Check the initial STH review. I'm pretty sure one of the PCIE cards that Patrick tested was an external SATA card from a QNAP SATA JBOD. And at least one LSI external SAS HBA has been confirmed to work as well.
Minisforum MS-01 PCIe Card and RAM Compatibility Thread
- Thread starter Patrick
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I have mine connected to a KTN-STL3 via a LSI 9207-8e (didn't need a faster card). Doing fine so far, running TrueNAS Core in a VM on proxmox with the HBA passed through. Performance seems to be what I would expect with the spinning disks.
If you can find out how tall the heatsink is, the U.2/NVME slot can fit a U.2 drive up to 7mm thick, plus about ~1mm for the adapter. So you could potentially fit something up to about 8mm total thickness. Maybe? Roll the dice and report back, for science!I'm planning to get a Samsung 990 pro 4TB for my ms-01 and I'm struggling to decide if I should buy the one with a heat sink or not. The one with a heat sink is a bit cheaper and could help with the heat, but will it fit? Does anyone know?
I'm using an Icybox IB-564SSK Backplane connected to an ASMedia SATA card without a bracket and running the sata cables through the bracket slot, with the Icybox powered by an ATX PSU. I'll admit it's not a looker but it works well, running 4x 18TB for Unraid.
Thanks for the info! The specs I found said 8.8mm. Ordered the non heat sink version.
I just got my MS-01 Yesterday, I do have one 990Pro no heatsink and one WD BLACK 2TB SN850P for PS5 Consoles (was cheaper)with a big heatsink .I'm planning to get a Samsung 990 pro 4TB for my ms-01 and I'm struggling to decide if I should buy the one with a heat sink or not. The one with a heat sink is a bit cheaper and could help with the heat, but will it fit? Does anyone know?
One thing that is important is that only one slot supports 7000mb/s the second supports 3500 and the third (which is the one with less clearence)supports I believe 1000!
So you want your SSD on the faster slot which has tons of space.
I will setup mine in the weekend if my crucial 96 arrive today.
I need to figure out if I can put the one of the SSD on the PCIe slot with an adapter, which should allow fulls speed but I read something about bifurcation etc etc, maybe someone can shed a light in this thread!
Whats the name of the adapter you put in place of the wifi card?, and how did it go the passthrough? its a shame only one slot get full speed, I may try to put the second nvme on a pcie adapter to get full speed
This sounds like a common issue not only for the MS-01, probably the driver used for the PCIe or USB device does not revert to its original state after the VM is shut down
So YOU'RE the one who bought them out from under me! I was looking at a listing with 6 or 7 available and by the time I got home from work they were gone! Grr...
I bought mine months ago.. all sold out nowSo YOU'RE the one who bought them out from under me! I was looking at a listing with 6 or 7 available and by the time I got home from work they were gone! Grr...
I received a ms-01 i5-12600H a couple of days ago. It came with 2x16 GB Crucial DDR5-5600 CT16G56C46S5.M8G1. The BIOS has it clocked at 4800 (cpu limit).
I've also put a NICGIGA 4 port 2.5Gbe card in the PCIe slot. It is recognized OK. However, the top most Ethernet port is blocked by the plastic of the case face plate. To use that port, I'll either have to run it with the plate off or get the snips and dremel out to cut the plastic away.
I've also put a NICGIGA 4 port 2.5Gbe card in the PCIe slot. It is recognized OK. However, the top most Ethernet port is blocked by the plastic of the case face plate. To use that port, I'll either have to run it with the plate off or get the snips and dremel out to cut the plastic away.
Oh no, I think I have a defective unit. I have 2 units, one 12900H and one 13900H. If I install a Intel a310 in the 12900H it works as expected however if I install the same card in the 13900H it won't boot pass the bios, it quits seeing the nvme and the mouse stops working. I've emailed support to see what they suggest. I hope it's a bios issue or something. It definitely sees the GPU and I get video out of it.
Well we can add the crucial T500 to the list of things that causes compatibility issues with this device. If I have it in slot 1 with no GPU it works perfectly but with GPU no boot. Put it in slot 2 and I can have both nvme and GPU. They definitely need to update bios, that or somehow they used too many pcie lanes. Samsung 990 Evo doesn't have these issues in slot 1 btw
Hi, i'm using this pcie adapter, working perfectly with an Intel SSD DC P4511. You can't have a pcie card with 2 or more NVME slot unless the card is equipped with his own pcie bifurcation ship (these cards will run hot and are costly)
Guys i had said before i wanted to put my MS-01 to a bigger box and i finally did it
In specific i bought this case Raijintek Ophion Mini Tower. The reason for this case was after extensive searching, that it had the motherboard almost in the center of the box and with that you are able to have air in the back side also where are the SSD's.
