Probably not significant enough for N100 cpu, but if you buy with a higher TDP cpu then it may be a bigger problem/difference.Does anyone know how significant the thermal performance is between the variation b and variation c cases are?
Probably not significant enough for N100 cpu, but if you buy with a higher TDP cpu then it may be a bigger problem/difference.Does anyone know how significant the thermal performance is between the variation b and variation c cases are?
Which exactly board is this one - I am also intersted in the console redirection ?Thank you for testing the new N100 device and for the BIOS screenshots. Unfortunately the BIOS of this N100 mainboard seems to lack support for "Serial Port Console Redirection" despite the fact that it has a COM header (serial port).
I had extended discussion with CWWK support and asked if "Serial Port Console Redirection" could be added to the Jasper Lake N5105/N6005 V4+V5 mainboards, which are the predecessors of this N100 board. CWWK were open to this suggestion but in the end I was told that the manufacturer of the mainboards refused too enable this feature. All devices that have a COM port in the front panel seem to have it but the devices that only have a COM header do not
"Serial Port Console Redirection" would allow to monitor the entire boot process and BIOS access via serial connection (cable or bluetooth) as shown below:
View attachment 28369
Hi, the extremely friendly and helpfull support staff from HUNSN sent me a fan kit as well (2 weeks delivery from China).The awesome people at HUNSN were kind enough to send me a fan kit.
Here we go...
View attachment 30794
There's a recess for the fan plug, never noticed that. Really good quality those things...
View attachment 30795
Fixing the fan
View attachment 30801
Went with auto mode for now. And I can only hear the fan if I put my ear next to the bottom of the device...
Has anyone found a way to read the fan speed in Debian? I was unsuccessful finding the sensor so far...
Thank you. I will have a play with my settings. Looking for the most speed with least heat to keep the device running for years if possible.info about PL1 and PL2:
More on GitHub - horshack-dpreview/setPL: Set PL1 and PL2 power limits for modern Intel processors running on Linux
You can either set the limits in the BIOS, or by running the following commands under linux (e.g. proxmoax):
> powercap-info -p intel-rapl
enabled: 1
Zone 0
name: package-0
enabled: 1
max_energy_range_uj: 262143328850
energy_uj: 53023267885
Constraint 0
name: long_term
power_limit_uw: 6000000
time_window_us: 27983872
max_power_uw: 6000000
Constraint 1
name: short_term
power_limit_uw: 26000000
time_window_us: 2440
max_power_uw: 0
Constraint 2
name: peak_power
power_limit_uw: 78000000
time_window_us: 0
max_power_uw: 0
-> here the PL limits are 6W and 26W
to set the limits (here 25W peak and 6W normal), use
> powercap-set -z 0 -p intel-rapl -c 1 -l 25000000
> powercap-set -z 0 -p intel-rapl -c 0 -l 6000000
Then you can use the typical programs (stress-ng etc.) and sensors to monitor power consumption, CPU speed and heat, and choose whatever suits you. I am using 20W/6W at the moment and haven't run into any situation this wasn't fast enough or caused the CPU to overheat.
FYI: I added a RAM heatsink that reduced the temperatures just enough to not have memtest86+ fry the memory chips enough to avoid errors (tops out below <90°C / reduced max temp by aroound 10-15°C) - will also add the fan kit provided from HUNSN. I've also repasted the CPU with MX-6 thermal compound but got only a minor reduction in max temp (tops out around 58°C). But internal fan for SSDs and Ram plus my poor mans approach to the external fan should make for a cool system ... I thought about repasting again with a little more compound but I am not sure that would help ...So, I finally also got my N100 4-port (Hunsn RJ35) box. Ran a couple of tests.
CPU temp is fine - idling at 29-32°C in proxmox with opnsense & ubuntu vm (no real NIC activity though) and tops out around 60°C when under persistent full load (stress-ng matrix for multiple hours resulted in max temp of 61°C).
However running memtest86+ on the 32GB Crucial CT32G48C40S5 RAM results in overheating of the RAM itself (>90°C) and consequently errors in the memtest. I ordered a second unit to check if it is an issue with the RAM (but I dont think so).
Since CPU temps are fine, I wonder if repasting would help at all or if I need a RAM heatspreader and/or fan in the case. Pointing a household fan at the case reduced temps enough to have the memory not produce any errors anymore. Generally, I assume in my everyday use cases the RAM would become that hot anyhow but I would rather have a cooler RAM that lasts longer
Insights / help would be much appreciated
dmesg | grep vectors
I have a heatsink on my SSD which means there is not enough room to fit the internal fan now. Seeing it is only connected x1 pcie I probably shouldn't have put it on.FYI: I added a RAM heatsink that reduced the temperatures just enough to not have memtest86+ fry the memory chips enough to avoid errors (tops out below <90°C / reduced max temp by aroound 10-15°C) - will also add the fan kit provided from HUNSN. I've also repasted the CPU with MX-6 thermal compound but got only a minor reduction in max temp (tops out around 58°C). But internal fan for SSDs and Ram plus my poor mans approach to the external fan should make for a cool system ... I thought about repasting again with a little more compound but I am not sure that would help ...
Which case do you have. I would assume that a 80x10mm fan and a low height ssd cooler should fit in there at the same time if you have the model C … will try in a couple of weeks and report backI have a heatsink on my SSD which means there is not enough room to fit the internal fan now. Seeing it is only connected x1 pcie I probably shouldn't have put it on.
