CWWK/Topton/... Nxxx quad NIC router

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Octopuss

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Jun 30, 2019
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Czech republic
Ok, I guess I will wait a few more years then. I don't even need faster ports, my use case is literally a router, everything goes through a managed switch, and the 200/100Mbit speeds we get from our ISP is perfectly enough.
 

Stovar

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Dec 27, 2022
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One thing to note is the N150/N355 cpus run a tad hotter then their previous N100/N350s. A few NAS boxes out there I suspect saw the possible thermal issues and stuck with the N100 over the N150 like the lincstation N2. I believe the early prototype or specs mentioned a possible N150 but then went with the N100 (lincstation N2).

My GMKtec N150 ran so hot it literally melted and died, but it was a very badly built and still is faulty product imo. This was with 2x noctua 120mm blowing on top and bottom with lots of mogding though.

Think its better to look for something with better performance and especially more pci-e lanes, even if it does use more wattage since you end up with more headroom for performance down the road.
 
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Mike9474593

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Aug 5, 2022
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One thing to note is the N150/N355 cpus run a tad hotter then their previous N100/N350s. A few NAS boxes out there I suspect saw the possible thermal issues and stuck with the N100 over the N150 like the lincstation N2. I believe the early prototype or specs mentioned a possible N150 but then went with the N100 (lincstation N2).

My GMKtec N150 ran so hot it literally melted and died, but it was a very badly built and still is faulty product imo. This was with 2x noctua 120mm blowing on top and bottom with lots of mogding though.

Think its better to look for something with better performance and especially more pci-e lanes, even if it does use more wattage since you end up with more headroom for performance down the road.
Hmm, these chips seem to get hotter with every new generation. My J5005/J4125 are pretty cool. N5105 is quite a bit warmer. My N100 is running quite hot (X86-P5 V1, should probably redo thermal paste) and now you say the N150 units run even hotter? :mad:
Probably should think about how to use the heat, cooking coffee maybe? Or maybe these units are all just cheap shit.
 
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Stovar

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Hmm, these chips seem to get hotter with every new generation. My J5005/J4125 are pretty cool. N5105 is quite a bit warmer. My N100 is running quite hot (X86-P1 V1, should probably redo thermal paste) and now you say the N150 units run even hotter? :mad:
Probably should think about how to use the heat, cooking coffee maybe? Or maybe these units are all just cheap shit.
Yeah tad hotter, I think all intel did was rebadged the N100 by boosted the cpu and gpu clocks a tad for the N150/350, so it just ran more hotter. If they added more pci-e lanes that would have been an worthy upgrade, maybe next time.
 

TrevorH

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Oct 25, 2024
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My N100 is running quite hot (X86-P1 V1, should probably redo thermal paste)
My Topton/CWWK fanless N100 arrived with thermal paste that looked like it had been applied with a tablespoon. Way too much of it and not very good at that. First thing I did was remove it all and re-apply my own with just enough to do the job. Temps dropped by at least 10C at idle and probably more like 20C under load.
 

Mike9474593

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Aug 5, 2022
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My Topton/CWWK fanless N100 arrived with thermal paste that looked like it had been applied with a tablespoon. Way too much of it and not very good at that. First thing I did was remove it all and re-apply my own with just enough to do the job. Temps dropped by at least 10C at idle and probably more like 20C under load.
Yeah, going to do this. Every other unit I repasted, but the N100 was never in real production here, just a testing device. Recently built an OPNsesne config on it and realized how hot this thing get. Well, these cWWk X86-Px cases aren't the best case for passive cooling either.
 

KevinR

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Jul 3, 2024
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There was a lot of talk on early units (both mini pc & itx) of the cpu die to copper shim/plate being too big a gap for everyday thermal paste. Quality paste helped but some were getting big gaps. Paste intends <= 0.2mm. Depending on the unit design some people fixed that with copper shims or filing mounting studs.

The less fiddly option was to use (say) Arctic TP3 thermal pads as they can be both stacked (*3) and squashed 40% to fill gaps that thermal paste would literally run from.

It's not clear if the design & build quality improved over time. It might simply be a poor consistency problem in the manufacturing.
 
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Mike9474593

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There was a lot of talk on early units (both mini pc & itx) of the cpu die to copper shim/plate being too big a gap for everyday thermal paste. Quality paste helped but some were getting big gaps. Paste intends <= 0.2mm. Depending on the unit design some people fixed that with copper shims or filing mounting studs.
Yeah, the worst unit I had was a Qotom J4125 with 5 network ports, I had to add a 0.5mm shim. The best was a Qotom Kaby Lake Celeron 3865U.
My N6005 (V1, one of the first cwwk units but no ES CPU) was meh, running a tad hot even after new paste. Probably bad board design. My cwwk n5105 V4 is running fine even after years as my main router.
Not even the same manufacturer can always deliver the same quality.


It's not clear if the design & build quality improved over time. It might simply be a poor consistency problem in the manufacturing.
Probably fast and cheap manufacturing process and therefore large tolerances. In short: avoid first revision, repaste cpu and add a pad or a shim if necessary. And if they are broken, then they are broken, don't cry over them.
 
