Got the HUNSN RJ03l with a N6005 CPU and barebones unit from the HUSN store on AliExpress. Took about 14 days to arrive in Central NY area. It was well packaged and totally sealed with tape so it would float while the lobster towed it along. Included was the AC adapter made by DAJING 12V 3A. It is not UL Listed. Draws 0.01a under no load.
I had several contacts now with both HUNSN sales and Tech Support and both were quick to respond and answered my questions - thumbs up for the quick responses. They included a brief spec statement for the motherboard but could not provide a spec sheet/manual or any website URL's. All tech support is via one email address <sales@hunsn.com> that then gets forwarded to a tech support rep. At this price point, don't expect much and you will not be disappointed.
"- This item supports memory: 2 x sodimm ddr4 2933 MHz, max.32gb
-- This item supports 2 x m.2 2280 nvme SSD (both are 3.0x1 speed) and 1 x 2.5 inch sata SSD/HDD
-- This item supports M.2 WiFi A.E Key (Support native WiFi6 network card), may you use any M.2 A.E Key WiFi module. (M.2 WiFi or 1 x PCB Board M.2 2280 nvme SSD, 2 choose 1).
-- Yes, please see the internal install photos and MB spec. (as attached).
-- This item, during posting, may you hit "Delete/ESC" to BIOS, hit "F11" to choose a device to boot up."
I've also included photo's they sent showing how to install a 40x10mm fan - and I'll explain why you may want to get theirs for free.
Should you be looking, there are two models. One with the N5105 and the second with the N6005 CPU. The difference between the RJ03L and RJ03M versions is that the L version includes the SATA cable assy and the daughter board you can see in the attached pdf doc and plugs into the second M.2 connector normally used for a WiFi chip. This daughter board is then used to allow connecting a second NVMe SSD. It works. I had both a Kingston (OEM) 500GB NVMe and a WD SN700 500GB installed for testing.
I installed 2 x 8GB sticks of Crucial SODIMM's CT2K8G4SFRA32A memory and kick started it with a fresh load of Win11 Pro for testing.
In the quote above I highlighted in red, the PCIe Gen 3 x 1 rating which equates to about 800MB/s Read/Write speeds on the installed NVMe SSD drives. The N6005 certainly is capable of Gen 3x4 PCIe lanes but I guess on this small of a form factor there are limitations. Is there really a use case for needing 3500MB/s speeds on this box? If I needed VM's and had a lot of sensor data being monitored by this mini, then maybe. But for me, this will be a homelab pfsense firewall with add-on's.
Thermals. As many have shown and talked about in the other forum (Jasper Lake....) this also had a slight gap between the CPU and copper heatsink. The aluminum block below the I226V NIC's had a really thin thermal strip attached which did not even touch the NIC chips.
I did run some CPU tests. Idle temps were around 44°C and I got it up to 91°C running Prime95. While Prime95 was running the CPU would easily reach 75°C plus after a long run (30 min) it would then spike upwards to 90°C + depending on what Prime95 was doing (100% CPU load). That was the worst case scenario and the case got really warm - about 51°C (125°F).
I decided to see if I could do something about the thermals. I've read where others have filed down the studs that the motherboard mounts to but I wanted to try something not so work intensive. Dissasembled the mini and removed the copper block heatsink. HUNSN did not just pile a gob of thermal paste on this - it was the correct amount, nice and neat too.
Cleaned the paste off, lapped the heatsink on both sides to polish it and removed the paint from the case where the heatsink mounts. I have some copper shim material (.005in or .127mm) and some artic silver that I used to paste the copper shim to the case and then to the copper heatsink. I know what you're thinking... case/paste/shim/paste/heatsink/paste/CPU. Worst case, I remove the shim and grab a file but the combination worked out nicely and the CPU ended up kissing the heatsink without a gap or stressing the motherboard as measured by a straightedge and one crooked eyeball. Took it back apart and applied the thermal paste to the CPU/GPU chips and reassembled.
