° C (on 17° C ambient), so I probably *should* change the heat-transfer paste (ordered a couple of days ago, waiting for arrival)
My Aliexpress order from Topton came after 11 days (from China to Germany, no added costs to toll/import taxes, and with it came a lot of import papers). The N200 gets around 6700~6800 CPU points with the test from Passmark (the 5254 number is way lower than my test) at the PL1 20/ PL2 25 Watts default setting from the BIOS. Tested with linux command line under ubuntu 22.04.02 LTS, all cores up to 3.7GHz. Single (only one slot) channel DDR5 4800 CL34 (see screenshot). I did not change the thermal paste yet, because from the first look at things just the CPU die is (correctly) pasted to the copper block on my case.
Weirdly governor to Powersave and ballanced power settings are higher than on performance and high power:
But I have an issue connecting my monitors to the HDMI port. Connecting my Phillips only brings up 5 error beeps from the BIOS without boot. My LG works, sometimes at least, and boots up, but even a command line reboot "crashes" my monitor (yes, it seems that is possible, no buttons / monitor menu works in this state, just a black screen, not even the status LED works any more) and I have to unplug it from power and reconnect it again for it to work. I haven't tested it yet with my third monitor, also a slightly bigger HDMI LG. But I think something is not completely right between the BIOS and the HDMI. Today my LG monitor, which worked yesterday, brought up 5 BIOS error beeps as well. I unplugged and replugged HDMI and power from the monitor, after that it worked. I also could hotplug the Phillips monitor on to the mini-PC afterwards. Very strange.
I also will test it later with an DP to HDMI adapter (if I can find it again). Maybe that solves the issues. ** Did not find the adapter, bought a new one.
*** Trying different cables now
**** Temps while benchmark 30°-79° C (on 17° C ambient), so I probably *should* change the heat-transfer paste (ordered a couple of days ago, waiting for arrival)
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I have ordered a DP to HDMI adapter and cable. In the end this box will run headless as router too. But right now I plan to let it run as a mobile low-power-movable-desktop replacement and for that is has to have a reliably working HDMI out connection (I fear of getting somewhere, setting the system up and hearing only 5 BIOS error beeps).
It doesn't help either of you, but the HDMI on my CWWK box worked fine connected to a Dell monitor and to an LG TV.
After some tests with many cables directly between HDMI and HDMI and between DP-to-HDMI and HDMI connectors I get to the following results:
DP-to-HDMI-adapter (found it) -> not working on any monitor
HDMI to Phillips -> only when linux is booted
HDMI to LG (2560x1080p) -> only sometimes, but mostly OK when monitor recently turned on
HDMI to LG2 (1920x1080p) -> works
DP-to-HDMI-adapter (found it) -> not working on any monitor
HDMI to Phillips -> only when linux is booted
HDMI to LG (2560x1080p) -> only sometimes, but mostly OK when monitor recently turned on
HDMI to LG2 (1920x1080p) -> works
Does anyone have any thoughts on this (the N100 version) for a newbie please. No idea why Aliexpress thinks I'm from Viet Nam...
Seems OK. It is a bit smaller (136x125x40 is nice, hardly bigger than the vesa bracket) and I would guess that you can only use it with a smaller power-footprint (cooling fins are short). But 4x Intel NIC, DDR5, ... It is probably also not a bad choice, if you need a firewall or a silent, low power PC, mediabox etc. But they really got 50€ on top of the prices since my order from end of May 2023. I saw this box cheaper before, I think.
Maybe you are using a plugin like "trace" for firefox, which is scrambling things by choice?
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I bought an N200 4x Intel NIC from the topton store at aliexpress. As barebone (no RAM, no flash) €248,85, plus a G.Skill Ripjaws 16GB DDR5-4800 CL34 (F5-4800S3434A16GX1-RS) for 50+5€.