Lenovo Thinkcentre/ThinkStation Tiny (Project TinyMiniMicro) Reference Thread

[Aztech85]

Hi Team,

I have a couple of m710's and looking to add one more m720q/x or M920q/x

My main goal is to swap out a power hungry dual socket system with one of these units though here is my use case which will define if this will work or not

The onboard PCIE slot with riser. Can it be split out to 2x pcie slots or more? (I am expecting to run a pcie extension cable outside the case? to some sort of pcie expander/ splitter card?

I am planning to add an lsi mini sas card and a 10gb Intel nic under ESXi

TIA

 

[Helzy]

I think it can, however, it requires a hardware mod to the PCIe slot. Search Lenovo Tiny Bifurcation on reddit and I think you'll find the thread.

 

[Nonetoo]

Hi all! Can the M920Q, or the m90qs, use a pcie to dual nmve adapter? Anyone do this yet / know of one that fits?
something like this ... https://www.amazon.com/Valuegist-Ad...pcie+to+nmve+card+qnap,electronics,96&sr=1-11

Am looking to nas an m920q, has the riser card with a mellanox 10gb adapter now, but, could take that card out and put in two drivers?

 

[evil_santa]

Hi all! Can the M920Q, or the m90qs, use a pcie to dual nmve adapter? Anyone do this yet / know of one that fits?
something like this ... https://www.amazon.com/Valuegist-Adapter-Controller-Expansion-MKeyBkey/dp/B08M3VTY6D/ref=sr_1_11?crid=1I05ZHUC95OM0&keywords=pcie+to+nvme+card+qnap&qid=1696215234&s=electronics&sprefix=pcie+to+nmve+card+qnap,electronics,96&sr=1-11

Am looking to nas an m920q, has the riser card with a mellanox 10gb adapter now, but, could take that card out and put in two drivers?

Check this GitHub issue

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09MSB4TXT is working perfectly · Issue #1 · badger707/m920q-pcie-bifurcation

thank you for your informations regarding bifurcation! I did as you suggested and soldered the resistors and its working perfectly

github.com

 

[Nonetoo]

Check this GitHub issue

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09MSB4TXT is working perfectly · Issue #1 · badger707/m920q-pcie-bifurcation

thank you for your informations regarding bifurcation! I did as you suggested and soldered the resistors and its working perfectly

github.com

Bummer, do any of the newer ones, m90q gen 2, p350 or p360, allow bifurcation on the pcie?

 

[evil_santa]

I don't know, I own only the m910q and 2 m720q.

 

[Parallax]

Bummer, do any of the newer ones, m90q gen 2, p350 or p360, allow bifurcation on the pcie?

Not as far as I am aware, I have had all up to the gen 2/P350.

 

[Helzy]

Curious with Intel selling off their SSD division to SK Hynix and the rebrand to Solodigm, do the P360 tiny's and P3 Tiny's still need Intel drives installed to enable Intel RST / RAID functionality in BIOS?

EDIT: This is apparently an anomaly only found on the P350 Tiny. P360 tiny and P3 tiny are not limited to intel only NVME's to enable RAID (fakeRAID) support.

 

[wesm63]

I snagged a P360 Ultra recently to upgrade my mini-homelab (previously a M90q). Just wanted to leave this here for anyone looking as it's something I was looking for before purchasing.

P360 Ultra's don't support non-binary DIMM's as of BIOS S0FKT29A (latest as of this post). I purchased a 96GB kit of Nexen DDR5-4800 and it failed to post with 3 short beeps and 1 long (DRAM memory error). I tried various configurations and same beep post error every-time.

Hopefully it's not a chipset limitation and they will update the bios to support it at some point in the future.

 

[Helzy]

Hmm did @Patrick post the non-binary kit in a P3 tiny then? Have to go back and look. Maybe it was an HP mini.

Edit: Misread your post I thought you were talking about a P360 tiny

 

[wesm63]

Hmm did @Patrick post the non-binary kit in a P3 tiny then? Have to go back and look. Maybe it was an HP mini.

