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Lenovo Thinkcentre/ThinkStation Tiny (Project TinyMiniMicro) Reference Thread

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andrea87

andrea87

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Oct 15, 2022
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North-east Italy
Helzy said:
USB-C NIC's 2.5/5/10 work well if you plan on leveraging the PCIe slot for fast storage.
Click to expand...
Most usb-c 2.5GBe nics I've seen are based on RTL8125. Realtek and linux / bsd usually don't mix too well, any search for it (also pfsense & opnsense) will get you a lot of threads with people having issues. I'd stick to Intel for anyone wanting to run these nics in a router box.
 
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Kelvarr

New Member
Sep 1, 2022
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Does anyone know if the 910x, which has a PCIe slot, will work with the 2 or 4 port NICs? I've seen some references that it only works with GPUs.
 
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Chewza

New Member
Dec 31, 2016
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Hey all, just wanted to send this along.
I've got 4 of the M90q Gen3 65w i5-12500's with x16 risers and have added the Dell branded Mellanox Connectx-4 LX cards to mine.

Initially they were just floating around the back but decided to have my hand at modifying a 3D model someone made for a different card to see if I could make one compatible with these.

The result is a fully functional baffle that holds the card firmly without any clearance issues and also uses the original screws from both the card, and the chassis.

Here you go.
Lenovo M90q Gen3 ConnectX-4 LX (Dell CX4121C) Dual 25G Baffle Remixed by Chewza




 
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H

hunter11385

New Member
Feb 14, 2024
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flame7487 said:
RE: USB-C with DP signals as USB-C@DP
My M920q has several USB-C but none of them contain a DP signal.
I tried several DP to USB-C conversion cables, but none worked.
A year ago, I fitted an FRU 01AJ939 board (from aliEx) (mounting problem in post #771)
Known as DP to USB-C port punch out card or TYPE-C Expansion port For Lenovo Tiny5
BTW I have not tried: FRU 01AJ950 and FRU SC50R20801.
It converts the DP signal from the Motherboard to an external USB-C@DP socket.
I was able to connect my ThinkVison X1 monitor
exclusively via a 2x USB-C cable with 4096x2304@60Hz (USB-C@DP).
I also have the signal from the camera and the USB hub on the monitor.
The mentioned board is so small that I want to additionally connect next to
a PCIe 3.0 x4 card with an Oculink SFF-8612 slot
(data rate up to 32 GT/s without clock signal or current).
This will allow me to connect additional external:
U.2 drives (in the case)
or an additional graphics card.
Click to expand...
When you connect the usbC on this 01AJ939 to the monitor, are you able to use the usb port on the monitor?
 
M

mietzen

New Member
Dec 25, 2023
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Chewza said:
Hey all, just wanted to send this along.
I've got 4 of the M90q Gen3 65w i5-12500's with x16 risers and have added the Dell branded Mellanox Connectx-4 LX cards to mine.

Initially they were just floating around the back but decided to have my hand at modifying a 3D model someone made for a different card to see if I could make one compatible with these.

The result is a fully functional baffle that holds the card firmly without any clearance issues and also uses the original screws from both the card, and the chassis.

Here you go.
Lenovo M90q Gen3 ConnectX-4 LX (Dell CX4121C) Dual 25G Baffle Remixed by Chewza




Click to expand...
Where did you get the small blower fan? Is it reasonably quiet? I'm just about to do the same mod on my Intel X550-T2.
 
C

Chewza

New Member
Dec 31, 2016
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mietzen said:
Where did you get the small blower fan? Is it reasonably quiet? I'm just about to do the same mod on my Intel X550-T2.
Click to expand...
It's a 4010 blower fan with a removable air duct.

"WINSINN 40mm Blower Fan 5V, 3D Printer Micro 5 Volt Fans Blower 4010 Dual Ball Bearing, with Air Guide Parts, 40mmx10mm 2PIN (Pack of 2Pcs) - AZN product id: B08R9H1K88"


The fan is 5v, but runs great of the 3.3v supply on the Mellanox card.
 
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flipper203

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Feb 6, 2024
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AlexGee said:
I use the "Wifi" M.2 as an SSD slot (PCIe 3.0 x1) - there is max space for an 2230 NVME.

