CWWK W680 NAS motherboard
- Thread starter flobert
- Start date
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If so, you should be most interested in a
lspci output to see whether CWWK did a good job of grouping and isolating devices.
root@pveserver:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 4630 (rev 05)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 730] (rev 0c)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 12th Gen Core Processor PCI Express x4 Controller #0 (rev 05)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 XHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH Shared SRAM (rev 11)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH HECI Controller #1 (rev 11)
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S Keyboard and Text (KT) Redirection (rev 11)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] (rev 11)
00:19.0 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH Serial IO I2C Controller #4 (rev 11)
00:19.1 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH Serial IO I2C Controller #5 (rev 11)
00:1b.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH PCI Express Root Port #21 (rev 11)
00:1b.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 7ac5 (rev 11)
00:1b.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 7ac6 (rev 11)
00:1b.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 7ac7 (rev 11)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 7a88 (rev 11)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S HD Audio Controller (rev 11)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH SMBus Controller (rev 11)
00:1f.5 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH SPI Controller (rev 11)
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Sandisk Corp WD Black SN770 / PC SN740 256GB / PC SN560 (DRAM-less) NVMe SSD (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-LM (rev 04)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04)
04:00.0 SATA controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1064 Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Aquantia Corp. AQtion AQC113CS NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet Controller [Antigua 10G] (rev 03)
Chris
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 4630 (rev 05)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 730] (rev 0c)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 12th Gen Core Processor PCI Express x4 Controller #0 (rev 05)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 XHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH Shared SRAM (rev 11)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH HECI Controller #1 (rev 11)
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S Keyboard and Text (KT) Redirection (rev 11)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] (rev 11)
00:19.0 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH Serial IO I2C Controller #4 (rev 11)
00:19.1 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH Serial IO I2C Controller #5 (rev 11)
00:1b.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH PCI Express Root Port #21 (rev 11)
00:1b.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 7ac5 (rev 11)
00:1b.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 7ac6 (rev 11)
00:1b.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 7ac7 (rev 11)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 7a88 (rev 11)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S HD Audio Controller (rev 11)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH SMBus Controller (rev 11)
00:1f.5 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH SPI Controller (rev 11)
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Sandisk Corp WD Black SN770 / PC SN740 256GB / PC SN560 (DRAM-less) NVMe SSD (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-LM (rev 04)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04)
04:00.0 SATA controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1064 Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Aquantia Corp. AQtion AQC113CS NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet Controller [Antigua 10G] (rev 03)
Chris
The issue that I am facing is that I am trying to install a HBA and I am either getting a bad rom bios on startup or code 66 (with beeps) on several different HBAs. 9300 8e/ 9207 8e / Dell 6gb HBA adapter.
I am booting off of a M.2 SSD.
this looks like I need to mask of pins B5/6 on the HBA to mask off the SM Bus.
What I am trying to do is have a HBA in the system to run an external array so I can run a Truenas VM and pass through the SAS HBA.
Chris
I am booting off of a M.2 SSD.
this looks like I need to mask of pins B5/6 on the HBA to mask off the SM Bus.
What I am trying to do is have a HBA in the system to run an external array so I can run a Truenas VM and pass through the SAS HBA.
Chris
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Key Lessons Learned (TM) @Patrick
Overall I would grade this motherboard as a C-
If you just want to add ram and a few SSD's and SATA disks this motherboard will work out perfectly.
issues I have with this board.
- manual is only in Chinese and it does not have the information that I expect like manuals from manufacturers like ASRock / Supermicro / ...
- I had to mask pins B5/6 on my SAS cards (3 different cards) to get the Motherboard to boot with the HBA cards in the system
- my Wifi slot is not recognizing my google Coral TPU - it was installed when I did the lspci above. the Coral TPU works in an ASRock MB.
- not able to turn off any of the 3 NIC cards in the system from the BIOS.
- the last PCIe slot is open ended (4x physical/electrical) but you are not able to use a x8/x16 card because the Wifi and one of the M.2 slots is in the way of the card.
There are a pluthera of BIOS settings
- no details as to what all of them do.
- there are a lot of settings that are usually hidden.
Pluses
- 12 SATA connections
- 2 internal USB ports
- both 4x slots have open ended slots
- there is a onboard diag screen to tell you what is wrong with the system. Error 66 is the error with the SM bus that I had with the HBA cards.