This case needs a 15mm height 120mm fan in the bottom to feed air, where i bought an NOCTUA NF-A12X15 FLX FAN 120MM and at the top i installed a normal Noctua 120mm.
In the Case i just drilled a bit from the back top where the MB whole is, so the MS-01 without the external sleeve, just slided in there perfectly.
Now the nice part is not this.. its what i did with the 1 Pci slot of the machine. I had bought the Multiplexer card that some said its working here (and it worked fine) and this one in specific
Dual NVMe PCIe Adapter,M.2 NVMe SSD to PCI-E 3.1 X8/X16 Card Support M.2 (M Key) NVMe SSD 22110/2280/2260/2242
and on this card i had put 2 x m.2 cards
The 1st is a M.2 M Key NVMe External Graphics Card Stand Holder 64Gbs Full Speed with PCIe 4.0 x4 Booster Cable R43SG Upgraded for Graphics Card 1660 Top (50 cm K43SG) where on it i installed my Radeon 6400
The 2nd is a M.2 to Renesas USB3 card from Delock. I needed the Renesas chipset to be certain that will work in ESXI.
Also i bought an 750w SFX PSU to feed the R43SG card and to have power if i need for a bigger GFX Card. Atm i have a Radeon 6400 on the machine and doesnt need extra power. But the SFX power supply gave me also the well needed molex and sata power cables because have of the cards i did put in the machine and the fans needed extra power (i dont feed the fan from the extra PSU yet because i cannot control their speed).
Now, when the machine starts, the RS43SG auto starts also the extra power supply and all is fine.
I havent found yet the best way to start the MS-01 since its inside a bigger box... ok i can start it with Wol of course but i have a spare SwitchBot that i can put it in the button but also i can find a way to connect the original Ophion Case button, to the MS-01 button but havent had the time yet to do it.
Guys the temps of the CPU dropped at idle to +5 to +7 of the ambient temperature and in full load i dont exceed the 68c. Also my 2 NVMEs and the 1 PM983 never pass the 59c no matter what i do so i am completely happy with that.
Another thing that i gain now is that because i did managed to install as i explained a Renesas USB3 card in the machine, i can easily now install ESXI for my Windows VM with the GFX Passthrough but i stay like this for now since i am ok with Proxmox.
I will post some photos tommorow, and i still need to put inside the machine something to be able to controll the fan speeds. I have a Corsair iCue controller and a 5.25 controller also where both have temp sensors and you can do fan curves etc according to temperature, but i havent decided yet what i will put inside. Atm the fans are just getting power from a usb of the machine at 5V so they work at low speed but its fine.
I am pretty happy really with the overall result even if it did cost a ton more money than to buy and build a normal pc.. but where is the fan in that?
In specific i bought this case Raijintek Ophion Mini Tower. The reason for this case was after extensive searching, that it had the motherboard almost in the center of the box and with that you are able to have air in the back side also where are the SSD's.
This case needs a 15mm height 120mm fan in the bottom to feed air, where i bought an NOCTUA NF-A12X15 FLX FAN 120MM and at the top i installed a normal Noctua 120mm.
In the Case i just drilled a bit from the back top where the MB whole is, so the MS-01 without the external sleeve, just slided in there perfectly.
Now the nice part is not this.. its what i did with the 1 Pci slot of the machine. I had bought the Multiplexer card that some said its working here (and it worked fine) and this one in specific
Dual NVMe PCIe Adapter,M.2 NVMe SSD to PCI-E 3.1 X8/X16 Card Support M.2 (M Key) NVMe SSD 22110/2280/2260/2242
and on this card i had put 2 x m.2 cards
The 1st is a M.2 M Key NVMe External Graphics Card Stand Holder 64Gbs Full Speed with PCIe 4.0 x4 Booster Cable R43SG Upgraded for Graphics Card 1660 Top (50 cm K43SG) where on it i installed my Radeon 6400
The 2nd is a M.2 to Renesas USB3 card from Delock. I needed the Renesas chipset to be certain that will work in ESXI.
Also i bought an 750w SFX PSU to feed the R43SG card and to have power if i need for a bigger GFX Card. Atm i have a Radeon 6400 on the machine and doesnt need extra power. But the SFX power supply gave me also the well needed molex and sata power cables because have of the cards i did put in the machine and the fans needed extra power (i dont feed the fan from the extra PSU yet because i cannot control their speed).