Some stress testing ensued and the idle temps were now at 34°C and Prime95 stress tests took it up to 91°C. So the shim did help lower the N6500 CPU temp by around 10° (fanless). Could it be better? Maybe with a liquid metal based thermal paste - or a fan.
Edit: After running for several hours the idle temp is now at 40°C - so only a 4°C improvment. Room temp is the same 65°F. Opening a browser, playing videos, etc. the max temp jumps to 75°C at 90-100% load then settles down to around 47°C with a 35% to 50% load. The case itself right above the heatsink reads 43° (110°F) - so warm to the touch. Using Core Temp 1.18 to monitor internals and an infrared thermometer on case.
2nd Edit: Today I've had the unit running for about 4 hrs now and Core Temp is showing 34°C idle temps with 5% load (background tasks). So that would be a 10° improvement over stock configuration. What may be the reason behind the disparity in my temp readings between yesterday and today is that yesterday I was runing stress tests (Prime95, etc.) and the case as I noted, really warmed up. The case is a pretty good mass of aluminum so once I heated up, it takes awhile to get back to normal (34°C - 92°F). That reading on the case is directly over the heatsink area. Sides of case are 5° cooler. So the copper shim really is working out better than I thought.
I'm opting for a fan. I initially ordered a Noctua 40mm x 10mm 5V 4 pin PWM fan but quickly found out that none of the optional connectors that came with the fan would fit the fan connector on the motherboard. That connector is a pico connector and accepts a 1.25 pitch Dupont female 4 pin - which I don't have. Could have ordered a batch of these online and then cobbled something together and used the Noctua fan assy.
3rd Edit: Updated on 12/28/2022. A response posted by HUNSN on Amazon for this model stated the fan voltage would be 5v. An error which I found out about and sent my Noctua fan back. It is a pico 4 pin header (PWM at 12V) on the motherboard. I have received two fans and cable assemblies from HUNSN as shown in the photo's below and they are 12V fans with a special adapter cables to convert from pico to whatever the other end connector is called. The larger fan (80mm x 10mm) spins at around 2,200rpm full speed and the smaller 40mm x 10mm really gets wound up at full speed - 6,600rpm. The BIOS fan control profiles work nicely and you have an option for making your own profile. I ended up using the Auto setting as it appears to be an optimal profile. Under full load, you can hear the fans - especially the 40x10 model. I installed the 80x10 in the case with the fan sucking air inand blowing on the motherboard. I removed the glued on dust filter from the case bottom to improve air flow. Now you can continue reading....
HUNSN will ship the cable and fan assy to you with your order if you email and ask for the assembly. It's free if you order from the HUNSN store (directly or on AliExpress) or as in my case, it's costing me ($15USD) for shipping but the fan and cable are still free...;-) Oh well, cost wise it's the same as buying the Noctua fan plus I can use that cable on a different fan like the Noctua when their fan croaks.
BIOS/UEFI has AMI firmware version JK4LV105 dated 08/31/2022 with so many options it will make your head spin. As Patrick mentioned, it has Overclocking menu's but I haven't tried any changes there or on any other Power or C state related settings. The PL levels seem high compared to what I've read in other threads but I will take small steps and try to understand what the settings actually do. More on that later...
I think the HUSN RJ03L Mini with N6005 with 4, I226V NIC's at a cost of $245 (barebones) is worth it for a pfsense/opensense firewall. AliExpress is now showing it for $238 barebone N6005.
I have a Quotom Q190G4 4 port mini as well as two other recent Minisforums mini's (HX90 & HM50) and the build quality is on par with the Qotom box but below the Minisforums when it comes to thermal considerations. Motherboard build quailty is otherwise great.
In summary, you can pay a lot more and get less quality and features. But also consider the lack of online documentation, no web portal for BIOS/UEFI updates or tech support in your buying considerations. It is what it is and if it goes up in smoke before the warranty runs out - we'll test them and/or AliExpress on that.