- 4 decent PCIe slots (x16/x8 , x4 , x0/x8 , x4)
- 3 m.2 slots.
I would have given a better grade if more things just worked out of the box. Personally, I would not buy this motherboard again. I would go for a SuperMicro X13SCL-F instead. even with less features. The IMPI / stability / MB manual would have made up the $100 (greater) price of the SuperMicro MB. I have a 1 GB infrastructure in my house. I am planning on upgrading my network in the future, so right now the missing 10 GB and 2x 2.5 ports do not hurt me. My case has 8 hotswap bays. so going from 12 to 8 SATA ports is also not an issue.
It is obvious that this MB was only really meant to be for the China market. Where there is a lot more buyer beware that you are willing to live with.
This MB will be with me until I replace with with a future ArrowLake+ processor
Chris
Overall I would grade this motherboard as a C-
If you just want to add ram and a few SSD's and SATA disks this motherboard will work out perfectly.
issues I have with this board.
- manual is only in Chinese and it does not have the information that I expect like manuals from manufacturers like ASRock / Supermicro / ...
- I had to mask pins B5/6 on my SAS cards (3 different cards) to get the Motherboard to boot with the HBA cards in the system
- my Wifi slot is not recognizing my google Coral TPU - it was installed when I did the lspci above. the Coral TPU works in an ASRock MB.
- not able to turn off any of the 3 NIC cards in the system from the BIOS.
- the last PCIe slot is open ended (4x physical/electrical) but you are not able to use a x8/x16 card because the Wifi and one of the M.2 slots is in the way of the card.
There are a pluthera of BIOS settings
- no details as to what all of them do.
- there are a lot of settings that are usually hidden.
Pluses
- 12 SATA connections
- 2 internal USB ports
- both 4x slots have open ended slots
- there is a onboard diag screen to tell you what is wrong with the system. Error 66 is the error with the SM bus that I had with the HBA cards.
- 4 decent PCIe slots (x16/x8 , x4 , x0/x8 , x4)
- 3 m.2 slots.
I would have given a better grade if more things just worked out of the box. Personally, I would not buy this motherboard again. I would go for a SuperMicro X13SCL-F instead. even with less features. The IMPI / stability / MB manual would have made up the $100 (greater) price of the SuperMicro MB. I have a 1 GB infrastructure in my house. I am planning on upgrading my network in the future, so right now the missing 10 GB and 2x 2.5 ports do not hurt me. My case has 8 hotswap bays. so going from 12 to 8 SATA ports is also not an issue.
It is obvious that this MB was only really meant to be for the China market. Where there is a lot more buyer beware that you are willing to live with.
This MB will be with me until I replace with with a future ArrowLake+ processor
Chris
Thanks for the feedback. I ordered the Asus Pro WS Z890-ACE SE with a Core Ultra 5 245k. Waiting for parts to arrive then I'll be merging my 2 old unraid systems into it. That should be fun
You better watch out with that. It would shock you how people make value decisions.
Maybe better said, how many people have radically different views of what is acceptable to trade for $20.
Is there a reference for the POST codes? Maybe they are standard to W680 boards?
@Patrick, I agree.
In this case, this board looks like a panacea. LGA 1700, 4 PCIe slots with a good lane distribution (no 1x/2x lanes in a 4x physical slot), 4 m.2 slots and 12 SATA ports.
I usually wait for other people here on the forum to test the waters before I make a decision to buy a new server setup, MB/ram/processor. For ~$150-200 less than other boards with the same chipset with lesser features. it seems like a gamble that I can live with.
I passed on all of the N100/N150/N305/N355 MB because of the 9 PCIe lanes. and all of the exaustive scenarios/issues that are on those threads in the forums. I also prefer to have a little larger (mATX) configurations to help with disipating heat.
My sense of value is that $20 savings usually turns out to be 5 hours of pain. $200 in savings may be worth it. I think in this case, I broke even. a bit of frustration to give me (us?) a reminder lesson.
The main reason that I purchased a this MB was for the Frigate and the HW accesleration with OpenVino. Frigate detection does not work well with a 10 year old 35w CPU that does not have a GPU on it.
