Lenovo Thinkcentre/ThinkStation Tiny (Project TinyMiniMicro) Reference Thread

[Helzy]

Well to be clear, M720q and M920q do have pcie, however, they lack the second m.2 drive slot. Also typically if you go the Tiny Thinkstation route rather than the ThinkCentre route, they generally come with the PCIe riser, You won't often find the riser included with M720q/M920q units, they typically have extra VGA/DP/HDMI attached to the baffle.

 

[serpro69]

Dunno if this is the right place to ask, but can you suggest if ~300 USD is a good price to consider for M920x in the following config: i7-8700T, 2x8gb ram, 256gb nvme, radeon rx560, wifi/bt. Or should I keep looking?

 

[Helzy]

$300 is a good price, and M920X with the radeon rx 560 I see are all $500USD and up if not more.

 

[Debtor8100]

So I kind of accidentally seem to have accumulated surplus gear for an upgraded router build. The purpose of the build is to upgrade from my 1Gb Aliexpress i3-6006U based router to 10Gb build.

I have the following gear:
- M720q with i5 8500T (ordered the PCI-e adapter card recommended in the first post)
- 2x8Gb DDR4 SO-DIMM
- Mellanox ConnectX-3 10Gb Single port card
- Going to get an NVMe drive for OS (OPNsense)

I'm thinking of going with the stuff I have for starters and maybe upgrade something later on. I'm mainly worried about PCI-e card cooling. I read on the first post that single-port cards should be fine, but I have my doubts about the Mellanox with its tiny heatsink. What are the options to cool the card? I don't think that even a 40mm fan will it inside the case. Is the only option to just attach a blower fan somewhere in front of the case or just cut up the top panel and attach a fan on top?

I'll probably just try it first without cooling and see how it performs, but I'm still a bit worried.

What sort of inter VLAN throughput numbers should I be expecting with this CPU? I'm just running a few firewall rules and no IDS/IPS.

(Sorry if this has been answered multiple times, tried to read through the thread but couldn't really find any definitive answer for this)

 

[Jonasz]

M90q gen 3 does not POST AFTER RAM UPGRADE

I have just bought 2 m90q gen 3 units. I have purchased 2x 32GB Ram from crucial and when I install the Ram the m90q does no post.

The crucial reference is CT32G48C40S5

DDR5-4800 • CL=40 • Non-ECC • SODIMM • 262-pins • 1.1V • 1Rx8 based • PC5-38400

What is wrong?

thanks

 

[AlexGee]

Perhaps DDR5? It should be DDR4

Ignore - I missed "Gen 3"...

 

[Jonasz]

No, DDR5

 

[LackAgile296]

Do any of these devices support a '0 RPM mode,' i.e., turning off the fan when the CPU temperature is low enough?

 

[serpro69]

Do these Lenovos have some built-in diagnostics tools that I could use to verify a used machine is working as expected? Or do I have to install an OS to do that?
I've bought a few used P920x and want to check first that they work as expected before I proceed with anything else, but would like to avoid installing Windows just to run tests, if possible. And I'm not aware of any good tools in Linux for diagnostics and hardware testing.

 

[damex]

Do these Lenovos have some built-in diagnostics tools that I could use to verify a used machine is working as expected? Or do I have to install an OS to do that?
I've bought a few used P920x and want to check first that they work as expected before I proceed with anything else, but would like to avoid installing Windows just to run tests, if possible. And I'm not aware of any good tools in Linux for diagnostics and hardware testing.

yes, there is a button combination to access it during boot. alternatively lenovo offers it to be used from bootable media

 

[serpro69]

yes, there is a button combination to access it during boot

which is?

alternatively lenovo offers it to be used from bootable media

is it Create Bootable USB Flash Drive for Lenovo Linux Diagnostics - Lenovo Support US ?

 

[damex]

which is?


is it Create Bootable USB Flash Drive for Lenovo Linux Diagnostics - Lenovo Support US ?

F10

Lenovo Linux Diagnostics look different. They had different tool before. Just use F10 during boot and test all the hardware.

