MinisForum BD790i User Experiences

[spuwho]

I am putting the BD790i through the paces. Current installation is as follows:

Generic 3U rack case
AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX (16c/32t)
Corsair CX650M
Mushkin Redline 96Gb RAM kit
Noctua 120mm fan
2Tb Samsung 990 EVO Gen 5 (2X) Nvme SSD
1Tb Samsung 990 EVO Gen 5 (2x) Nvme SSD

I ran a benchmark (on Linux) to see how fast the heat sink would warm up sans the Noctua fan. Less than 2 minutes until the unit shut down at 96 C.

Otherwise with the Noctua fan on, the CPU stays between 62C & 73C. SSD's around 49C

Assessment, that heat sink is not as functional as it should be, but I will remove it later and look at the issue.

Some Reddit users are reporting the plating that goes against the CPU die is uneven and they made up for it with lots of paste.

lspci shows that the SSD's are running at PCIe Gen 5 speeds but at 2 lanes. I wasn't looking for any speed gain, I wanted to see a Gen 5 indication.

Like typical MinisForum BIOS, the boot is really, really slow. If I hadn't owned their other mini-PC's I would have thought it was a DOA, it takes so long. (yes, I know why)

The BIOS menu is graphical now. The secure boot settings are unusual and not straight forward. All the typical settings are available.

Bifurcation is available on the PCIe x16 slot, but I haven't tested it, however some people on Reddit have it at 4x4x4x4 appears to work perfectly with an NVME adapter.

I also noticed a SR-IOV option, but I will look at that later.

Installing Linux, the BIOS refused to enumerate the SSD in M2 Slot zero, but happily enumerated M2 Slot 1.

Thinking I had either a bad SSD or bad M2 slot, I tested both and they were fine. So I installed only 1 SSD on slot 0 and it enumerated just fine and installed the OS.

After that I re-installed the SSD in slot 1 and it worked fine as well. Weird.

At the moment the PCIe x16 slot is empty as I test other functions, so I am using the Radeon M610 iGPU.

I am not a gamer, so I may put something less common in the slot for testing.

Thoughts for options, 10GbE adapter, multi-function NVME adapter, perhaps some higher speed ethernet.

I will have to come up with a test that can push the Gen 5 slot since there are no adapters in the market just yet.

Down the road, this might be a rack mounted Proxmox node. It's hard to get 16c/32t in a low power package and have it this small. (and this board is "tiny")

 

[CPNXP]

I ordered two BD790i with the intention of making them xcp-ng hosts, both of my boards will not hold BIOS settings when unplugged for more than 5 min. After contacting support they very quickly went to RMA after I supplied them my serial number. I'm pressing them on the nature of the issue as I have non sequential serial numbers (Two different orders weeks apart, both preorders). I really like the board as it's tested well so far for my setup it'd be great if it weren't for this one issue. I checked the battery and the exposed connections and they are showing 3.3v as I'd expect so the battery isn't dead. I'm inclinded to keep them as long as this issue doesn't affect their longevity since I already had to wait over a month for them. Would be good if I could figure out what was going on with them. As a note I had to disable Global C State support to get the xcp-ng installer to boot due to their kernel being very old.

 

[spuwho]

Interesting. I have had mine unplugged for 24 hours while I tested other gear. I will see if the BIOS settings are lost as well. That usually points to a bad flash ROM.

****Same Issue****

I turned it back on and the settings and system date are all lost.

 

[CPNXP]

Thanks for confirming @spuwho , I've been going back and forth with support and I am going to RMA one of my boards to see if the replacement has the same issue. Based on some Chinese I translated from support's email it seems they think the battery is dead but based on my testing with my multimeter the battery seems fine. I tried looking for a CMOS chip on the board because I wanted to check if it was getting the 3.3v but I only found a general SPI flash chip and no CMOS. I suspect the chip is under the heatsink so I can't get a good look at it. Granted troubleshooting electroics at that level isn't my specialty.

 

[Kyklas]

Hi,
I did a build with the BD790i and faced similar issues. The BIOS does not keep setting without AC power.
I have checked the coin cell battery, it is fine. I did try a different one, same issue.

In Linux, the monitor ITE IT8613E was reporting the battery voltage. I tested with the battery disconnected and voltage was still present, not a great indicator.

@spuwho I did not have as much issue with the M.2 detection. Did not look at the link speed I was getting.
Your report of heat makes me concerned for my build. May need to try a few things when I get a board back.

Thanks for this post, I was looking for other users with feedback/issue on the BD790i.
After waiting 30 days to get the board from pre-order, I sent my unit in RMA, just 5 days after getting it.
I am really hopeful for the BD790i to make a great system. A bit disappointed with that bios issue.

I am curious to know if BD770i users have the same issue ...

 

[jeloneal]

Hi, facing the same issue with bios here. Contacted support, but they said I would have to wait more than a month till a replacement would be shipped. Very unfortunate.

 

[skoona]

I built a system on the first of May 2024 with the BD790i mainboard and will double-check to see if I have the BIOS retention problem; I had not noticed it. I do have an open issue with support regarding my two Crucial Gen5 T705 1GB SSDs reporting errors when installed in slot 0 closest to the CPU. Here is a sample of the IO Errors from "dmesg".