Edit: Misread your post I thought you were talking about a P360 tiny

You are correct though, it was the HP that they tested with the Mushkin 96GB kit. I would be surprised if the P360 Tiny is any different from the Ultra.

 

[Helzy]

Agree, and according to the comments on @Patrick 's post, the kit didn't work.in a 3rd generation M90q so 100% probability it doesn't work.in the p360. This I find odd, I rhought the memory controller was part of the cpu

 

[Aztech85]

Anyone used one of these in their tiny's?

M.2 WiFi to PCIe x16 Extension Cable

M.2 Key A.E. to PCI-E x16 extender adapter

www.adt.link

Looking to use this to either add a 2.5gbe / 10gbe Ethernet or lsi sas card the other card will be connected to the onboard riser on a m720 or m920

All this will be housed externally to the tiny for one of my new projects

 

[Helzy]

Anyone used one of these in their tiny's?

M.2 WiFi to PCIe x16 Extension Cable

M.2 Key A.E. to PCI-E x16 extender adapter

www.adt.link

Looking to use this to either add a 2.5gbe / 10gbe Ethernet or lsi sas card the other card will be connected to the onboard riser on a m720 or m920

All this will be housed externally to the tiny for one of my new projects

Did you need to preserve the WiFi in your tiny? if not just use an A.E. keyed 2.5g ethernet adapter. Such as this one, check amazon, there are others with Prime shipping

https://www.amazon.ca/Jkowueom-Ethernet-RTL8125B-Industrial-Control/dp/B0BSGHFRXG/ref=sr_1_4?crid=Z2BWAE97D5VZ&keywords=m.2+a%2Be+2.5g+ethernet&qid=1696858629&s=electronics&sprefix=m+2+a%2Be+2+5g+ethernet%2Celectronics%2C128&sr=1-4

if not ALI has tonnes too.

 

[Aztech85]

Did you need to preserve the WiFi in your tiny? if not just use an A.E. keyed 2.5g ethernet adapter. Such as this one, check amazon, there are others with Prime shipping

https://www.amazon.ca/Jkowueom-Ethernet-RTL8125B-Industrial-Control/dp/B0BSGHFRXG/ref=sr_1_4?crid=Z2BWAE97D5VZ&keywords=m.2+a%2Be+2.5g+ethernet&qid=1696858629&s=electronics&sprefix=m+2+a%2Be+2+5g+ethernet%2Celectronics%2C128&sr=1-4

if not ALI has tonnes too.

Needs to be intel based that's the issue, (running esx as the host OS)

I'm not really too fussed if the sas controller goes on the A.E. slot or the network adapter.

 

[Parallax]

Remember the WiFi slot has very little bandwidth, it's only 1x PCIe 3.0 lane AFAIK. So 8GT/s = roughly 8Gb/s = less than 1GB/s.

 

[Nonetoo]

Which windows on a M920Q? In the bios, there's a number for windows key. When I try to install windows 10 pro, it installs, but when I got to authenticate, it won't authenticate. Is there a different version of windows I should be using?

 

[Parallax]

Which windows on a M920Q? In the bios, there's a number for windows key. When I try to install windows 10 pro, it installs, but when I got to authenticate, it won't authenticate. Is there a different version of windows I should be using?

It depends if you have a SKU that originally included a Windows license or not. If it did, then you shouldn't need to put anything in there and it'll see that entitlement during the setup. If it didn't, then you'll need a key but I don't see why you'd provide it in the BIOS rather than just input during the install as normal.

 

[Helzy]

You can tell by looking at the BIOS if the Windows keyed is slipped in you'll see it on the main BIOS page when you press F1 at startup.

 

[Nonetoo]

You can tell by looking at the BIOS if the Windows keyed is slipped in you'll see it on the main BIOS page when you press F1 at startup.

yes, there is a windows key in BIOS when I press F1 at startup. BUT. When I install windows 10 pro, and try to authenticate it, it says "no valid key". On other systems I've done, if there is a valid bios key, Windows just authenticates after looking in the bios, nothing for me to do.

So I have a key listed in bios, but win 10 pro won't authenticate. Anyway I can tell what version of windows is in my bios?