CWWK/Topton/... Nxxx quad NIC router

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Stereodude

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Feb 21, 2016
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Sorry if this is a stupid question. I've read most of the thread. If I'm just looking to run bare metal OPNsense on a N100 variant what's the advantage of the CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box vs. a Beelink EQ12? Especially if I end up adding a fan to the passive CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box.

A Beelink EQ12 16GB/500GB is about $200 after a coupon at Amazon (US). It has two Intel i225v-r3 2.5Gb Ethernet ports. Are the extra Ethernet ports on the CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box useful? It seems like the Beelink will do the same thing as the others at a decent cost savings.
 
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slidermike

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May 7, 2023
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Stereodude said:
Sorry if this is a stupid question. I've read most of the thread. If I'm just looking to run bare metal OPNsense on a N100 variant what's the advantage of the CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box vs. a Beelink EQ12? Especially if I end up adding a fan to the passive CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box.

A Beelink EQ12 16GB/500GB is about $170 after a coupon at Amazon (US). It has two Intel i225v-r3 2.5Gb Ethernet ports. Are the extra Ethernet ports on the CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box useful? It seems like the Beelink will do the same thing as the others at a decent cost savings.
Click to expand...
If you need or plan to need the extra ports there is value otherwise they sit idle and your wallet is lighter. Really it's up to your needs.
 
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Stereodude

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slidermike said:
If you need or plan to need the extra ports there is value otherwise they sit idle and your wallet is lighter. Really it's up to your needs.
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Thanks for the reply. This will be my first "DIY" router so I don't know where the extra ports might be useful. Seems like I just need a WAN port and a LAN port.

I have a N100 Beelink EQ12 already that I've been using for ~6 months as media player running LibreELEC. I have no real complaints with the hardware though I don't think it's quite as power optimized as it could be.
 
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Oarman

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Feb 28, 2021
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Stereodude said:
Sorry if this is a stupid question. I've read most of the thread. If I'm just looking to run bare metal OPNsense on a N100 variant what's the advantage of the CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box vs. a Beelink EQ12? Especially if I end up adding a fan to the passive CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box.

A Beelink EQ12 16GB/500GB is about $200 after a coupon at Amazon (US). It has two Intel i225v-r3 2.5Gb Ethernet ports. Are the extra Ethernet ports on the CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box useful? It seems like the Beelink will do the same thing as the others at a decent cost savings.
Click to expand...
These boxes don't have any moving parts, whereas the EQ12 has an active heatsink fan that will eventually fill with dust, get noisy and/or fail. That's assuming you're not adding a fan to one of the passive boxes, but if you're just running OPNsense it's pretty unlikely you need to.

Once you start doing things where you need to add a fan, IMO the appeal of these really drops off and going to a more reasonable chassis + a standalone switch if you need more ports seems to make more sense.
 
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slidermike

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May 7, 2023
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The extra nic ports can be used for multiple WAN, multiple LAN ports. These fall outside of the basic design needs of most average home networks.
Stereodude said:
Thanks for the reply. This will be my first "DIY" router so I don't know where the extra ports might be useful. Seems like I just need a WAN port and a LAN port.

I have a N100 Beelink EQ12 already that I've been using for ~6 months as media player running LibreELEC. I have no real complaints with the hardware though I don't think it's quite as power optimized as it could be.
Click to expand...
 
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Oinkweil

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Jun 23, 2023
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Hi,

I have the Variation C N305 model on order. I’ve seen a good deal on a Samsung 980 Pro M.2 SSD, but it’s the model with a heatsink (it’s cheaper than without one). Will there enough space for the heatsink with this board/case?

Thanks in advance
 
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blunden

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Nov 29, 2019
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Oinkweil said:
Hi,

I have the Variation C N305 model on order. I’ve seen a good deal on a Samsung 980 Pro M.2 SSD, but it’s the model with a heatsink (it’s cheaper than without one). Will there enough space for the heatsink with this board/case?

Thanks in advance
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You are probably better off with a cheaper SSD with lower power draw and operating temperature. :)
 
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Oinkweil

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Jun 23, 2023
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blunden said:
You are probably better off with a cheaper SSD with lower power draw and operating temperature. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip. People report Samsung runs quite hot so I'd better look elsewhere.

PS, does CWWK include any SATA connectors in the box? (Sounds like M.2 WiFi slot will convert to SATA.)
 