May 19 16:18:06 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: I/O tag 64 (7040) opcode 0x2 (I/O Cmd) QID 11 timeout, aborting req_op:READ(0) size:131072
May 19 16:18:06 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: Abort status: 0x0
May 19 16:18:36 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: I/O tag 64 (7040) opcode 0x2 (I/O Cmd) QID 11 timeout, reset controller
May 19 16:18:36 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: 32/0/0 default/read/poll queues
May 19 16:18:36 lab pvestatd[1978]: status update time (60.580 seconds)
May 19 16:19:26 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: I/O tag 896 (c380) opcode 0x2 (I/O Cmd) QID 20 timeout, aborting req_op:READ(0) size:131072
May 19 16:19:26 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: Abort status: 0x0
May 19 16:19:57 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: I/O tag 896 (c380) opcode 0x2 (I/O Cmd) QID 20 timeout, reset controller
May 19 16:19:57 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: 32/0/0 default/read/poll queues
May 19 16:19:57 lab pvestatd[1978]: status update time (60.849 seconds)
May 19 16:23:37 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: I/O tag 832 (e340) opcode 0x2 (I/O Cmd) QID 23 timeout, aborting req_op:READ(0) size:131072
May 19 16:23:37 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: Abort status: 0x0
May 19 16:24:07 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: I/O tag 832 (e340) opcode 0x2 (I/O Cmd) QID 23 timeout, reset controller
May 19 16:24:07 lab kernel: nvme nvme0: 32/0/0 default/read/poll queues

My Build consisted of:
ProxMox v8.2.2
- ZFS over (6) 6TB Sata drives (Mirror, Mirror, Mirror)
- 64GB (2x32GB) Crucial DDR5 5200 M/s
- UGreen USB C to Thernet Adapter 2.5G
- (2) Crucial T705 1TB PCIe Gen 5 NVMe M.2 SSD, up to 13600 MB/s
- (1) 9220-8i 6Gbps SAS/SATA HBA FW: P20 9211-8i IT Mode : PCIe x8 Gen3
- Artic P12 Slim PWM PST - 120 mm Case Fan

Aside from temperatures being higher than I would like and the persistent NVMe I/O Errors, I've had no other problems with this build. Think NVME Gen5 might have been a bad idea, although the problem seems to be with slot 0 and not slot 1. Saga continues...

Overall, I am happy with this build.

James,

 

[aniki84]

How do you guys enable the amd-v?

 

[aniki84]

Anyone???

 

[marked23]

How do you guys enable the amd-v?

I just looked through the BIOS, and I didn't see anything specifically mentioning AMD-V, SVM, or virtualization anything.
I'm running proxmox, so I have to presume virtualization is enabled by default, because it works.

Except IOMMU, which is for passing-through hardware to a VM.
In the BIOS, look for NBIO options, then enable IOMMU, if that's a feature you need.

 

[marked23]

My build was made for homelab AI workloads.

BD790i
2T Crucial P3 Plus Gen 4 NVMe - Proxmox boot & VM Disk Images
4T Crucial P3 Plus Gen 4 NVMe - PCIe pass-through to VM
96GB Crucial DDR5 RAM (5600, but running at 5200)
Noctua NF-F12 iPPC 3000 PWM - for the CPU
Noctua NA-FH1 fan hub
Seasonic Vertex PX-1000 power supply
PNY RTX 4090 - PCIe pass-through to VM
Corsair 4000D case - and more fans.

Why not Gen 5 NVMe?
At first it was budget. I didn't want to pay the premium for Gen 5. But then I realized that my models could load faster if I could use nvidia gds (gpu direct storage)... but that requires the VM to have direct PCIe access to the NVMe. So I decided to add a 4T NVMe just for storing models. This time, I considered getting Gen 5, because this was a performance upgrade. Then I saw the price. So ultimately, I went with Gen 4 because of budget. Given what skoona is experiencing with his Gen5 I/O errors, maybe I made the right choice for now.

I picked a 3000 RPM fan for the CPU. It's not loud. I wouldn't hesitate to get this fan again, for this motherboard.

I wish it had 10G ethernet, or better yet an SFP+ port. If I can find a USB-C to 10Gb, I might give that a try. But now with my 4T NVMe, I don't need to load models across the network, so maybe 2.5Gb is fine.

I'm happy with it so far.
I could see getting more of these.

-Mark

 

[MrJonny]

My build was made for homelab AI workloads.

BD790i
2T Crucial P3 Plus Gen 4 NVMe - Proxmox boot & VM Disk Images
4T Crucial P3 Plus Gen 4 NVMe - PCIe pass-through to VM
96GB Crucial DDR5 RAM (5600, but running at 5200)
Noctua NF-F12 iPPC 3000 PWM - for the CPU
Noctua NA-FH1 fan hub
Seasonic Vertex PX-1000 power supply
PNY RTX 4090 - PCIe pass-through to VM
Corsair 4000D case - and more fans.

Why not Gen 5 NVMe?
At first it was budget. I didn't want to pay the premium for Gen 5. But then I realized that my models could load faster if I could use nvidia gds (gpu direct storage)... but that requires the VM to have direct PCIe access to the NVMe. So I decided to add a 4T NVMe just for storing models. This time, I considered getting Gen 5, because this was a performance upgrade. Then I saw the price. So ultimately, I went with Gen 4 because of budget. Given what skoona is experiencing with his Gen5 I/O errors, maybe I made the right choice for now.

I picked a 3000 RPM fan for the CPU. It's not loud. I wouldn't hesitate to get this fan again, for this motherboard.

I wish it had 10G ethernet, or better yet an SFP+ port. If I can find a USB-C to 10Gb, I might give that a try. But now with my 4T NVMe, I don't need to load models across the network, so maybe 2.5Gb is fine.

I'm happy with it so far.
I could see getting more of these.

-Mark

Hi Mark,

Are you still running this setup? I was looking at the BD790i because it has a nice heatsink on the M.2 with a fan.

My idea is 2x 4TB SN850x, and dual 10gbit card in the PCIe slot. Then look for a small case to house this in. Not sure if this idea is going to work yet, but would be nice to hear your current experiences with it, now you've had it over a year.