Lenovo Thinkcentre/ThinkStation Tiny (Project TinyMiniMicro) Reference Thread

[hoppel118]

Hi guys,

another question. I already bought 2 Samsung 990 Pro 4TB, which I plan to insert into the 2 NVMe slots at the bottom of the M90q Gen 5.

I plan to use the WiFi M.2 slot with another SSD. In the German Unraid forum I found the information that it should be possible with the following adapter:

ADT-Link R54V4 M.2 Wifi Adapter (10cm) Custom 2280

M.2 Key A.E. WiFi to M.2 Key M NVMe Extension Cable

ADT-Link M.2 Key A.E. WiFi card Extension Cable for M.2 NVMe extension cable

www.adtlink.cn

Look at mgutt‘s posts here:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/133177-lenovo-m910x-m920x-m90q-als-basis-f%C3%BCr-einen-unraid-server/page/2/#findComment-1245551

The howto is for m910x, m920x and m90q. The cable should be 10 cm long. Is here anybody with experience in the combination of this adapter with an M90q Gen 5? Is the M.2 WiFi interface at the same place in all m90q generations?

Thanks Hoppel

 

[Zune]

Hi all. What is the minimum PSU I can get away with for a P340 tiny i7-10700t?
35W CPU,
7W network card,
32GB memory,
2TB m.2 NVME

I find a claim online about a 123W peak power for the 10700T. (PL2) Can anyone confirm this? And does this, in fact, exclude running my unit with a 90W PSU?

Don't worry about how much the 10700T can use if you have a 90W PSU. The system will adjust the power consumption automatically. Also, you can set the "balance mode" power via BIOS to limit the power consumption to avoid any issues.

 

[Stovar]

Hi guys,

another question. I already bought 2 Samsung 990 Pro 4TB, which I plan to insert into the 2 NVMe slots at the bottom of the M90q Gen 5.

I plan to use the WiFi M.2 slot with another SSD. In the German Unraid forum I found the information that it should be possible with the following adapter:

ADT-Link R54V4 M.2 Wifi Adapter (10cm) Custom 2280

M.2 Key A.E. WiFi to M.2 Key M NVMe Extension Cable

ADT-Link M.2 Key A.E. WiFi card Extension Cable for M.2 NVMe extension cable

www.adtlink.cn

Look at mgutt‘s posts here:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/133177-lenovo-m910x-m920x-m90q-als-basis-f%C3%BCr-einen-unraid-server/page/2/#findComment-1245551

The howto is for m910x, m920x and m90q. The cable should be 10 cm long. Is here anybody with experience in the combination of this adapter with an M90q Gen 5? Is the M.2 WiFi interface at the same place in all m90q generations?

Thanks Hoppel

Don' have any lenova's anymore but I have used the wifi slot to house M.2 nvmes 2230 size in the past just fine, you may not even need that specific adaptor, and can find all sorts from amazon, ebay and more so from aliexpress like this one here or search for M.2 WiFi to M.2 NVMe.

I got mine from aliexpress this one here, put a cheap 128gb 2230 nvme drive in it and inside my mini pc and it worked fine, just bare in mind its trial and error if your wifi slot supports pci-e mode to make the nvme drive work so trial and error. If it does not get detected or show up, it doesn't have the pci-e mode and not much you can do really.

I would get the cheap one first for £3-4, test it before getting a more expensive or longer one or get from amazon so you can return it more easily.

My lenova M90q Gen 6 if I recall right, it was not detecting my nvme correctly in the wifi slot, but it sorta was at same time. I was able to install truenas on the m2 drive and still boot up but installed off a different pc first, on a fresh install it wouldn't detect the drive. Naturally placing that same nvme drive in an actual nvme slot it detected fine. Trial and error as I say.

 

[nkwai]

Hi, new here, although reading through this forum helped me a lot with my home server project.
I bought a M920x (mainly for the double nvme slots) that came with a I7-8700 (65w) processor.
Because of space constraints and consequently thermal constraints I am thinking of undervolting the CPU to gain a couple of degrees (I already cleaned it, applyed new thermal paste and set the governor to powersave). Before I deployed the server I updated the bios to the last version - M1UKT77A. The problem now is, that I dont know if the "Overclocking lock" that needs to be disabled is still at 0x7BD like in the previous bios version or not. Can't find the information for my specific bios version anywhere, and don't know how to check it myself.
Anyone knows if "setup_var 0x7BD 0x00" is still the correct command for bios version M1UKT77A? And if not, does anyone have the correct address? Don't want to brick my machine...
Thank you.

After learning to extract the bios files, I can confirm that the overclock lock is still at 0x7BD in the bios version M1UKT77A and in the newest M1UKT78A.

 

[Sauza J]

Hello,

I just recently purchased a M90Q Gen 5 and a PCIe Riser Card (5C50W00933) to install an Intel A310 GPU. I have installed the GPU, and when I turn the machine on, the fans spin, but the GPU is not recognized by the system. I see this seems to be a problem in this community, and I am wondering if anyone was able to get around this. I also just ordered this new part as well: 4XH1T54645 (no clue if it will work or be compatible even with the M90Q).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Kukuriku]

Would you happen to remember where you found this information? I looked through the user guide, setup guide, and hardware maintenance manual, for both m90q gen 5, and the generic m90q documents. Closest thing I found was a generic mention of "PCI-Express converter" with an image that looks like the riser, but no mention of the riser part number. I couldn't find it on their online store either.

