Minisforum MS-01 - 2 x 10Gbe SFP+, 2 x 2.5Gbe RJ45, 3 x NVMe, 1 x U.2, 1 x PCI 4.0 x 16 slot & vPro

[Phenic]

Minisforum just launched this and it's tempting me to replace some of my m720q/m920q systems especially at it's $549 price.

Highlights would be,

2* 10G SFP+ ports
2* 2.5G RJ45 ports
1* PCIe 4.0 x16 slot
3* NVMe (22110)
1* U.2

Lowlight,

2* Sodimm for a max of 96gb?

Minisforum MS-01-US

store.minisforum.com

 

[reasonsandreasons]

A cautionary note is that this thing is pretty over-provisioned on PCIe. 16 lanes for the slot, 12 for the M.2, 4 for the U.2, 8 (could be lower, but taking the conservative estimate) for the SFP+, and 2 for the 2.5G ports brings you to 42 if you're using everything; the 13900H only has 28 lanes. I doubt most applications would be hammering everything at the same time, but worth keeping in mind if you're going to really use what this thing is capable of.

Edit: Ah, not as bad as I thought. The 4.0x16 slot is only 4.0x8 electrical, so it's only 34 lanes in total. If they've got the SFP+ wired up right you could just squeeze in under the line, though lots of USB would probably put you over again.

 

[nimik]

Cool little box- with some caveats. Looks like the three M.2 slots aren't all Gen 4x4.

M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slot (Alt U.2) (PCIe 4.0 x4) x1
M.2 2280/22110 NVMe SSD slot (PCIe 3.0 x4) x1
M.2 2280/22110 NVMe SSD slot (PCIe 3.0 x2) x1

 

[Phenic]

A cautionary note is that this thing is pretty over-provisioned on PCIe. 16 lanes for the slot, 12 for the M.2, 4 for the U.2, 8 (could be lower, but taking the conservative estimate) for the SFP+, and 2 for the 2.5G ports brings you to 42 if you're using everything; the 13900H only has 28 lanes. I doubt most applications would be hammering everything at the same time, but worth keeping in mind if you're going to really use what this thing is capable of.

Edit: Ah, not as bad as I thought. The 4.0x16 slot is only 4.0x8 electrical, so it's only 34 lanes in total. If they've got the SFP+ wired up right you could just squeeze in under the line, though lots of USB would probably put you over again.

I think it's 2 nvme + 1 u.2 or 3 nvme.

 

[SnJ9MX]

I have a feeling this will sell well. Perfect for homelabbers with built in SFP+ and support for 110mm M.2 (+ U.2!!). Likely low power as well.

 

[reasonsandreasons]

I think it's 2 nvme + 1 u.2 or 3 nvme.

You're totally right--here's a better accounting of the lane allocations:

• PCIe 4.0x8 low-profile slot
• Intel X710 NIC (8 lanes)
• 2x Intel I226-LM (2 lanes)
• PCIe 4.0x4 M.2 2280 or U.2
• PCIe 3.0x4 M.2 22110/2280
• PCIe 3.0x2 M.2 22110/2280

That's 28 total, so they're not over-provisioning at all. The only real gotcha is the 3.0x2 on the second 22110 slot.

 

[PigLover]

Seems like the perfect box for Proxmox/Ceph hyperconverged homelab cluster node. Still a bit concerned about how their cooling solution really performs under load.

Also curious about support for 48gb sodimms (96gb total).

 

[Phenic]

After watching the chinese YT vids, seems that the U.2 is limited to 7mm drives. My optane 905p is 15mm so I'll have to find a pcie card.

 

[hmw]

LOL. Does MinisForum do rackmount? This would be a great little storage server - think 3x15TB SSDs or even 2 x 30TB ones. And 10Gb SFP - perfect !