Now, when the machine starts, the RS43SG auto starts also the extra power supply and all is fine.
I havent found yet the best way to start the MS-01 since its inside a bigger box... ok i can start it with Wol of course but i have a spare SwitchBot that i can put it in the button but also i can find a way to connect the original Ophion Case button, to the MS-01 button but havent had the time yet to do it.
Guys the temps of the CPU dropped at idle to +5 to +7 of the ambient temperature and in full load i dont exceed the 68c. Also my 2 NVMEs and the 1 PM983 never pass the 59c no matter what i do so i am completely happy with that.
Another thing that i gain now is that because i did managed to install as i explained a Renesas USB3 card in the machine, i can easily now install ESXI for my Windows VM with the GFX Passthrough but i stay like this for now since i am ok with Proxmox.
I will post some photos tommorow, and i still need to put inside the machine something to be able to controll the fan speeds. I have a Corsair iCue controller and a 5.25 controller also where both have temp sensors and you can do fan curves etc according to temperature, but i havent decided yet what i will put inside. Atm the fans are just getting power from a usb of the machine at 5V so they work at low speed but its fine.
I am pretty happy really with the overall result even if it did cost a ton more money than to buy and build a normal pc.. but where is the fan in that?
I see thermal concerns have been raised many times on this thread for MS-01 i9 particular when running full blast. And folks have devised several clever contraptions to keep temperature in check.
After doing some thorough research had I know, would have totally opted for solution below:
Minisforum -- the Mini ITX AR900i for $539 on Amazon right now and in stock. There is AMD version too with equally good CPU, but you're going to miss QuickSync.
Good:
1. Better i9 CPU than MS-01. i9-13900HX support x8-x8 PCI bifurcation on PCI Gen5 x16 slot. Support is there in BIOS
2. Four M.2 slots, all 2280. No 22110 slot for enterprise NVME but here is a way out. More on this later
3. Large heat sink and 120mm can be easily replaced. Put Noctua 120mm. Much better thermals than MS-01
Bad:
1. No built in x710 10G SFP+ NIC. Only one i226 2.5G NIC. But hey, genuine dual x710 SFP+ NIC is eBay about 100 bucks.
Mounting one 22110 NVME and Dual 10G SFP+ NIC using x8-x8 PCI bifurcation. While this PCI extension can support x2 22100 NVME, one front, one back. PCI x8-x8 will render only one useful. Do note that AMD equivalent MiniITX does support x4x4x4.
And finally to put it all together, the Lzmod 5L mini A24-V5 dual-slot single Mini ITX case.
1. Only 24x23x9cm (vs 19x20x5cm on MS-10) this thing is tiny -- super compact with ability to add additional fans and not to mention 1U Flex PSU, much reliable than using Pico power supply
2. Yes, there is room for one 2.5 in drive, so mounting U.2 is doable using M.2 to U.2 adapter.
After doing some thorough research had I know, would have totally opted for solution below:
Minisforum -- the Mini ITX AR900i for $539 on Amazon right now and in stock. There is AMD version too with equally good CPU, but you're going to miss QuickSync.
Good:
1. Better i9 CPU than MS-01. i9-13900HX support x8-x8 PCI bifurcation on PCI Gen5 x16 slot. Support is there in BIOS
2. Four M.2 slots, all 2280. No 22110 slot for enterprise NVME but here is a way out. More on this later
3. Large heat sink and 120mm can be easily replaced. Put Noctua 120mm. Much better thermals than MS-01
Bad:
1. No built in x710 10G SFP+ NIC. Only one i226 2.5G NIC. But hey, genuine dual x710 SFP+ NIC is eBay about 100 bucks.
Mounting one 22110 NVME and Dual 10G SFP+ NIC using x8-x8 PCI bifurcation. While this PCI extension can support x2 22100 NVME, one front, one back. PCI x8-x8 will render only one useful. Do note that AMD equivalent MiniITX does support x4x4x4.
And finally to put it all together, the Lzmod 5L mini A24-V5 dual-slot single Mini ITX case.
1. Only 24x23x9cm (vs 19x20x5cm on MS-10) this thing is tiny -- super compact with ability to add additional fans and not to mention 1U Flex PSU, much reliable than using Pico power supply
2. Yes, there is room for one 2.5 in drive, so mounting U.2 is doable using M.2 to U.2 adapter.
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