Topton Jasper Lake Quad i225V Mini PC Report

[BoomBangCrash]

Yeah was surprised by that 4W rating.

Depends on what's in it - i've quad core i7 lenovo laptops that I can get below 2w with 16GB, a 2TB SSD and live Intel gigbit LAN (screen off). 4w is easily believable with one nic (they use 0.5w-0.75w each idle) and a CPU on the latest process.

I always wonder why the Intel NUCs use over 6w idle when a laptop with the same bits in it (and additional battery circuitry) is a third of that.

 

[Stovar]

I have been testing openwrt on my unit, and holy F it super light weight lmao. and been running stable since 3 days without any hiccups,for some reason browsing seems kinda more responsive compared to barebone opnsense/pfsense installations (could be placebo)
edit: could be related to linux kernel being multithreaded compared on FreeBSD being single threaded for PPPOE?

Nice to see a fellow opernwrt user I thought I was the only one around here! Did you have to build the iso with any particular build number or add the kmod or intel i226 drivers?

Am going to do similar when my N5105x6 port unit arrives.

 

[efahl]

Nice to see a fellow opernwrt user I thought I was the only one around here! Did you have to build the iso with any particular build number or add the kmod or intel i226 drivers?

Yeah, I prefer OpenWrt, too. Much faster than pfSense/OPNsense for everything I do. My main router is an APU2 (AMD Jaguar x86) running the release version of OpenWrt with SQM (cake), secure+private DNS, NTP, server, a couple dozen firewall rules and whole-house ad blocking; the CPU never breaks a sweat.

On the N5105 experimental subnet router, I initially ran the release 22.03 version, but now run the SNAPSHOT branch of OpenWrt. Installation was just "download, install and go", nothing to be done for the I226 drivers (kmod-igc) as they're already there at least since the 5.10 kernel in the current release version. I use this box to set up configurations and play with new stuff before deciding whether to put it on the "production" box.

 

[Stovar]

Yeah, I prefer OpenWrt, too. Much faster than pfSense/OPNsense for everything I do. My main router is an APU2 (AMD Jaguar x86) running the release version of OpenWrt with SQM (cake), secure+private DNS, NTP, server, a couple dozen firewall rules and whole-house ad blocking; the CPU never breaks a sweat.

On the N5105 experimental subnet router, I initially ran the release 22.03 version, but now run the SNAPSHOT branch of OpenWrt. Installation was just "download, install and go", nothing to be done for the I226 drivers (kmod-igc) as they're already there at least since the 5.10 kernel in the current release version. I use this box to set up configurations and play with new stuff before deciding whether to put it on the "production" box.

Very nice set up, yeah when I ran openwrtx86 recently on an old PC I noticed it was snappy and stable, felt an immediate keeper.

One area I think OPNsense may have is those energy wattage tweaks to get slightly lower idle watts not sure openwrtx86 has any settings or tweaks like that. I will try and get some N5105 idle and max wattage readings when I get my kit though.

Still its good to hear i226 is fine with latest snapshot, makes it a bit more easier when new with openwrtx86.

 

[cdenny]

I've just got a HUNSN N5105 unit with 4xI226-V nics, I've got opnsense running and it's all been great (just testing it behind a double nat ATM), but one issue is plaguing me. When power is restored (even after a proper shutdown and it gets unplugged) it goes into the EFI Shell, not the first boot device which is the NVME drive with opnsense. I have to cycle power with the button for it to boot properly. Any ideas?
EDIT: Just exited the shell, bios says no NVME found. Power cycle with power button and it's back.
EDIT EDIT: I changed what m2 slot the drive is plugged in to (now in the one near the side), it appears to be fine now.

 

[efahl]

One area I think OPNsense may have is those energy wattage tweaks to get slightly lower idle watts not sure openwrtx86 has any settings or tweaks like that. I will try and get some N5105 idle and max wattage readings when I get my kit though.

I have had mine on the powermeter for about 6 weeks now, and its average over that time is 9.1 W (that's with two NICs in use and very low traffic). I have done various experiments, say running iperf3 via loopback (so two instances talking to each other) and CPU goes way up, but power hits maybe 16-18 W for a few seconds.

I've got power save enabled, which like you said, isn't as broad and tunable as the BSD options, but maybe does something?

