Topton i5 1135G7 Mini PC

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bhigh

Member
Oct 5, 2016
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The i5-1135G7 system arrived this weekend. I placed the order on June 17, making the delivery time about 3 weeks.

I purchased a barebone system and the memory I ordered hasn't arrived so I don't have any test results yet. I'll be running prime95 to test thermals and memtest.

At my request, Topton provided a copy of the motherboard's manual!

The motherboard model is TL500NA6L. Looking for it on Alibaba shows listings from 3 companies, but I believe they are all related.

Shenzhen Piesia Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.

Shenzhen ZunSia Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.
Several of the email addresses I found are at piesia.com.​

Chengqin Precision Science And Technologies (shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
The only company URL I could find is piesia88.en.alibaba.com

The case is marked 12V but the included power supply is 19V. I asked Topton to verify that it is the correct power adapter.
  1. Toptop responded and told me that the system can use 12V - 19V. The listing also mentions "Support wide voltage input 12-19V."
  2. The piesia.com product page specifies DC12V-19V, 85W
  3. There are screw posts on the motherboard for power as well.
  4. The provided power supply has Dell DP/N 0Y4M8K, 19V ~ 4.73A 90W. It has a 5.5 * 2.5 barrel connector.
Ironically, this is the second mini pc I've received this month that has a different power supply voltage than the system indicates. The other is a ZX01 which came with a (very non-standards compliant, with only 2 leads) 12V USB-C power adapter that requests 15V in USB-PD negotiation.

Additionally, there is an M.2 standoff for a 2242 drive. They include "1xM.2 2242 to 2280 PCB board" to allow for a longer drive, however it ends up elevating the end about 1/4" above level. I've ordered an M.2 2242 drive rather than risk it.

There is an mPCIe socket on the SOC side of the board, this would be used for wifi or a 4G/5G card. There is a SIM card holder on the mainboard.
 
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bhigh

Member
Oct 5, 2016
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The memory and SSD arrived and I've installed linux on it for some testing. In order to get it to boot I had to unplug the CMOS battery and short the pins while the power was unplugged. After that it booted and I was able to enter the BIOS.

Cooling does not seem to be sufficient to run prime95. After about 5 minutes the core temperatures are over 75 degrees, and more worryingly the NVMe drive temperature reached 86.8 degrees. The CPU throttled to 2.2 GHz after the boost timer expired.

I shouldn't be surprised by the thermal performance, but I'm a little disappointed. I think I have some good thermal paste around so it may be worth re-applying.

I may add some additional ventilation holes to the base and install a 60x60x10 fan where the 2.5" drive would normally go. An issue with this is that the fan headers run at the input DC voltage so the supplied 19V power adapter would most likely burn out the fan.

Code:
# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep 'cpu MHz' ; sensors
cpu MHz         : 2200.001
cpu MHz         : 2199.998
cpu MHz         : 2199.998
cpu MHz         : 2200.000
cpu MHz         : 2200.000
cpu MHz         : 2200.001
cpu MHz         : 2200.000
cpu MHz         : 2200.000
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +77.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +76.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +77.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +75.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +75.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

acpitz-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
temp1:        +27.8°C  (crit = +119.0°C)

nvme-pci-0100
Adapter: PCI adapter
Composite:    +86.8°C  (low  =  -0.1°C, high = +84.8°C)  ALARM
                       (crit = +85.8°C)
Sensor 1:     +85.8°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)
Sensor 2:     +91.8°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)
 

mubs

New Member
Nov 24, 2019
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I'm also curious about this. I bought the i7 unit, as I wanted it to use it as a replacement for my main server.
The ssd temp went way to high on my unit as well.I ordered a heatsink to install on the ssd unit, but I doubt it will make much of a difference.
Now I am thinking of installing a big cooler on top of the case and see if that would help dissipate the heat better.
 
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bhigh

Member
Oct 5, 2016
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The ssd temp went way to high on my unit as well.I ordered a heatsink to install on the ssd unit, but I doubt it will make much of a difference.
Now I am thinking of installing a big cooler on top of the case and see if that would help dissipate the heat better.
An SSD heatsink isn't likely to do much. It'll give a little more thermal mass, but without airflow or some other way to move the heat it'll just slow down how long it takes to heat up or cool down.

I have some pics with the thermal paste that was present on my unit:
That's a lot of thermal paste. I wonder if a thermal pad would work better.

How smooth is the heatsink? It looks like there are a lot of machining marks.
 

bhigh

Member
Oct 5, 2016
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My system died sometime over the weekend. It will no longer POST or show any display output, even after resetting the CMOS, swapping memory, and removing the NVMe drive.

Before the system died, I noticed that the memory timings in the BIOS did not match what was installed. I was using G.Skill F4-3200C22D-64GRS which is 3200MT/s @ 22-22-22-52, however the BIOS reported it running at 3200MT/s @ 19-19-19-43.

I'm unsure of the cause of death, however the case was uncomfortably hot to touch. I wouldn't be surprised if it cooked itself to death, but I wouldn't rule out the memory timings causing an issue either.The system had been sitting idle. Proxmox PVE was installed but with no configured VMs or containers.

I've contacted Topton and AliExpress and they have issued a return and refund, including the cost of shipping it back.
 
