Minisforum MS-01 PCIe Card and RAM Compatibility Thread

[Patrick]

Just starting this as a repository for what worked and what did not work in the Minisforum MS-01. If you test something, please put it in this thread so folks can see what works, or does not work in these systems.

DDR5 SODIMMs Tested

• Crucial CT48G56C46S5 48GB DIMMs

PCIe Cards Tested

Worked

• Cheapo M.2 SSD adapter
• QNAP 4-port SFF-8088 adapter from the QNAP TL-D400S JBOD kit.
• Mikrotik CCR2004-1G-2XS-PCIe (Linux)
• NVIDIA ConnectX-4 Lx
• AMD E9173 GPU (old as dirt, just for more displays)
• Broadcom SAS3008 external (8e)
• NICIGA Marvell AQC113 10Gbase-T card

Worked with Caveats

• Intel X710-DA4 - Needed to remove rear faceplate to get it to fit
• Broadcom BCM9574 - needed to remove front faceplate to get it to fit

Did not work

• QNAP QMP-2P2G2T (2x 2.5GbE, 2x M.2)
• Linkreal SAS9300 16-port internal

 

[PigLover]

I know this thread is for PCIe compatibility - but have you tested 96gb/2x48gb sodimm? If so, which ones?

 

[Patrick]

I know this thread is for PCIe compatibility - but have you tested 96gb/2x48gb sodimm? If so, which ones?

Memory is a good idea for this as well.

I was told by the Minisforum folks that it works so we used 2x Crucial CT48G56C46S5 48GB DIMMs. We have not seen any issues yet, but the Minisforum folks said they are only supporting 64GB maximum because they did not have time to validate 96GB. Still, in the review/ video, there are going to be a lot of 96GB screenshots.

 

[janek202]

Does it support x4x4 PCIe bifurcation? Would it be possible to add 2 NVMe SSDs without a switch?

 

[casulo]

Does it support x4x4 PCIe bifurcation? Would it be possible to add 2 NVMe SSDs without a switch?

I was about to ask about this.
For 4 disks, it needs to support 4x4x4x4 bifurcation if i'm not mistaken. For example, some older hp servers, only support 8x8x and therefore only 2 slots supported.

@Patrick Can you please check the BIOS for this? Imagine this with 7 nvme disks. wow!...


EDIT: Does it have some kind of out of band management? On their store page, there is some kind of remote software accessing the BIOS.

MS-01 Work Station

CPU: Intel Core i9-12900H 14 Kerne/20 Threads(24M Cache, bis zu 5,00 GHz)GPU：Intel Iris Xe GraphicsSystemkompatibilität: Windows 11 / LinuxSpeicher: 2 x SODIMM-Steckplätze DDR5 5200Mhz (bis zu 64GB)Festplatte: Unterstützt bis zu 3 x M.2 2280 NVME SSDsOder 2 x M.2 22110 NVME SSD x2 + 1 x U.2 NVME...

store.minisforum.de

 

[reasonsandreasons]

It has the necessary equipment to support Intel vPro, so you have a kinda-sorta OOB solution. I've toyed around with vPro on my Asrock IMB-X1314 and it's Fine; certainly better than nothing, but I've found it buggier than an actual IPMI.

(That being said I use the now-defunct MeshCommander firmware loader, so perhaps that's buggier than other ways of interfacing with vPro.)

 

[etorix]

@Patrick Can you please check the BIOS for this? Imagine this with 7 nvme disks. wow!...

Intel Core CPUs stop at x8x4x4 and do not support x4x4x4x4. You have to buy Xeon Scalable (or W, or D, but not E) for that.

 

[Khaveer]

Does a Tesla P4 fit in one of those?

 

[kubn2]

Does a Tesla P4 fit in one of those?

Even if it fits, its 75 TDP without any fan, there is no way you will be able to cool it in there

It would be great if Minisforum would release this model with different CPUs sku

 

[Maverick87Shaka]

Memory is a good idea for this as well.

I was told by the Minisforum folks that it works so we used 2x Crucial CT48G56C46S5 48GB DIMMs. We have not seen any issues yet, but the Minisforum folks said they are only supporting 64GB maximum because they did not have time to validate 96GB. Still, in the review/ video, there are going to be a lot of 96GB screenshots.

First of all since if my first post here on forum even if I follow the YT channel since a good amount of time, thanks for your amazing videos.

Regarding memory, I think is worth to mention that 96GB configuration only works on Intel i9-13900H configuration. If you order the 12th gen to save some bucks, you have the usual maximum 64GB (32GBX2) of memory RAM, at least according to intel processor datasheet.

 

[the-last-englishman]

Great review, signed up just to say thanks
Would be nice to see the IOMMU groups, if the SFP+ ports could be passed through to a pfsense VM this could make a perfect edge based proxmox all in one box.
Do you have any intel quick assist pcie cards to test?

 

[AlanyG21]

Great review STH!
BTW, another Youtuber got the MS-01 and tested it with a RX 6400, which worked
Here's the video

 

[bryan_v]

Was waiting till the full review to grab one. Definitely a viable alternative to appliance routers and 1U servers, and definitely changes the TinyMiniMicro math (Dual 10GbE without burning the PCIe slot).
I didn't see any extra fan headers in any of the teardown videos - @Patrick did you find any?