 

[damex]

how much space do we have for m2 heatsink to be mounted on m2 drives like hynix pc801 on back of m920q/m920x/p330tiny ? '0.5mm' heatsink + '0.5mm' thermal pad maybe? trying to make everything run even tiny bit cooler since 10gbe adapters heat up uncontrollably. does not cause issues running 24/7 but want to make it run even tiny bit better

 

[Helzy]

You might, on the M920x at least, there is a grill for heat/airflow that if you put a half mil pad and half mil HS you'd probably impede the airflow capability built in

 

[serpro69]

What are you all using 10gbe for (assuming it's home-use)? Is it future-proofing or are there actual use cases? I'd assume that 2.5gbe should be plenty enough for most cases? At the same time, knowing myself, I'd probably want 10gbe as well But I'll likely not utilize it.

I've received four M920x machines Going to run diagnostics on them, then the plan is to install ubuntu + kubernetes (probably some slimmed-down version like k3s) on all of them.

 

[serpro69]

I tried to connect a few of M920x's to a 19" Dell monitor via HDMI/DP, and on HDMI I'm getting a black screen, on DP it's not even detecting the signal. They came with radeon rx560, which, according to the seller, needs a mini-DP connector (which I don't have at the moment). But I'd assume that a regular monitor should work just fine with integrated graphics via HDMI or DP. At least Intel® Core™ i7-8700T Processor (12M Cache, up to 4.00 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel says that the CPU has integrated graphics. Or am I missing something?

upd: Can integrated graphics be disabled in the BIOS?

upd2: would taking out the CMOS battery reset the BIOS settings? That could be easier than buying a mini-DP adapter

 

[Parallax]

I tried to connect a few of M920x's to a 19" Dell monitor via HDMI/DP, and on HDMI I'm getting a black screen, on DP it's not even detecting the signal. They came with radeon rx560, which, according to the seller, needs a mini-DP connector (which I don't have at the moment). But I'd assume that a regular monitor should work just fine with integrated graphics via HDMI or DP. At least Intel® Core™ i7-8700T Processor (12M Cache, up to 4.00 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel says that the CPU has integrated graphics. Or am I missing something?

upd: Can integrated graphics be disabled in the BIOS?

upd2: would taking out the CMOS battery reset the BIOS settings? That could be easier than buying a mini-DP adapter

You need to go into the BIOS, you can select the graphics priority there.

There's a method to reset the BIOS in the first post.

 

[Parallax]

... run diagnostics on them, then the plan is to install ubuntu + kubernetes (probably some slimmed-down version like k3s) on all of them.

Or ... Talos.

 

[Parallax]

how much space do we have for m2 heatsink to be mounted on m2 drives like hynix pc801 on back of m920q/m920x/p330tiny ? '0.5mm' heatsink + '0.5mm' thermal pad maybe? trying to make everything run even tiny bit cooler since 10gbe adapters heat up uncontrollably. does not cause issues running 24/7 but want to make it run even tiny bit better

You might be better off trying to extend the 10GbE heatsink to reach the metal case, the m.2 drives are on the other side of the motherboard and I don't think they create significant heat in the main unit.

 

[serpro69]

You need to go into the BIOS, you can select the graphics priority there.

There's a method to reset the BIOS in the first post.

Thanks for the tip. Let me take a look at the first post, once more ...

UPD: OK, so I did that. Pins 2-4 gave me 2 short beeps, a pause and 2 short beeps just like in the video in the first post. After that I unplugged the power, placed the jumper back to 5-6 and tried to turn on the machine (did the power cycle also). Now when it powers up, I'm also getting 2 short beeps (they're much louder though), and the screen is still black.
According to POST Beep symptoms – ThinkCentre - Lenovo Support US , 2 short beeps says it's a POST error. But since the screen is still black, I don't actually see the error number or anything.
Any suggestions?

Or ... Talos.

Oh, I haven't even heard of it. Looks quite interesting at first glance, I'm intrigued I like trying out new things, so will definitely research more about it. Thanks