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mubs

New Member
Nov 24, 2019
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I reapplied thermal paste to it, but that made no difference. I left it over night running memtest and I found some errors in the morning. I think that's just because the processor got to 88 degrees (celsius) maximum and the case itself was at about 70.
Topton advised me to purchase an USB cooler.
Screenshot 2022-07-18 092735.jpg
I went ahead and orderd NF-F12 industrialPPC-24V-3000 Q100 IP67 PWM as it supports 24V so it should be safe with 19V as well. I will post results afterwards
 

gregg098

Member
Jun 7, 2019
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I reapplied thermal paste to it, but that made no difference. I left it over night running memtest and I found some errors in the morning. I think that's just because the processor got to 88 degrees (celsius) maximum and the case itself was at about 70.
Topton advised me to purchase an USB cooler.
View attachment 23607
I went ahead and orderd NF-F12 industrialPPC-24V-3000 Q100 IP67 PWM as it supports 24V so it should be safe with 19V as well. I will post results afterwards
You could always get something like this maybe? I bought one of these and put it under the N6005 Topton unit. Idle temps are around 33C. I know were talking different machines, but this just plugs into a USB port so you dont have much to install.
 

mubs

New Member
Nov 24, 2019
9
0
1
I have an update.
I received the fan that I ordered and I found an old fan lying around the house that had a 3 pin connector which I used to replace the 4 pin one that came with the noctua fan.
After leaving the box running memtest over night with the fan on top of the unit, it didn't go above 53 degrees celsius. So i'm kinda happy with this.
Right now is idling at about 37, with the SSD at about 57 (hotter than i'd like)
Code:
# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep 'cpu MHz' ; sensors
cpu MHz         : 2800.000
cpu MHz         : 2800.000
cpu MHz         : 2800.000
cpu MHz         : 2800.000
cpu MHz         : 2800.000
cpu MHz         : 2800.000
cpu MHz         : 2800.000
cpu MHz         : 2175.048
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +37.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +31.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +31.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +30.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +31.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

acpitz-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
temp1:        +27.8°C  (crit = +119.0°C)

nvme-pci-0100
Adapter: PCI adapter
Composite:    +57.9°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +69.8°C)
                       (crit = +79.8°C)
 

mubs

New Member
Nov 24, 2019
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I just measured the voltage of the system fan connector and it supplies 5V, not 19V.
Also I think a fan is needed to cool the SSD as it happened a few times for it to get to 70 and it just stopped.
 
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bhigh

Member
Oct 5, 2016
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I just measured the voltage of the system fan connector and it supplies 5V, not 19V.
Also I think a fan is needed to cool the SSD as it happened a few times for it to get to 70 and it just stopped.
I noticed that the current listing on AliExpress has 2 heat pipes for the CPU block and the bottom cover has vents and a fan cut out. They're probably getting returns due to overheating.

That's good to know, it'll make getting the right fan easier. The manual says:

CPU fan interface, supports automatic speed adjustment. The maximum fan voltage is equal to the input supply voltage, when the input When the power supply voltage is high, pay attention to select the appropriate fan. SYS fans do not support automatic speed adjustment.
But it also says the fan interface supports a max of 5V ~ 0.3A.
 

mubs

New Member
Nov 24, 2019
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I made a dispute for the order and the vendor is offering to swap the model I have for the new version, which is nice, but I still find it annoying that I got the "older" version.
 

bhigh

Member
Oct 5, 2016
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49
I made a dispute for the order and the vendor is offering to swap the model I have for the new version, which is nice, but I still find it annoying that I got the "older" version.
I tried once and got a system that failed. I don't honestly believe that the new cooling solution will help unless you add a fan to cool the ssd.

I'm going to hold off and stick with my current J3160 based hardware for a little bit longer.
 

mubs

New Member
Nov 24, 2019
9
0
1
One more update: After much back and forth Aliexpress gave me back 100 US off the price of the unit, so instead of 500 US, I paid only 400 US. I think that for this money it is great value - even tho I have to use an external fan for it ;).
 

bhigh

Member
Oct 5, 2016
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I got my refund a few days ago. Topton said they would also refund my shipping (around $75) but so far they have not.
 

qQ4lXbYj

New Member
Jun 15, 2021
13
1
1
Hmm I got this unit and first thing I did was to replace the thermal paste and I have also ordered a USB 5V Noctua fan.
I installed Proxmox on it and it keeps restarting every few minutes. This is persistent even after starting from cold.
The problem is that even the login screen seems like it is running on a 286, it just feels so slow.
`cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep 'cpu MHz'` returns frequencies of 3200MHz which is much higher than the rated 2.4GHz.
Also running memtest86+ just goes into a black screen.


This is not going to be a smooth ride.
 
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Jakub

New Member
Oct 16, 2022
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Honestly, I would have gotten a +5V USB fan right away after noticing the temps. I got one similar that Gregg098 ordered for my N5105. I ended up getting a 140mm one instead as they tend to run quieter and push more air.

I didn't bother to check the thermal paste in mine. I'm sure it's crap and poorly applied, but the fan fixed all my temperature issues.

It lowered temps considerably and the case is no longer hot to the touch at idle.
 

wellerbm

New Member
Jan 7, 2023
3
1
3
The i5-1135G7 system arrived this weekend. I placed the order on June 17, making the delivery time about 3 weeks.

I purchased a barebone system and the memory I ordered hasn't arrived so I don't have any test results yet. I'll be running prime95 to test thermals and memtest.

At my request, Topton provided a copy of the motherboard's manual!

The motherboard model is TL500NA6L. Looking for it on Alibaba shows listings from 3 companies, but I believe they are all related.
Do you still have a copy of the manual? the link in the post is dead.