Chris
In this case, this board looks like a panacea. LGA 1700, 4 PCIe slots with a good lane distribution (no 1x/2x lanes in a 4x physical slot), 4 m.2 slots and 12 SATA ports.
I usually wait for other people here on the forum to test the waters before I make a decision to buy a new server setup, MB/ram/processor. For ~$150-200 less than other boards with the same chipset with lesser features. it seems like a gamble that I can live with.
I passed on all of the N100/N150/N305/N355 MB because of the 9 PCIe lanes. and all of the exaustive scenarios/issues that are on those threads in the forums. I also prefer to have a little larger (mATX) configurations to help with disipating heat.
My sense of value is that $20 savings usually turns out to be 5 hours of pain. $200 in savings may be worth it. I think in this case, I broke even. a bit of frustration to give me (us?) a reminder lesson.
The main reason that I purchased a this MB was for the Frigate and the HW accesleration with OpenVino. Frigate detection does not work well with a 10 year old 35w CPU that does not have a GPU on it.
Chris
I googled the codes. and I think I got a decent set of codes from an Asus board... so I think the codes are standard...
Chris
new to forums but figure would add in my exp, picked W680 board as it hit my check list.
doc.x86pi.cn
Above FAQ (when translated) get alot of first hang-ups out of the way (plus links for BIOS)
Had to downclock memory when running 4 sticks and training took a while. (Ctrl+Alt+A get to full BIOS settings)
POST codes in FAQ helped: if sitting on Code 55 was when memory had failed to pickup
still working towards getting setup currently having issues with getting 14Tb Toshiba drives (MG07ACA14TE) to spin up
畅网知识库
doc.x86pi.cn
Had to downclock memory when running 4 sticks and training took a while. (Ctrl+Alt+A get to full BIOS settings)
POST codes in FAQ helped: if sitting on Code 55 was when memory had failed to pickup
still working towards getting setup currently having issues with getting 14Tb Toshiba drives (MG07ACA14TE) to spin up
I have been testing this board for a few days and ran into an issue others may want to know about. It does not appear to be compatible with the Sparkle Intel Arc A310 ECO. With the card inserted the board immediately errors with code 99, and continuously repeats 5 short beeps. BIOS is not accessible. I tested several ram configurations, and ran memory and CPU tests which passed. I also tried two different power supplies with the same result. The A310 does work on another system. I suspect that the board is not able to supply power to the card, but that's just a guess. I sent an email to CWWK, but have not received a response.
On another note. I am using two NEMIX 32GB (DDR5 5600MHz PC5-44800 sticks from Amazon, and they work fine, but at 5200MHz. I have not tried forcing a faster clock.
As others have said, the BIOS has a plethora of options, some of them quite arcane. vPro works well, and seems feature complete. There are a bunch of S level options, but I have not yet tested them.
Update: Using a graphics card powered by it's own 8 pin PCI-E power cable works, so it does seem like a power delivery issue on the PCI-E slots.
Another issue is that vPro remote desktop does not work with a discrete graphics card installed. From what I have read this appears to be default Intel AMT KVM behavior. Apparently OEM's can provide a BIOS option to reenable it with discrete graphics, but few do. I can not find the option in this board's BIOS, so it may not be possible, or would require a BIOS update from CWWK.
To enable vPro remote desktop with a graphics card installed the primary display needs to be switched, and internal graphics must be enabled:
Chipset > System Agent > Graphics Configuration > Primary Display: IGFX
Chipset > System Agent > Graphics Configuration > Internal Graphics: Enable
On another note. I am using two NEMIX 32GB (DDR5 5600MHz PC5-44800 sticks from Amazon, and they work fine, but at 5200MHz. I have not tried forcing a faster clock.
As others have said, the BIOS has a plethora of options, some of them quite arcane. vPro works well, and seems feature complete. There are a bunch of S level options, but I have not yet tested them.
Update: Using a graphics card powered by it's own 8 pin PCI-E power cable works, so it does seem like a power delivery issue on the PCI-E slots.
To enable vPro remote desktop with a graphics card installed the primary display needs to be switched, and internal graphics must be enabled:
Chipset > System Agent > Graphics Configuration > Primary Display: IGFX
Chipset > System Agent > Graphics Configuration > Internal Graphics: Enable
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I've been investigating and found that these PCI-E ports in the BIOS are connected to the three ethernet chips. Disabling them does turn off the ethernet ports, and reduce power consumption a little.