So ended up ordering a 12cm external USB powered fan and see if that keeps it cooler. The case certainly gets VERY hot at the moment when I do a memtest
That RAM heatsink sounds like a good idea and looks like it shouldn't get in the way of an internal fan
You do know it only officially supports 16Gb ram? It may work (people have had success with 32Gb at least) but if you need that much maybe it wasn’t the best choice for you.Has anyone tried the N305 with a 48 GB SO-DIMM? My barebone model arrived today and I'm hoping to max out the memory.
you could give the CT48G56C46S5 Ram a try. The 32GB module works without issues in at least two units. But order somewhere where there is free returns available as it is 3x the official maximumYou do know it only officially supports 16Gb ram? It may work (people have had success with 32Gb at least) but if you need that much maybe it wasn’t the best choice for you.
Here is my experience with it:Has anyone tried to enable Receive Side Scaling (RSS) for i226 controller?
I'm aware, but I also know that it works just fine with 32GB dual-rank SO-DIMMs. I also know that the N100 works fine with 12GB, because I have a mini N100 computer with 12GB.You do know it only officially supports 16Gb ram? It may work (people have had success with 32Gb at least) but if you need that much maybe it wasn’t the best choice for you.
I ended up ordering the CT32G48C40S5 from Amazon since there are others reporting success with the same SKU.you could give the CT48G56C46S5 Ram a try. The 32GB module works without issues in at least two units. But order somewhere where there is free returns available as it is 3x the official maximum
@Becks0815 would you say that your settings are still valid / the ones you recommend or did you notice any issues / made changes to the config?Wrap up...
- Initial hardware preparation was to replace the original thermal paste with Arctic MX4.
- Installation of opnsense bare metal failed due to issues with the hard drive. FreeBSD constantly caused errors. Opnsense on Proxmox runs stable.
BIOS:
- All unneeded hardware off and unplugged: SATA disabled, USB HSII on xHCI disabled, HD audio disabled, Serial I2C5 controller disabled, eMMC 5.1 Controller disabled, Sensor Hub type None
- PECI on (no idea if it has an influence, it just runs)
- Platform PL1&2 disabled (no time yet to play with)
- power limit 4 override disabled
- Package PL1 = 8000, PL2 = 25000, Energy eff-turbo enabled (-> is in the CPU/Turbo sub tab)
- C-States enabled, Package limit C10
Chipset -> PCH-IO Config -> PCI Express Config:
- every unneeded PCIe slot disabled. I am using slot #1, 7,9,10 and 12. Slot 9,10,11 and 12 are the NICs. On the enabled ones, I have ASPM = auto, but L1 low and L1 Substates disabled - had no time to test the influence on Proxmox and Opnsense.
Proxmox:
The installation of Proxmox 7.4 will halt with an x-server error. Identify the VGA port with lspci ( 02:00.0 for me), then create /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/n100.conf
and then run xinit again.Code:Section "Device" Identifier "Card0" Driver "fbdev" BusID "pci0:02:0:0:" EndSection
- CPU governor: powersave
- install PVE-Kernel 6.2, it results in a lower power consumption
Opnsense VM settings in Proxmox
- 4 CPUs, type host, all meltdown etc. mitigations disabled
- hard drive: type lvm
- NICs: both NICs: pass through and not virtual. NIC1 = WAN, NIC2 = LAN
- a third NIC of the box is connected internally to the switch and set to 100 mbit only. It is only used to access the Proxmox host. Important if you run the other NICs on pass through, as you can't share the LAN port with the Proxmox host.
Opnsense tunings:
Tunables:
dev.igc.0.fc =0, dev.igc.1.fc = 0 (Flow control disabled)
hw.acpi.cpu.cx_lowest = C3 (can be set to C8, didn't see any differences in power consumption)
hw.ibrs_disable = 1 disable Spectre V2 mitigation
hw.igc.rx_process_limit = -1 (set unlimited packets per interrupt)
hw.igc.eee_setting = 0 - Enable Energy Efficient Ethernet
vm.pmap.pti = 0 (Meltdown mitigation off)
- Interfaces -> settings: all hardware offloads enabled.
- CPU governor: Hiadaptive, Powerd disabled (had no influence)
Add an additional line in /etc/rc.conf
This excludes IRQ and NICs from being uses as source for random seeds and adds some speedCode:harvest_mask="351"
Stress tests etc.:
- install lm_sensors on proxmox, run "watch sensors" in one shell
- install stress-ng and run "stress-ng --matrix 0 -t 1m" ina second shell to see, how hot the box gets after running for 1 minute.
Package limits can be read out with
To set PL1 = 8W and PL2 to 26 W, run:Code:powercap-info -p intel-rapl
Then run a stress test to see how well the box behaves under load.Code:powercap-set -z 0 -p intel-rapl -c 1 -l 26000000 powercap-set -z 0 -p intel-rapl -c 0 -l 8000000
With the above settings, my N100 draws between 6 and 12 W (measured on the 12V line, so you might have to add 15-20% if you measure at the wall, depending on the power supply details). I know that some boxes crash after running for a week, but I still consider the system to be stable. I have tried both, from long time idle (to trigger unwanted energy saving mechanisms) to 200 mbit in both directions with many connections at the same time. System is stable, no crash or reboot so far.
Replying to my own question: icg does support RSS. dmesg | grep vectors does show output after boot up (but gets buried behind a bunch of shaper messages). Following the guide here got it working for me Performance — OPNsense documentationHas anyone tried to enable Receive Side Scaling (RSS) for i226 controller? Intel says i226 supports RSS, however following the tutorial at [Tutorial/Call for Testing] Enabling Receive Side Scaling on OPNsense (same as the wiki) I get nothing for vectors
i226 uses igc driver, but I assume it's the same as igb and it doesn't expose a tunable, and RSS is always enabled, however it is unknown (at least I couldn't find any info) whether igc supports RSS at all since i225 hardware apparantly does not.Code:dmesg | grep vectors
I will try that one for sure.Here is my experience with it:
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/cwwk-i5-1235u-6-port-i226-report.39341/post-381357