The 5C50W00909 model looks like it's only x4, and I need to put in a x8 card. Would 5C50W00910 be compatible?

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre-m-series-desktops/thinkcentre-m90q-gen-3/11u6/11u6s04y00/em00jf8n/parts/display/compatible

There just type in the part number both the 5C50W00909 and 5C50W00933 is there.

 

[Halken]

I have a 920x. I wanted to change the wifi m.2 card key A+E with a 5g NIC lan, but it seems that the PCIE link for the wifi slot is 2.0 x1. Is that correct or is it 3.0 x1?

Also, if I get a 5gb nic m.2 key A+E despite the bottleneck, can it be moved to a newer machine with 3.0 like one of the Alder Lake, and get the full 5g speed?

 

[sw1]

I have a 920x. I wanted to change the wifi m.2 card key A+E with a 5g NIC lan, but it seems that the PCIE link for the wifi slot is 2.0 x1. Is that correct or is it 3.0 x1?

Also, if I get a 5gb nic m.2 key A+E despite the bottleneck, can it be moved to a newer machine with 3.0 like one of the Alder Lake, and get the full 5g speed?

Even 3.0 x1 is not enough for a 5 Gbps NIC. IIRC that link’s maximum bandwidth is ~8 Gbps

 

[sw1]

The cheaper one you tried is for the Tiny4's.

The correct part numbers for the m90q gen 3 are:
PCIEx4 riser = 5C50W00909
PCIEx8 riser = 5C50W00910 or 5C50W00933
PCIEx16 riser = 5C50W00933 or 5C50W00910

I'm not sure if you have to use different risers depending on which kind of card you are using as I've only ever used a GPU with the PCIEx16 riser. The information will be in this thread somewhere for you. In the UK its always cheapest to get one from AliExpress unless Lenovo has the parts on sale direct.

I've bought risers from AliExpress for every generation of the tiny's starting from 4 till 8 which is the m90q gen 3 and every single one has worked perfect no issues. If you do decided to shop there just be wary of listings that seem very cheap as they usually have sub options where you are only getting the backing plate.

This is the link to the x16 riser I got if you are after that one. (Assuming prices remain the same ratio between each other) Its the cheapest I could find after a few weeks of looking.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006503697100.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.7.587c9aVc9aVciM&algo_pvid=088578fa-7574-4153-8170-e298abc2af82&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%227%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%2C%22fromPage%22%3A%22search%22%7D&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A%7Cx_object_id%3A1005006503697100%7C_p_origin_prod%3A

OK so finally my M90q Gen 3 arrived as well as the riser. I bought this riser: "BestParts New PCIE16 Riser Card Expansion Graphic Card Replacement for ThinkStation P360 Tiny8 P3 5C50W00910 5C50W00933" (Amazon.com: BestParts New PCIE16 Riser Card Expansion Graphic Card Replacement for ThinkStation P360 Tiny8 P3 5C50W00910 5C50W00933 : Electronics) for $48.99 on Amazon US.

Problem is: cards are not detected. In cards with LEDs those do turn on. For instance, with network cards, when a cable is connected to the port the green LEDs turn on. I tried with the following cards:

• SuperMicro AOC-STGN-I2S
• Intel I350-T4 V2
• NVIDIA Quadro P620
• (Generic/AliExpress) 1x2.5GbE NIC with Intel I226-V Chipset

All cards are known to be working as I've tested them on P330 and M720q devices with both genuine and generic (AliExpress) risers, as well as on an SFF machine that I have (HP EliteDesk 800 G5 SFF, great machine BTW, would love to have a thread about these as well).

I'm not really sure what to do at this point. Thankfully I can return it but I'm a bit disapointed. Paid decent money for the device and expected it to work, just like the <$10 ones for Tiny5.

Any ideas? BIOS is set to default settings. Tried with both Windows and Linux (PopOS 22.04) which I've used to test the cards on different devices.

 

[RedEchidna]

I have a 920x. I wanted to change the wifi m.2 card key A+E with a 5g NIC lan, but it seems that the PCIE link for the wifi slot is 2.0 x1. Is that correct or is it 3.0 x1?

Also, if I get a 5gb nic m.2 key A+E despite the bottleneck, can it be moved to a newer machine with 3.0 like one of the Alder Lake, and get the full 5g speed?

Looking at the schematic for the 920x the WiFi slot is PCIe 3.0 x1. That should allow for 8Gbps per the specification and 5Gbps NICs that run at PCIe 3.0 x1 are available. I say give it a try and see how well it works.

 

[codyrocco]

But I had an Permission denied error when running the echo 4 > /sys/class/net/enp1s0f0/device/sriov_numvfs command.