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Octopuss

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Jun 30, 2019
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What in Oblivion are the fan headers on the board? I bought a reduction from regular PWM connector to a "mini" one from a graphic card only to find out what the unit has is even smaller, about half the size.
Where the hell do I get a reduction for that? I don't even know what's it called.
 
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Stereodude

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Feb 21, 2016
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Has anyone tried these variants that have a fan in the top of the case?

4 port i226v 8505/11th/12th gen DDR4:

With these you can get a 8505 barebones system for $180-200 before any AliExpress coupons (currently a $20 off $159 is available). You get more PCIe lanes and a more powerful CPU (N100), but dual channel DDR4, not DDR5.

6 port i226v N100 version with DDR5:

Here you only only get a single channel DDR5 N100 for $200, so it seems like the 8505 system above is a better buy if you can live with 4 ports.


Or, this CWWK 6 port i226v U300E/i3-1315/13th gen dual channel DDR4 system with proper cooling:

U300E barebones for $288 + $6.34 shipping
i3-1315U barebones for $328 + $6.34 shipping

There's a $40 off $299 coupon at AliExpress now.

8505, U300E, & i3-1315U will smoke a N100 in single threaded and multi-thread performance. I expect that dual channel DDR4 is probably more performant than single channel DDR5 as well.
 
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ExplodingLemur

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Jul 4, 2023
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Seattle
Octopuss said:
What in Oblivion are the fan headers on the board? I bought a reduction from regular PWM connector to a "mini" one from a graphic card only to find out what the unit has is even smaller, about half the size.
Where the hell do I get a reduction for that? I don't even know what's it called.
Click to expand...
You need 1.25mm JST connectors. I used these connectors with this crimper. They are an amazing pain to crimp so cut off some extra wire to practice with.
 
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Tzvia

New Member
Sep 5, 2022
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Stereodude said:
Sorry if this is a stupid question. I've read most of the thread. If I'm just looking to run bare metal OPNsense on a N100 variant what's the advantage of the CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box vs. a Beelink EQ12? Especially if I end up adding a fan to the passive CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box.

A Beelink EQ12 16GB/500GB is about $200 after a coupon at Amazon (US). It has two Intel i225v-r3 2.5Gb Ethernet ports. Are the extra Ethernet ports on the CWWK/Topton/Hunsn box useful? It seems like the Beelink will do the same thing as the others at a decent cost savings.
Click to expand...
You've already had some good answers here... My .02? Future proofing. Back when I bought a 24 port Netgear router, I was looking for more ports. Not VLANs. But it did layer 2 and 'lite' layer 3. Well, fast forward 8 years. I now have VLANS, and use the extra ports to provide extra bandwidth - separating the VLANS on the physical ports so all the bandwidth isn't forced onto one gigabit cable going to the router (my switch is gigabit). Plus the i226v is less buggy than the i225 and from what I understand, uses less power. No noise (no little fan inside) is another good reason. But in the end you decide the use-case and what works for me may or may not work for you.
 
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Tzvia

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Sep 5, 2022
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CWWK's 4x nvme adapter board 4*M.2 NVME interface supports expansion of 2/3 M.2 NVMe x1 adapter boards. Dedicated to special machines, only supports CWWK 4 network port N series products only works on the 4 port model. I'm sure there are BIOS differences as the motherboards are different as well. I went with 6 ports because I don't need the drives, running PFSense bare metal, but having VLANS on the ports to take advantage of the bandwidth just made sense to me. Still hoping that 24+ port 2.5gig L2/L3 switches become affordable and I can upgrade that as well...
 
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Ayugai Michiko

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Sep 10, 2015
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I see. Didn't notice that.

4-port model has a faster M.2 NVMe x4 which can be split with adapter board to slot in four NVMe x1

6-port model has two slower M.2 NVMe x1 slot but can't split. Also notice it has USB type-c for display output. Also the dimensions are bigger. Wonder if that means better heat dissipation
 
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ExplodingLemur

New Member
Jul 4, 2023
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Seattle
Does anyone know how to get the fans to stop? X86-P5, PWM fans plugged into the motherboard fan headers. I've tried both this and this version of the Linux IT87 driver and despite setting /sys/class/hwmonX/pwmX_enable* to 1 and /sys/class/hwmonX/pwmX to 0, the fan still runs at some minimum speed. It looks like anything from 0-75 (inclusive) is treated as 75, and once I hit 76 the fan speed starts to increase.

* (in my system these are hwmon3 and pwm2)
 
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