$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_governor
powersave

There's a thread on the OpenWrt forums right now that's looking at power numbers if you disable the iGPU, I'm curious to see if it results in anything. Different box, but similar CPU chip, so should apply to all the Intel boxes we're talking about on this thread: Silly little i915 issue on x86

 

[Stovar]

I have had mine on the powermeter for about 6 weeks now, and its average over that time is 9.1 W (that's with two NICs in use and very low traffic). I have done various experiments, say running iperf3 via loopback (so two instances talking to each other) and CPU goes way up, but power hits maybe 16-18 W for a few seconds.

I've got power save enabled, which like you said, isn't as broad and tunable as the BSD options, but maybe does something?

$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_governor
powersave

There's a thread on the OpenWrt forums right now that's looking at power numbers if you disable the iGPU, I'm curious to see if it results in anything. Different box, but similar CPU chip, so should apply to all the Intel boxes we're talking about on this thread: Silly little i915 issue on x86

thanks good info, those figures are decent still and similar to others had here give or take a few watts, many were hitting around 8-9 watts at idle and 15-19W peaking, I think I would be happy with those numbers just out the box alone.

There were some threads here, here, here, here, here that discussed C-states, powerD and stability concerns, still interesting read over on openwrt regarding the iGPU. If that power save work does something use it really, every bit helps you might find some bios tweaks in those links could help just might be good to double check stability too.

I am guessing a lot of us around here are from Europe and effected sharply by the energy crisis or just want that router type low watts feeling, my electricity and gas prices are going up by 40% this April so lots of fun ahead.

 

[yahyoh]

Nice to see a fellow opernwrt user I thought I was the only one around here! Did you have to build the iso with any particular build number or add the kmod or intel i226 drivers?

Am going to do similar when my N5105x6 port unit arrives.

Actually i have used the latest stable build. however,it was a bit hassle to get the thing installed though and running. sadly openwrt does not have any bootable installer. you have to use some linux build to format the disk and copy the data to it, then resize the disk.
Also, the i226 drivers were already included on the stable build.
it is now been running since one week, and been super stable meanwhile i have tested the snapshots of pfsense which includes the i226 drivers and it sucked, the router kept rebooting and hanging for some reason..

 

[yahyoh]

I've just got a HUNSN N5105 unit with 4xI226-V nics, I've got opnsense running and it's all been great (just testing it behind a double nat ATM), but one issue is plaguing me. When power is restored (even after a proper shutdown and it gets unplugged) it goes into the EFI Shell, not the first boot device which is the NVME drive with opnsense. I have to cycle power with the button for it to boot properly. Any ideas?
EDIT: Just exited the shell, bios says no NVME found. Power cycle with power button and it's back.
EDIT EDIT: I changed what m2 slot the drive is plugged in to (now in the one near the side), it appears to be fine now.

Well i have the same damn issue,i tried to play with bios without any good results, it seems the NMVE drive does not get detected by the bios after power loss.
i did some more testing using the pfsense installer after unplugging the device and repluging it, and it did not detect the NVME drive till i force reboot it.
i guess its a bug in the bios, i try to reinstall the drive in the other slot. hopefully it will fix it.

 

[Stovar]

Actually i have used the latest stable build. however,it was a bit hassle to get the thing installed though and running. sadly openwrt does not have any bootable installer. you have to use some linux build to format the disk and copy the data to it, then resize the disk.
Also, the i226 drivers were already included on the stable build.
it is now been running since one week, and been super stable meanwhile i have tested the snapshots of pfsense which includes the i226 drivers and it sucked, the router kept rebooting and hanging for some reason..

cheers good to know its fine even on the latest stable build also ill probably stick with just that also, yeah its a pitta to do that partition resizing thing I found vantechs guide very long since its all command line and linux driven so was thinking this time I might try a usb bootable disk partitioning software that might be able to just do the hard work via a GUI like aomei partition wizard will give it a go and let you know if its any good and quicker.

 

[yahyoh]

cheers good to know its fine even on the latest stable build also ill probably stick with just that also, yeah its a pitta to do that partition resizing thing I found vantechs guide very long since its all command line and linux driven so was thinking this time I might try a usb bootable disk partitioning software that might be able to just do the hard work via a GUI like aomei partition wizard will give it a go and let you know if its any good and quicker.

i actually found using linux terminal to do the installation was frustrating as im not that nerdy lmao.
here what i did after some research, which only took few mins to do:
1-create bootable Ubuntu USB
2-choose test Ubuntu while booting
3- install rufus or etcher and gparted
4-format the disk to ext4 using gparted.
5-download the openwrt and unpack it
6-open etcher and choose the unpacked openwrt iso -> choose the correct desk and proceed.
7-after it is done, open gparted again and delete the empty partition then extend the openwrt partition to full disk size and apply the changes
8- reboot then remove the usb desk, and it should start up to openwrt.
9-connect the ethernet and start the config.
10-profit.