In proxmox, adding GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="pci_pt_e820_access=on pci=assign-busses" worked for me, before reading this

 

[chinesestunna]

Hi all, just acquired an m70q gen3 to play with, it came with a Pentium Gold 7400T chip - I have the 135w power adapter for it.
I see the stock specs that it will support 35w T chips up to i7 12700T, any chance these will run 65w desktop chips like HP Elitedesk models?

 

[junctionfunction]

Inspired by this reddit post, I ask you guys: Are the Ryzen 5000 CPUs that come with the M75q G2, in any way performance limited by the 65W power adapter? If it does, up until what what wattage do we see performance gains and in what use cases? I assume in gaming it might matter (as it did with the 3400GE, video here), but what about VMs in a hypervisor and else?

 

[dark-fur]

I had a look at the datasheets of the xxv710 and the e810xxv. Seemingly the e810 doesn’t support ASPM.

Indeed, Intel E810 product brief document doesn't mention anything ASPM related, but the datasheet actually has some mentions. By saying "some" I mean the document says that E810 as a PCIe device does have ASPM configuration options and even has a diagram under which conditions L0/L0s/L1/L2 states are entered, but it's not clear whether final products support that in full.

In my case, as I don't need extreme speeds, so I went with the X710 as it has 2x lower idle/active power consumption ≈3W with a 1×10G port than the E810 counterpart that draws ≈5-6W in idle/active states according to datasheets.

 

[dark-fur]

I tried these 2 lenova riser cards on my M90q Gen 6 and only the top one fitted, but did not detect any sata/raid/network or nvme addon cards.

There are two riser cards listed for m90q gen2 tinies, one is BA7K78 Rev1.2 (FRU 5C50W32107) this one you have/tried:



and the second one is Taisol Riser Card AIC_PCIEx8 Rev1.0 (FRU 5C50W32125):



They do look identical component wise, but do have different PCIe pins layout, FRUs, naming, and markings on the PCB. I have no clue what a Taisol Riser is, and Googling didn't help. Perhaps this is the difference?

Also, Lenovo PSREF document for m90q Gen 6 does say this model supports Intel Arc 310 GPUs and Intel® Ethernet I350-T4 PCIe cards as options, so one of these risers should work. If your BA7K78 didn't, perhaps Taisol Riser should do?

 

[ZombieBiceps]

Inspired by this reddit post, I ask you guys: Are the Ryzen 5000 CPUs that come with the M75q G2, in any way performance limited by the 65W power adapter? If it does, up until what what wattage do we see performance gains and in what use cases? I assume in gaming it might matter (as it did with the 3400GE, video here), but what about VMs in a hypervisor and else?

I get a slight bump in gaming fps when using a 170w psu with my m75q gen2, not much though since I have a vega 8 igpu.

 

[ZombieBiceps]

Hi all, just acquired an m70q gen3 to play with, it came with a Pentium Gold 7400T chip - I have the 135w power adapter for it.
I see the stock specs that it will support 35w T chips up to i7 12700T, any chance these will run 65w desktop chips like HP Elitedesk models?

Possibly, you might be able to extract some information from the bios to see if the microcode for other cpu's are there.

 

[ZombieBiceps]

OK so finally my M90q Gen 3 arrived as well as the riser. I bought this riser: "BestParts New PCIE16 Riser Card Expansion Graphic Card Replacement for ThinkStation P360 Tiny8 P3 5C50W00910 5C50W00933" (Amazon.com: BestParts New PCIE16 Riser Card Expansion Graphic Card Replacement for ThinkStation P360 Tiny8 P3 5C50W00910 5C50W00933 : Electronics) for $48.99 on Amazon US.

Problem is: cards are not detected. In cards with LEDs those do turn on. For instance, with network cards, when a cable is connected to the port the green LEDs turn on. I tried with the following cards:

• SuperMicro AOC-STGN-I2S
• Intel I350-T4 V2
• NVIDIA Quadro P620
• (Generic/AliExpress) 1x2.5GbE NIC with Intel I226-V Chipset

All cards are known to be working as I've tested them on P330 and M720q devices with both genuine and generic (AliExpress) risers, as well as on an SFF machine that I have (HP EliteDesk 800 G5 SFF, great machine BTW, would love to have a thread about these as well).

I'm not really sure what to do at this point. Thankfully I can return it but I'm a bit disapointed. Paid decent money for the device and expected it to work, just like the <$10 ones for Tiny5.

Any ideas? BIOS is set to default settings. Tried with both Windows and Linux (PopOS 22.04) which I've used to test the cards on different devices.

Sounds like you got a faulty riser. Only the Nvidia gpu should have worked with that particular riser though. Seems like you always need to have a x4 riser for x4 cards.

 

[junctionfunction]

I get a slight bump in gaming fps when using a 170w psu with my m75q gen2, not much though since I have a vega 8 igpu.

Over the 65w?

 

[ZombieBiceps]

Over the 65w?

Yes, from what I remember I would get longer turbo duration on the 5650GE. Been a while since I've used the machine for much but I just leave it plugged in to a 135w adapter since I had a few laying around. Probably not worth buying a new PSU for it though in my opinion.