Right now both my router and cluster nodes are P330 Tinys using CX3-10G/40G cards (coolest running cards for >= SFP+ and VFIO) and I cool them using a Frankenstein 35mm blower fans powered off the USB3.2 port. This brings the card's temp under load from ~80C-90C down to ~55C-60C.

In theory it should allow a passive 100G card to work (like a Bluefield or CX4/5/6 or even a retimer card). I am a bit puzzled as to why the SAS9300 didn't work since it's just a x8 link, unless it's a linkreal FW issue and the Supermicro or LSI/Adaptec versions should work.

Sidenote to Miniforum - an mITX or mATX version of the board would completely address the massive hole between N100 mITX boards and Epyc/Xeon embedded boards with SFP+/SFP28 (the AM4/AM5 versions only have 10GBase-T which all have SFP+ adapters on the other sides)

Also - the Frankenstein P330 - CX3 for inspiration:

 

[WalterS]

Definitely interested in this one. I'm wonmdering if you ahve to remove the face plate in order to use a QNAP TL-D1600S JBOD. It seems this may be a nice little TrueNAS box.

 

[TLN]

I'm really tempted to get one. Currently running ESXi though, is there workaround for performance/efficient cores by any chance?
I'd love to get my hands on same box with smaller CPU, such as 12500 for example (that doesn't have P/E cores).

 

[the-last-englishman]

I'm really tempted to get one. Currently running ESXi though, is there workaround for performance/efficient cores by any chance?
I'd love to get my hands on same box with smaller CPU, such as 12500 for example (that doesn't have P/E cores).

Workaround is to disable efficiency cores.

 

[frenchyaz]

I am buying one to replace my power hungry server. I don't need 96GB and would be fine with 64GB. The specs are so-dimm 5200 but I'm contemplating the G-Skills one: G.SKILL Ripjaws SO-DIMM 64GB (2 x 32GB) 262-Pin DDR5 SO-DIMM DDR5 5600 (PC5 44800) Laptop Memory Model F5-5600S4040A32GX2-RS. They are 5600 with 40 latency. Before I order those, anybody tried them successfully?

 

[HQuest]

I'm really tempted to get one. Currently running ESXi though, is there workaround for performance/efficient cores by any chance?
I'd love to get my hands on same box with smaller CPU, such as 12500 for example (that doesn't have P/E cores).

Workaround is to disable efficiency cores.

Or keep all cores enabled, using the following flags:
ignoreMsrFaults=TRUE
cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic=FALSE

You can add them on boot time during install/first time, then add it later into your ESXi via GUI/esxcli (such as "esxcli system settings kernel set -s ignoreMsrFaults -v TRUE"). Keep in mind you will loose HT on your P-cores, so figure what makes more sense: higher core count but slower cores, or smaller core count but with faster HT. HT isn't recommended by VMWare anyway, but neither are these small CPUs, so ‍ ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

Now, back to this device: is this a Gen 3 x8 or better PCIe slot?

 

[powermatt]

I ordered one of these hours after it was announced. This is pretty much exactly what I've been looking for in a small home lab server, and it will hopefully take over running my Proxmox + Ceph cluster with more nodes in the future. This is an all-nvme storage cluster that also runs a few network services as VMs.

Great review, signed up just to say thanks
Would be nice to see the IOMMU groups, if the SFP+ ports could be passed through to a pfsense VM this could make a perfect edge based proxmox all in one box.
Do you have any intel quick assist pcie cards to test?

This is one of the first things I'll be testing. I want to see if I can also split the X710 into SR-IOV vNICs (the X710 does support it, whether or not the mobo does is the question).

Workaround is to disable efficiency cores.

I've tested this on a couple of 12th gen Intel machines with general Linux. I honestly couldn't tell the difference in perforamnce with the E cores disabled. Power also seemed very much the same. I ran two Proxmox nodes on 12th gen with E cores off for several months and it worked great.

As to what I'll be trying with my MS-01, it'll be taking the place of my oldest node, running its Intel X540 NIC in the expansion slot for a bit before I pick up some 10 gig RJ45 SFPs. I don't have much else that will fit in that slot besides a newer Intel X550, and a couple of the Aquantia 10 gig NICs (ASUS and TP-Link) that are identical to the one Patrick already tested. If it works out, I'll probably get a couple more and replace the other two nodes down the road.

For the curious, the current nodes are one HP Elitedesk G4 SFF (the dual nvme slots on the mobo are awesome, but these are hard to source), and two Dell Optiplex SFF machines, one 7060 and a 7040 (which need expansion cards to support a second nvme drive).

 

[dkrutsko]

I'm really excited about this system and went ahead and ordered one. The question I would like to see answered is about the Thunderbolt. In the video, Patrick mentioned support for Thunderbolt 3. Is that only for display output? What about the possibility of an eGPU. Could I connect a thunderbolt 3 enclosure with a 4090 to this system?