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Stovar

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Dec 27, 2022
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Gave up on thermal paste myself, I just use Arctic TP3 thermal pads from amazon or Honeywell PTM7950 if you can get them genuine stocked. Just need to do it once and never worry about thermal paste drying out, leaking or cleaning ever again. Seems to fill any voids or gaps well.
 
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Stovar

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Dec 27, 2022
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What thickness of the Arctic TP-3 did you take, 0.5, 1 or 1.5mm?
Going to test this on my N100.
I started with one 0.2mm honeywell PTM layer first and when I screw down the heatsink or heatsink router type case I then undo those same screws and lift it up and see if its left an imprint on the honeywell pad or not.

If no imprint than just build it up from there so add another 0.2mm pad on top. Some use the bright torch method but I find it fiddly so just check for the cpu core imprint just to be 100% sure.

I think even if you used an 0.5 artic pad it would squash down pretty well anyhow, you could monitor idle/load cpu temps by running prime95 or intelburn in to check for stability afterwards also.
 
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Mike9474593

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I started with one 0.2mm honeywell PTM layer first and when I screw down the heatsink or heatsink router type case I then undo those same screws and lift it up and see if its left an imprint on the honeywell pad or not.

If no imprint than just build it up from there so add another 0.2mm pad on top. Some use the bright torch method but I find it fiddly so just check for the cpu core imprint just to be 100% sure.

I think even if you used an 0.5 artic pad it would squash down pretty well anyhow, you could monitor idle/load cpu temps by running prime95 or intelburn in to check for stability afterwards also.
Thanks, going to order a 0.5 arctic and stack if needed. The Honeywell is not available in retail here, maybe from ali or somewhere but not in local online shops.
There has to be bad contact on my n100, because the case was cold (cooled with a fan), cpu was still somewhere around 45° C with no load. Not a critical temperature but still too warm for a cold case and no load.
 
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metlrise

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Nov 17, 2021
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If you still want a PTM like sheet you can try Thermalright Heilos, here is some benchmarks from Snarks Domain

cpu

or gpu

I've taken the easy/cheap route, Arctic MX4

heat-sink -> Arctic MX4 -> copper shim -> Arctic MX4 => CPU die (applied in October 2023)

On Proxmox on ambient 26 Celsius/78,8 Fahrenheit with an 80mm FAN:

CPU Thermal State

Core 0: 36°C | Core 1: 36°C | Core 2: 36°C | Core 3: 36°C
Cooling
Fan Speed(s)

Fan3: 900 RPM


In my opinion, do not invest to much money
 

mdearing

New Member
Oct 1, 2025
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Did you ever end up getting this resolved? After 9 solid months of operation, my N100 unit running proxmox randomly reboots throughout the day as well. Sometimes I stay up for 2 days, other times 4 hours. I replaced the power supply with a genuine meanwell. Waiting on new ram to try that too.
Not to ask the same question again, but have you solved anything regarding these issues? I'd also had no problems since December of last year, and on September 4 I started developing random reboots on my proxmox server that's also a Topton model. Ran memtest for a few hours and never had any errors - and I've been using a meanwell PSU the entire time.
 

mcaptur

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Dec 21, 2023
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Not to ask the same question again, but have you solved anything regarding these issues? I'd also had no problems since December of last year, and on September 4 I started developing random reboots on my proxmox server that's also a Topton model. Ran memtest for a few hours and never had any errors - and I've been using a meanwell PSU the entire time.
what ram you using.. i had to mod bios to get corsair ram stable
 

mdearing

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Oct 1, 2025
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what ram you using.. i had to mod bios to get corsair ram stable
I'm using G.Skill Ripjaws - I think it's 5600 mt/s but I'll have to open it up to double check. It's just strange that it's been working flawlessly since December and now all of a sudden it's all weird.
 

mcaptur

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Dec 21, 2023
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I'm using G.Skill Ripjaws - I think it's 5600 mt/s but I'll have to open it up to double check. It's just strange that it's been working flawlessly since December and now all of a sudden it's all weird.
hmm no in my case i always had random crashed with corsair ram.. sometime multiple a day sometimes after 2 weeks..
 

mdearing

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Oct 1, 2025
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hmm no in my case i always had random crashed with corsair ram.. sometime multiple a day sometimes after 2 weeks..
Hm - I'd be willing to tinker with the BIOS and see if that's causing it - can you point me in the right direction?
 

mcaptur

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Dec 21, 2023
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Hm - I'd be willing to tinker with the BIOS and see if that's causing it - can you point me in the right direction?
I had to modify the bios to unlock the ram options as they were not available in mine.. then once done i set speed to 4400 instead of 4800.. used this to mod bios [Guide] Usage of AMI’s AptioV UEFI Editor + FPT Flash Method
I can share my modded bios.. but you need same board/version and obviously use at your own risk.. I have BK-1264NP-4L V1.2 board with following bios
1759336283888.png

modded bios Download bios15_edited_ram2.bin | LimeWire
 

Liam 89

New Member
Oct 13, 2025
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Hello everyone,
I have a CWWK p86 n310 32gb ram. I downloaded windows on it. It seems to work ok. However the Ethernet ports seem to be disconnected by the bios. Is there anyway to fix this?