Back to playing with my new toy...
BobS
I had several contacts now with both HUNSN sales and Tech Support and both were quick to respond and answered my questions - thumbs up for the quick responses. They included a brief spec statement for the motherboard but could not provide a spec sheet/manual or any website URL's. All tech support is via one email address <sales@hunsn.com> that then gets forwarded to a tech support rep. At this price point, don't expect much and you will not be disappointed.
"- This item supports memory: 2 x sodimm ddr4 2933 MHz, max.32gb
-- This item supports 2 x m.2 2280 nvme SSD (both are 3.0x1 speed) and 1 x 2.5 inch sata SSD/HDD
-- This item supports M.2 WiFi A.E Key (Support native WiFi6 network card), may you use any M.2 A.E Key WiFi module. (M.2 WiFi or 1 x PCB Board M.2 2280 nvme SSD, 2 choose 1).
-- Yes, please see the internal install photos and MB spec. (as attached).
-- This item, during posting, may you hit "Delete/ESC" to BIOS, hit "F11" to choose a device to boot up."
I've also included photo's they sent showing how to install a 40x10mm fan - and I'll explain why you may want to get theirs for free.
Should you be looking, there are two models. One with the N5105 and the second with the N6005 CPU. The difference between the RJ03L and RJ03M versions is that the L version includes the SATA cable assy and the daughter board you can see in the attached pdf doc and plugs into the second M.2 connector normally used for a WiFi chip. This daughter board is then used to allow connecting a second NVMe SSD. It works. I had both a Kingston (OEM) 500GB NVMe and a WD SN700 500GB installed for testing.
I installed 2 x 8GB sticks of Crucial SODIMM's CT2K8G4SFRA32A memory and kick started it with a fresh load of Win11 Pro for testing.
In the quote above I highlighted in red, the PCIe Gen 3 x 1 rating which equates to about 800MB/s Read/Write speeds on the installed NVMe SSD drives. The N6005 certainly is capable of Gen 3x4 PCIe lanes but I guess on this small of a form factor there are limitations. Is there really a use case for needing 3500MB/s speeds on this box? If I needed VM's and had a lot of sensor data being monitored by this mini, then maybe. But for me, this will be a homelab pfsense firewall with add-on's.
Thermals. As many have shown and talked about in the other forum (Jasper Lake....) this also had a slight gap between the CPU and copper heatsink. The aluminum block below the I226V NIC's had a really thin thermal strip attached which did not even touch the NIC chips.
I did run some CPU tests. Idle temps were around 44°C and I got it up to 91°C running Prime95. While Prime95 was running the CPU would easily reach 75°C plus after a long run (30 min) it would then spike upwards to 90°C + depending on what Prime95 was doing (100% CPU load). That was the worst case scenario and the case got really warm - about 51°C (125°F).
I decided to see if I could do something about the thermals. I've read where others have filed down the studs that the motherboard mounts to but I wanted to try something not so work intensive. Dissasembled the mini and removed the copper block heatsink. HUNSN did not just pile a gob of thermal paste on this - it was the correct amount, nice and neat too.
Cleaned the paste off, lapped the heatsink on both sides to polish it and removed the paint from the case where the heatsink mounts. I have some copper shim material (.005in or .127mm) and some artic silver that I used to paste the copper shim to the case and then to the copper heatsink. I know what you're thinking... case/paste/shim/paste/heatsink/paste/CPU. Worst case, I remove the shim and grab a file but the combination worked out nicely and the CPU ended up kissing the heatsink without a gap or stressing the motherboard as measured by a straightedge and one crooked eyeball. Took it back apart and applied the thermal paste to the CPU/GPU chips and reassembled.