 

[KingKaido]

I really like this product, but the x8 slots seems wasted, like what can you actually put in it (it's a Half-height, single-slot)? And the U.2 9mm restriction is annoying since most are 15mm these days, also the 2TB M.2 limit due to insufficient cooling for dual sided M.2s

I hope they make a mini itx/micro atx motherboard version of this mini pc ooor what could be interesting is PCIe x8 to 2 x4 oculinks connectors, but Intel being Intel, it wouldn't be possible since they don't support bifurcation (for x4x4) on laptop/desktop CPUs , soo maybe a decently long x8 riser cable seems like the best way to use the slot, assuming it can provide up to 75w.

Edit: minisforum could take the foundations of this system and make an amazing NAS, like a 6/8 3.5" + 2.M.2 + 2 U.2 and/or with a full height X8 slot, all in a nice enclosure

 

[dtremit]

also the 2TB M.2 limit due to insufficient cooling for dual sided M.2s

4TB single sided drives are starting to trickle in — STH reviewed the Lexar NM790 and the perhaps more promising Samsung 990 Pro 4TB is now available.

Wondering if perhaps we will see an AMD version of this — several of the articles that seem like press releases refer to this as Minisforum's first mini workstation, and they've had both AMD and Intel versions of their ITX boards of late.

 

[jflogerzi]

would love to see this in a lower powered CPU. almost my perfect node...

 

[DaveLTX]

would love to see this in a lower powered CPU. almost my perfect node...

Great idea, however, lower powered CPUs especially from Intel has weaksauce performance and insufficient PCIe lanes.

8840U/7840U performance is fantastic but same problem again = insufficient PCIe lanes. Adding a sufficiently fast pcie switch would undo the gain from switching to lower powered CPUs as well and also be a problem = limited bandwidth

 

[jflogerzi]

Great idea, however, lower powered CPUs especially from Intel has weaksauce performance and insufficient PCIe lanes.

8840U/7840U performance is fantastic but same problem again = insufficient PCIe lanes. Adding a sufficiently fast pcie switch would undo the gain from switching to lower powered CPUs as well and also be a problem = limited bandwidth

would not mind seeing this with am AMD mobile chip.

 

[DaveLTX]

would not mind seeing this with am AMD mobile chip.

Same issue, short of the AMD HX CPUs, *all* Phoenix/Hawk point CPUs have 8 PCIe4, 12 PCIe3 lanes
it just isn't enough

 

[jflogerzi]

Same issue, short of the AMD HX CPUs, *all* Phoenix/Hawk point CPUs have 8 PCIe4, 12 PCIe3 lanes
it just isn't enough

stop killing my dreams!! I have a 2u rack mount and 5900 ryzen server I am looking to consolidate to a lower powered build but I need a pci-e slot for an external sas card to connect to a jbod.

 

[FingerBlaster]

Same issue, short of the AMD HX CPUs, *all* Phoenix/Hawk point CPUs have 8 PCIe4, 12 PCIe3 lanes
it just isn't enough

The other issue is i don't think the current hx chips support usb4. My plan is to do a 3 node cluster with direct connected USB4 for the cluster/ceph network. Which is a shame because the benchmarks on the 7945hx are impressive, and you don't have p/e cores to deal with

 

[jflogerzi]

The other issue is i don't think the current hx chips support usb4. My plan is to do a 3 node cluster with direct connected USB4 for the cluster/ceph network. Which is a shame because the benchmarks on the 7945hx are impressive, and you don't have p/e cores to deal with

care to explain this with USB4

 

[gb00s]

I really like this product, but the x8 slots seems wasted, like what can you actually put in it (it's a Half-height, single-slot)? And the U.2 9mm restriction is annoying since most are 15mm these days, also the 2TB M.2 limit due to insufficient cooling for dual sided M.2s

No need to dramatize as e.g. WD, Micron and Samsung offer 7mm enterprise drives.

 

[ano]

samsung has 15.36TB 7mm

does micron have 7mm that large?