Chipset > PCH-IO Configuration > PCI Express Configuration > PCI Express Root Port 21
Chipset > PCH-IO Configuration > PCI Express Configuration > PCI Express Root Port 22
Chipset > PCH-IO Configuration > PCI Express Configuration > PCI Express Root Port 24
edit: energy consumption tests above.
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Well cant speak for everyone, but its part of the homelab fun.
If this was for production or for someone else I would choose something with far better vendor support and documentation.
But for myself tinkering and building is where the learning and fun happens at.
And yes sometimes "sub-optimal" choices can end up creating more type 3 fun then I would care for. But that is the risk of type 2 fun you don't always know if it will be 2 or 3 XD
For this specific board I ended up at it as an option when going through my limiting factors.
Sysrack network rack 24"x24" - small foot print for residential rental (limits case size)
Sliger CX3702 rack - fits network rack and good build quality with at least 10 bays (limits mobo size <= mATX)
intel i7 14700 - intel CPU for quick sync, relatively modern but not super hot 65w and was on sale (limits socket)
The needs:
10+ sata (HBA card likely)
4 slots for RAM (more ram for ZFS + VM workloads)
10GbE preferred or 2.5GbE with 10GbE card
2+ NVME PCIe4x (gen 3 or 4)
ZFS SLOG solution (intel optane mirror NVME/PCIe)
Nice to haves:
Gen >= 4 PCIe 16x for GPU down the line (media transcoding or 3d rendering)
OOB management
ECC Ram
When narrowed in on these CWWK board hits alot of the check list, with not many of alternatives to it.
Think there was a Asus w680 board that did alright IIRC.
A bigger case would have been a boon, bringing in ATX or EATX into the mix and that probably would have given me more options.
A different CPU could have done the same as above.
At the end for me it works and was/is fun and that is what matters for me.
That said buyers beware look at Chris's and certciv's posts and the challenges they saw.
I landed on this board for the same reasons that HuntingForVodka did, and put it a Sliger CX3702 as well! Finding a mATX board that had everything I wanted, without maxing out all the available PCIe slots was a challenge. Some of the options were server boards that cost three times as much, and would require adding an HBA, and likely also a 10gb card; This board has all that built in. I also don't mind that it's an older chipset. I am running about 20 Docker containers, and a few VM's, but it is in a home lab so the workloads are not that demanding. Going with CWWK is a risk, but everything running on it is containerized or virtualized, and backed up regularly.
Here's a shot of the board being installed:
It's been a lot of fun setting up over the last week, and figuring out the BIOS has mostly been a pleasant adventure too. I'm honestly pretty impressed with the board, though I would not recommend it for anything critical, or in business.
Here's a shot of the board being installed:
It's been a lot of fun setting up over the last week, and figuring out the BIOS has mostly been a pleasant adventure too. I'm honestly pretty impressed with the board, though I would not recommend it for anything critical, or in business.
How did you get Ctrl+Alt+A to work for full bios settings? It doesn't seem to unlock any additional options for me and I am needing to downclock to get 4 sticks running. Appreciate any helpnew to forums but figure would add in my exp, picked W680 board as it hit my check list.
Above FAQ (when translated) get alot of first hang-ups out of the way (plus links for BIOS)畅网知识库
Had to downclock memory when running 4 sticks and training took a while. (Ctrl+Alt+A get to full BIOS settings)
POST codes in FAQ helped: if sitting on Code 55 was when memory had failed to pickup
still working towards getting setup currently having issues with getting 14Tb Toshiba drives (MG07ACA14TE) to spin up
Been a sec since last I did it, but from what I recall during the boot up process it will flash screen before entering the BIOS having the CTRL+Alt+A as the prompt. I found if I followed that during the boot process I would load into the BIOS with more options then if I let it drop into BIOS normally.
I'm no expert in any of this so might be a better way to do it
Then from there I would navigate to memory settings where it had the profiles to select and an option make a custom one.
Not near the system to atm so only going off memory.
for my new n355 board I bought the Noctua NH 9li cooler assembly. huge improvent over my first board with the jonsbo cooler. silent and fits so much better