Some stress testing ensued and the idle temps were now at 34°C and Prime95 stress tests took it up to 91°C. So the shim did help lower the N6500 CPU temp by around 10° (fanless). Could it be better? Maybe with a liquid metal based thermal paste - or a fan.
Edit: After running for several hours the idle temp is now at 40°C - so only a 4°C improvment. Room temp is the same 65°F. Opening a browser, playing videos, etc. the max temp jumps to 75°C at 90-100% load then settles down to around 47°C with a 35% to 50% load. The case itself right above the heatsink reads 43° (110°F) - so warm to the touch. Using Core Temp 1.18 to monitor internals and an infrared thermometer on case.
2nd Edit: Today I've had the unit running for about 4 hrs now and Core Temp is showing 34°C idle temps with 5% load (background tasks). So that would be a 10° improvement over stock configuration. What may be the reason behind the disparity in my temp readings between yesterday and today is that yesterday I was runing stress tests (Prime95, etc.) and the case as I noted, really warmed up. The case is a pretty good mass of aluminum so once I heated up, it takes awhile to get back to normal (34°C - 92°F). That reading on the case is directly over the heatsink area. Sides of case are 5° cooler. So the copper shim really is working out better than I thought.
I'm opting for a fan. I initially ordered a Noctua 40mm x 10mm 5V 4 pin PWM fan but quickly found out that none of the optional connectors that came with the fan would fit the fan connector on the motherboard. That connector is a pico connector and accepts a 1.25 pitch Dupont female 4 pin - which I don't have. Could have ordered a batch of these online and then cobbled something together and used the Noctua fan assy.
3rd Edit: Updated on 12/28/2022. A response posted by HUNSN on Amazon for this model stated the fan voltage would be 5v. An error which I found out about and sent my Noctua fan back. It is a pico 4 pin header (PWM at 12V) on the motherboard. I have received two fans and cable assemblies from HUNSN as shown in the photo's below and they are 12V fans with a special adapter cables to convert from pico to whatever the other end connector is called. The larger fan (80mm x 10mm) spins at around 2,200rpm full speed and the smaller 40mm x 10mm really gets wound up at full speed - 6,600rpm. The BIOS fan control profiles work nicely and you have an option for making your own profile. I ended up using the Auto setting as it appears to be an optimal profile. Under full load, you can hear the fans - especially the 40x10 model. I installed the 80x10 in the case with the fan sucking air inand blowing on the motherboard. I removed the glued on dust filter from the case bottom to improve air flow. Now you can continue reading....
HUNSN will ship the cable and fan assy to you with your order if you email and ask for the assembly. It's free if you order from the HUNSN store (directly or on AliExpress) or as in my case, it's costing me ($15USD) for shipping but the fan and cable are still free...;-) Oh well, cost wise it's the same as buying the Noctua fan plus I can use that cable on a different fan like the Noctua when their fan croaks.
BIOS/UEFI has AMI firmware version JK4LV105 dated 08/31/2022 with so many options it will make your head spin. As Patrick mentioned, it has Overclocking menu's but I haven't tried any changes there or on any other Power or C state related settings. The PL levels seem high compared to what I've read in other threads but I will take small steps and try to understand what the settings actually do. More on that later...
I think the HUSN RJ03L Mini with N6005 with 4, I226V NIC's at a cost of $245 (barebones) is worth it for a pfsense/opensense firewall. AliExpress is now showing it for $238 barebone N6005.
I have a Quotom Q190G4 4 port mini as well as two other recent Minisforums mini's (HX90 & HM50) and the build quality is on par with the Qotom box but below the Minisforums when it comes to thermal considerations. Motherboard build quailty is otherwise great.
In summary, you can pay a lot more and get less quality and features. But also consider the lack of online documentation, no web portal for BIOS/UEFI updates or tech support in your buying considerations. It is what it is and if it goes up in smoke before the warranty runs out - we'll test them and/or AliExpress on that.
Back to playing with my new toy...
BobS
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