Minisforum MS-01 PCIe Card and RAM Compatibility Thread

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bobbysteel

Member
Nov 20, 2022
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Hello, I perused through the first forty pages of this thread but am having trouble finding a list of what people have tried that works and doesn't. I am debating what to use the x16 slots for, I was thinking maybe have a GPU in one and then a couple with a PCI-E card that allows two additional 22110 M.2s for Ceph in the others. For the GPU I saw "n3rdware" makes custom heatsinks that can work here but is out of stock for now. I also read something about 'cheap' M.2 expansion cards working but I'm not exactly sure I want to start trying ones on Amazon. Anyone have a recommendation for one?

Also, I think I'll be limited to two additional M.2s because of the unsupported 4x4x4x4 bifurcation but correct me if that is wrong.

Thanks!
Mail the nerdware guy as he doesn't always have stuff on the website but has some custom batches
 

Finlike3355

New Member
Mar 5, 2024
13
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Thank you so much! Theoretical max is 1GB/s, so its not too bad as a boot drive for Proxmox etc.
I didn't get that far in my testing but I'm not certain you can boot from that slot seeing as it's designed for network cards. I don't know for sure though.
 
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jro77

New Member
May 28, 2024
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Did you ever get this to work? I’ve connected my Sparkle a310 in and it never posts. MS01 boots fine without the gpu installed
Another data point on the a310 and the MS-01. I can't get it to post either. Without the GPU? A-OK.

Curious if you ever managed to get this working? I got the machine a few weeks ago and from what I can tell I believe it's got the latest BIOS firmware. I'll follow up tot his and send Minisforum a message to see if I can get some additional help. I'd really like to get this thing working.
 

Sebo

New Member
Jan 14, 2024
21
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My MS-01 posts with A310 Eco. I even successfully passed it to Windows VM. At least it’s been posting with 1.17 BIOS. Since then I updated to 1.22 and have not checked again (as the fan issue with A310 keeps me from using it).
 

jro77

New Member
May 28, 2024
5
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My MS-01 posts with A310 Eco. I even successfully passed it to Windows VM. At least it’s been posting with 1.17 BIOS. Since then I updated to 1.22 and have not checked again (as the fan issue with A310 keeps me from using it).
Very odd. That's the card I have.

Will check the bios version and see what's doing.

Very strange. I'm running 1.22 as well.
 
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thekobk

Member
Mar 2, 2024
33
11
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Very odd. That's the card I have.

Will check the bios version and see what's doing.

Very strange. I'm running 1.22 as well.
you must not have seen my posts. remove your m.2 from slot 1 and put it in slot 2, i bet it boots...
 

Ru55

New Member
Oct 20, 2023
3
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3
Indeed, looking for that A+E drive too, But for now I do not need another nvme slot.
M.2 2230 NVMe SSD | CIE-M3T425MMF128GS

It is an expensive drive for the capacity though, thinking about making an A+E slot in an "old" 64GB 2230 drive I have laying around. Maybe it will work.

Hi

I have used this adapter:-


The ribbon is long enough to route over to the space for the U2 Drive which then allows a 2280 nvme (so long as you are not using a U2 drive) and the case still fits.
 
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Tlex

New Member
May 12, 2024
14
3
3
I have 5x MS01 in a Proxmox cluster. Running about 40 "permanent" always ON VMs. 10 always on LXC containers. Storage is 15x 2TB Crucial T500 (3 per MS01). Ceph is running public and backend networking on bond1, which is 2x 10gb on each node. No transceivers, using direct cables from each MS01 to the 10g switch. Bond0 is 2x 2.5g on each MS01. Both bond0 and bond1are LACP.

Of the 40 VMs running, really just a mix of everything I need. DHCP, DNS, active directory, a Kubernetes worker on each node, Oracle databases, nested ESXi and vCenter, Proxmox Backup Server, pfSense, Plex, iVentoy (PXE boot version of Ventoy), AzureDevops (git repository), MeshCommander, MinIO, Kasm, a lot of stuff. Kubernetes hosts a bunch of databases, media manager, Guacamole, FreshRSS and probably 50 other deployments in total.