Something like that should fit (with Dremel)
Click to expand...
Which SSD model did you pick ? I bought a 2230 but it doesn't fit.
I have a M920q
I bought this model: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0C1YG5WY5?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Seems to be an msata connector but not sure about it
 
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phol

New Member
Apr 1, 2017
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I'm looking at potentially buying an M75q or M75q gen 2 to use as a NAS.
I've read some conflicting information about it supporting or not supporting ECC memory.

To top off the confusion, in early BIOS versions, according to this Reddit post, the M75s gen 2 SFF version of this machine wasn't and then after an update now is compatible with ECC memory.

Therefore, I'm wondering, has anybody recently tested the M75q gen 2 with recent BIOS with ECC memory?
Does it support it and does it report error data according to edac-util ?
 
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flame7487

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Jul 10, 2022
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hunter11385 said:
When you connect the usb-C on this 01AJ939 to the monitor, are you able to use the usb port on the monitor?
Click to expand...
When connected only via USB cable Type-C (01AJ939 on M920q) to Type-C monitor. (ThinkVison X1) - one cable.
YES. The monitor's USB Hub works.
I have data on the Tiny from the built in ThinkVison X1 monitor: the camera and the USB hub.
I have Samsung Galaxy (charging & data) connected 24/7 (charging even when the Tiny is off)
 
F

flame7487

New Member
Jul 10, 2022
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Parallax said:
... I suspect the best solution is going to be TB4/USB4 via an add-in card and some sort of external enclosure. There is theoretically a Lenovo TB card and it's mentioned in the BIOS...
Click to expand...
2 years ago, I tried to install in the M920q (one month) the recommended TBT3 card
Thunderbolt Card 01AJ968 (€190.29) I ended up replacing the MB (warranty)
and returning the card to the vendor (LenovoPartsUK).
TBT card = not recommended.
It is not possible to install any other card on the Tiny than the one dedicated to the respective Lenovo model.
(Compatibility: BIOS; DP signal; TBT header; PCI riser).

The solution may be a PCIe 3.0 ×4 card (most Tiny) with an Oculink port.
Simple because it transmits neither clock nor power signals, only data.
SFF-8612 has both ×4 and ×8 connectors and cables
OCuLink-1 on PCIe 3.0 ×4 transfers up to 3.9 GB/sec.
OCuLink-2 on PCIe 4.0 ×8 supports up to 16 GB/sec.
Provides data transfer speeds higher than: eSATA | USB 3.1 v2 | Tbd 4
Disks; GPU; NIC; DAS can be connected via OCuLink

Parallax said:
...the WiFi card slot can support a 2.5GbE NIC and realistically the PCIe slot up to 4x 2.5GbE or 4x 1GbE, or 2x 10GbE. ...
Click to expand...
BTW WiFi slot has PCI 3.0 ×1 this equates to 25% of the throughput of PCI 3.0 ×4. Less than 1 GB/s.
Means significantly reduced transfer of both connected
drives (1TB good for backups only)
And network cards to 1 GB/sec.
 
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A

AlexGee

Member
Aug 3, 2022
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A

AlexGee

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Aug 3, 2022
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flame7487 said:
BTW WiFi slot has PCI 3.0 ×1 this equates to 25% of the throughput of PCI 3.0 ×4. Less than 1 GB/s.
Means significantly reduced transfer of both connected
drives (1TB good for backups only)
And network cards to 1 GB/sec.
Click to expand...
10GBit NIC = 1250MB/s
PCIe x1 3.0 = 1000MB/s (nearly double than SATA)

I‘m actually pretty happy with that solution… Totally sufficient for Proxmox + VMs

I finally received my Intel X550-T2 NIC and I can start to setup my new Hypervisor:
  • M720q with 9500T : 150€
  • 2x32GB RAM: 120€
  • 256GB SSD with adapter: 20€
  • 4TB NVME SSD: 190€
  • Intel X550-T2 NIC

More than I hoped, but pretty powerful little beast with only ~20W power consumption (need to test with X550)!
 
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flipper203

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Feb 6, 2024
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well as the disk speed won't be as good as expected I won't install a second drive. Wanted to have some raid for opnsense, I'll leave it with only one disk then. Thanks for the help
 
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flame7487

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Jul 10, 2022
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AlexGee said:
...I‘m actually pretty happy with that solution… Totally sufficient for Proxmox + VMs...
Click to expand...
The PCIe3.0×1 transfer is the bottleneck for both the latest solutions: SSD and NIC.
Old components can be used to optimise technical limitations.
Is a slow start-up an analogy for slow food?
Not fast, but TASTY.
 
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