 

[Fatboy]

I've just got a HUNSN N5105 unit with 4xI226-V nics, I've got opnsense running and it's all been great (just testing it behind a double nat ATM), but one issue is plaguing me. When power is restored (even after a proper shutdown and it gets unplugged) it goes into the EFI Shell, not the first boot device which is the NVME drive with opnsense. I have to cycle power with the button for it to boot properly. Any ideas?
EDIT: Just exited the shell, bios says no NVME found. Power cycle with power button and it's back.
EDIT EDIT: I changed what m2 slot the drive is plugged in to (now in the one near the side), it appears to be fine now.

I confirm your observations. CWWK V5 N6005 4xi226. Installed two SSDs. SSD falls off only in slot 0. Turning off the power and turning it on again helps. I can swap the SSDs, but I need both to implement my idea. I don't know what to do, any ideas?

 

[efahl]

I just used my Ventoy USB, already had an Ubuntu bootable (or maybe Fedora? Mint? got a bunch o' distros it) to it, copied the OpenWrt img to it, booted the N5105 from the USB, dd the img to /dev/sda and rebooted. I don't think it took even 10 minutes to get OpenWrt booting on the device.

 

[oneplane]

I confirm your observations. CWWK V5 N6005 4xi226. Installed two SSDs. SSD falls off only in slot 0. Turning off the power and turning it on again helps. I can swap the SSDs, but I need both to implement my idea. I don't know what to do, any ideas?

This has to do with some sort of clock availability. Some SSD require a specific clock on their M.2 slots and some don't, and there is only one clock available so using an SSD in a slot that doesn't have that clock, or using two SSDs that need those clocks but only one is available will make it behave like that.

 

[Becks0815]

Related question to all of those machines:

A lot of people are interested in the power consumption, and beside optimizing the machine and software, the choice of the power supply is a relevant aspect. Has anyone already found a 12V GaN power supply, installed it and was able to measure the efficiency, especially at low loads?

A good 12V supply like the Meanwell 65W adapter I have (around 88% efficiency) is a good starting point, but there is always something which can be improved, and a GaN charger with a even higher efficiency rating would be an option.

Hint: if you plug in a splitter box like this one here between power supply and computer and do some simple soldering, you can connect multiple machines to a single power supply in a very simple way. By doing this, the total combined consumption might be higher than 10W,which pushes the power supply in the range where it has a better efficiency rating. It seems that a lot of them are rather in the range of 70-75% on a load below the 10W barrier, so by doing this you can cut off maybe 10% consumption in a simple way.

 

[oneplane]

I think you could use a USB-C to Barrel converter with USB-PD which allows you to use any USB-PD adapter (including GaN).

 

[Becks0815]

Don't think this will work. All adapters I checked have multiple current settings. Starting at 5V, going up to 9V, then 12V and some even to 19V. But to do this the adapters need to communicate with the attached hardware. It just can't increase the current until the client goes bang, but needs to know if a higher voltage is support.

So what should happen with a dumb connection: it stays at 5V, the starting voltage.

 

[oneplane]

Don't think this will work. All adapters I checked have multiple current settings. Starting at 5V, going up to 9V, then 12V and some even to 19V. But to do this the adapters need to communicate with the attached hardware. It just can't increase the current until the client goes bang, but needs to know if a higher voltage is support.

So what should happen with a dumb connection: it stays at 5V, the starting voltage.

Not a 'shape' converter, but one with a chip that speaks USB-PD and has current and voltage settings ;-) I think one of those was featured on LTT.

 

[Becks0815]

Not a 'shape' converter, but one with a chip that speaks USB-PD and has current and voltage settings ;-) I think one of those was featured on LTT.

This one here: USB Type C 3.1 PD to 5.5mm Barrel Jack Cable - 12V 5A Output -interesting.

And it gets better: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804376177668.html - this is a chip only solution, so you can start builing your own cables. And this is fascinating.

 

[oneplane]

This one here: USB Type C 3.1 PD to 5.5mm Barrel Jack Cable - 12V 5A Output -interesting

Didn't even know they were already making moulded versions The ones I was thinking of still had just USB-C on one end and phoenix connectors/screw terminals on the other end.