I have them mounted vertically in 6U of a super shallow depth rack - 12 inches deep. The front of the rack has 6U of fans pushing air directly into the front of the MS01s. To get most air through them, I designed and 3D printed a custom carrier for the MS01. The MS01 slide into place and lock with a latch at the back of the rack.

The cluster also has 5x i7 Intel NUCs, not because I designed it that way, but because I happen to have them already. Currently the GPUs are Thunderbolt attached to the i7 NUCs and using PCI passthrough for the VMs running Ollama, Open-Webui, Stable Diffusion, ComfyUI, Blender rendering and PiperTTS voice training - mostly.

The rack will get a lot cleaner once I design the mounts the NUCs, or just get rid of them and finish the rack with more MS01s. The single 1gb NIC on the NUCs really limits their usefulness. I also need to design/make the mounts for that growing collection of power bricks under the switch. They. aren't getting any cooling currently but the MS01 and NUCs are icy cold in normal operation.

View attachment 36782View attachment 36783
Stl please? :p
This is neat ! It seems a lot of cpu power ! Is it a homelab or you boss was on a budget for his entreprise solution ?
 

Tlex

New Member
May 12, 2024
14
3
3
My MS-01 (with i9-13900H CPU) arrived Sunday and my 96GB Crucial kit arrived today. One of the 48GB DIMMs is defective. I tried each one in both slots and one of them works in either slot and the other doesn't. If I have them both installed I get a blank screen. I only get an option from Amazon to return the memory, they won't send a replacement so I've ordered another kit which I'll have tomorrow.

Hopefully both of the new ones work. I supposed if one of the new ones is defective I could use the good one from each and return the two bad DIMMs. There's no serial number on the package.
When did you order your's ? I placed my order on may 11th and I'm wondering when it will arrive.
 

thekobk

Member
Mar 2, 2024
33
11
8
Sure as shootin' - this did it! Thank you kind stranger!
If you get a moment please email support and let them know. I have been working with them,this is a firmware bug and not a hardware issue. They gave me beta .23 but this didn't fix it.
 
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P00r

New Member
May 29, 2024
24
3
3
Im using kingston Fury 64G kit KF556S40IBK2 and running without problems.
It was much cheaper than crucial with better timings
Thanks for the post! I bought 2 x KF556S40IB-32, cheaper like you said, work fine so far, at first I tested 2 x Sabrent DDR5 at 4800Mhz, no luck booting so had no choice to upgr, I also fitted a YESTON TU117 based GeForce GTX 1650 in it
 

Quadrapole

New Member
May 14, 2024
3
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3
Hey All! Been following STH for a bit, but pretty new to the forum. Just wanted to jump in on the MS-01 hype, got mine a few days ago but haven't even been able to boot the damn thing since I'm still waiting on the 2x48GB RAM kit which isn't arriving until next week. T_T

I got this system to replace a couple of aging, power hungry hosts in my homelab and hopefully it'll replace the main storage host as well. The plan is to use the PCIe slot for an LSI 9206-16e HBA to attach a pair of MD1200 DAS units via SFF-8644/SFF-8088 cables going into a rack mount enclosure. Can't imagine the card wouldn't work, these HBA's seem to very well supported but I'll report back once I get a chance to get it up and running. Along with a few other pieces of equipment this system is allowing me to remove, I'm looking at something like a 700-800W power draw reduction for my homelab which I figure means this system will pay by for itself and break even within a year or so lol.

Not 100% sure what OS I'll be running on it, but I'll probably start off with XigmaNAS since that's what my storage host runs at the moment. Might be able to answer some of the pfSense/OPNsense questions since it's also FreeBSD based.

So far very impressed with the hardware though the PCIe retention mechanism is a PITA to work with which I think Patrick mentioned in the review. The HBA was a really tight fit, but the retention mechanism needlessly obstructs the slot opening which made it physically impossible to slot the card in without removing the PCIe bracket from the card and then screwing it back on once the card was slotted in.

Thank you for posting the pics. Was a really hard fit and didn't believe possible till I saw your pic.

I bought the same card and I'll let you know if it works (even yours is dead).