Topton Jasper Lake Quad i225V Mini PC Report

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Snk B

Member
Jul 19, 2022
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Guys, has anyone used Hyper-V on these minipc's?
It would be interesting to see how it performs for Ubuntu Server + pfSense virtualization
 

dazagrt

Active Member
Mar 1, 2021
195
97
28
I do admit that my first attempt at 3D is not going to win any design awards, but messy? In my book it can't be messy if it's square (see attached photos)
Perhaps venting on more than one side and the HDD not resting on the top, give the bottom plate some slots and raise it off the resting surface with some silicone or rubber feet too for both air and vibration?
 

Ipse

New Member
Aug 21, 2022
8
4
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It might get shouted down, but if you are unsure use a thermal pad!
---------------
True, circulating hot air around a case is not ideal but oddly enough forcing air on onto a surface is more effective at heat transfer than relying on convection currents or potential difference, even if it's warm air. The real answer is that you need to do both.
Even if you need to make some ducting out of cardboard or a cut-down small plastic juice bottle to ensure the hot component gets a singular flow of air, as in server cases.
Part of the mystery solved...I hope it helps others: I tried your suggestion with thermal pad - no dice, worse temps. Then I took a light and peeked under the mobo to see if I can spot what prevents the CPU to make proper contact with the copper block: the the bloody additional aluminum block used as radiator (north of CPU).
Since it has cutouts in it (i assume those fitting in are voltage regulators?) of course it's not machined properly and it prevents the CPU from being seated like it should.
Removed the Al block for now and I can stay below 70C during stress test...will see what solution I can find for this besides the fan on the way already. Should be enough, other mobos don't have the second radiator.

BTW: mine is the 1338MP-12 blue board (no prefix letters) with N5105 and RJ45 console port

THIS model...of course it had to drop in price
 

thla

New Member
Aug 23, 2022
4
6
3
I'm not sure I'll be super qualified to answer questions about how stable or performant it is, since I probably won't have anything real-world for a while as I am still learning the ins and outs of Proxmox and OPNSense, I also don't even have a 2.5Gb network, so I'd have to connect the device to itself to see how the 2.5Gb performs...

But right now I do have Proxmox (7.2-3) and OPNSense(OPNsense 22.7.2-amd64) Installed, so I can talk a bit to that (but not much)

I've made none of the community suggested changes in BIOS yet, and after running for little over half a day (with the SSD/Memory side panel missing) the chassis is slightly warm to the touch, the built-in temps say 44c on the package, and 37c on the hottest core, again, mostly just running proxmox/OPNSense with no load.

For the NICs, I currently only run through a virtualized E1000 bridged to the same network as Proxmox as that is my only network connection currently, I did pass through one of the interfaces, and it does seem to pick it up in OPNSense, but I assume since it has no "Device" identifier like my E1000 does, that it's using some generic Intel driver?

This is what pciconf says about it:
Code:
root@OPNsense:~ # pciconf -lv | grep -A1 -B2 network
igc0@pci0:0:16:0:       class=0x020000 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x125c subvendor=0x8086 subdevice=0x0000
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
I'll download pfSense as well and update you on that front later, but for now I'll need to get to work.

Edit:
Managed to get pfSense (2.6.0 Community Edition) downloaded and installed quickly, it does seem to see the device, but it doesn't get loaded properly, at least it doesn't appear in pfsense and it's listed as "none1" on the system.

Code:
[2.6.0-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root: pciconf -lv | grep -A1 -B2 network
none1@pci0:0:16:0:      class=0x020000 card=0x00008086 chip=0x125c8086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
I did see a message at boot related to the I226, which I grabbed from dmesg

Code:
igc0: <Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V> mem 0x81400000-0x814fffff,0x81560000-0x81563fff irq 11 at device 16.0 on pci0
igc0: Setup of Shared code failed, error -2
igc0: IFDI_ATTACH_PRE failed 6
device_attach: igc0 attach returned 6
If you guys have any suggestions I could try out, feel free to post them as I personally won't be going with pfSense :)
 
Last edited:

Vollans

New Member
Aug 10, 2022
14
13
3
Part of the mystery solved...I hope it helps others: I tried your suggestion with thermal pad - no dice, worse temps. Then I took a light and peeked under the mobo to see if I can spot what prevents the CPU to make proper contact with the copper block: the the bloody additional aluminum block used as radiator (north of CPU).
Since it has cutouts in it (i assume those fitting in are voltage regulators?) of course it's not machined properly and it prevents the CPU from being seated like it should.
You've got the same model I have, I think, though with all the changes it's difficult to keep track. The spaces *between* the cutouts are for the Intel NICs on mine. The cut outs are just for the screws so they don't foul the chips. That's part of the reason I went for the K2-Pro gunk.
 
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dazagrt

Active Member
Mar 1, 2021
195
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Well, mine has secretly turned up after a complaint was made to Australia Post.
I'm just running through it now and it looks about 300% better than the earlier one I returned from a different seller.

The NICs are i226 and need manual driver installation in Windows 11, they are not detected by Windows Update. I was a bit nostalgic about having to manually install each interface one by one. ;)

I'll post a bit more later on.

Edit_1: things are bad when you start numbering your edits, but here we go. Please note that clicking on the thumbnails will link to an unsized image and the file could be large.

This is the link to what I bought.
I had previously bought an earlier model from a different seller and it had issues and is currently <*still*> in dispute with the AliExpress seller. But the story isn't about that, it's about the replacement and OMG what a difference they are. The packaging was better, the BIOS - Wow the options I have now a too many to go through but it's needless to say that if I want to change anything I probably have a BIOS setting for it with this new one.

It came well packed and even though the box corners had a bit of damage the unit was well protected.


The heatsinks are a combination of a copper block to the lid for the CPU and an aluminium block across the NICs. Contact and paste look really good and I haven't had a reason to open it up yet.





As noted above, I started with Windows 11 Pro, I didn't mean to as I thought the WD Blue SSD I used was clean and it wasn't so I went with that. Drivers for the new i226 NICs are an issue during installation as the drivers have to be manually installed, the link is below for you.

The i226 complete driver pack for every supported OS is below.

Once installed, I used iperf3 in both directions and the scores were spot on.



Doing a 'drag & drop' test of an 8Gb file showed a very consistent transfer rate and around the 40% CPU utilization.



Here are some photos of the CPU details, and benchmark results from CPU-Z. (they aren't screenshots - sorry)





CPU-Z score card for the N5105 mini-router .

Single;


... and Multi;



Power and Temps.
Power consumption was no higher than 26 watts, it was almost like it was being throttled. You can expect a range of 22 - 25watts when working generally and a system idle draw of around 11 watts; please note that the power supply draws 2 watts when the unit is shut down.

CPU temperature sat at a constant 67 degrees while running CPU-Z benchmark; With load at 100%, CPU temperature variation between the cores at full load was within 1*c.


Ubuntu was a walk in the park, here are some results from lscpu & lspci, lspci -vv







Edit_2;
Using a full install of Ubuntu 22.04.1 to a Samsung 970 Pro. I am browsing the web and the power usage is around 8 watts, with CPU core temps across all cores being 34*c or 93.2*f.


Thanks.
 
Last edited:

pigr8

Member
Jul 13, 2017
54
62
18
Part of the mystery solved...I hope it helps others: I tried your suggestion with thermal pad - no dice, worse temps. Then I took a light and peeked under the mobo to see if I can spot what prevents the CPU to make proper contact with the copper block: the the bloody additional aluminum block used as radiator (north of CPU).
Since it has cutouts in it (i assume those fitting in are voltage regulators?) of course it's not machined properly and it prevents the CPU from being seated like it should.
Removed the Al block for now and I can stay below 70C during stress test...will see what solution I can find for this besides the fan on the way already. Should be enough, other mobos don't have the second radiator.

BTW: mine is the 1338MP-12 blue board (no prefix letters) with N5105 and RJ45 console port

THIS model...of course it had to drop in price
i have the same unit, the alu block you are referring to is the one on the inside shell that has come pads? that should be for the vrm, it that preventing you having good temps? did you apply the bios optimization? how hot did it run before?

i switched my production firewall to this topton unit to see how it handles but i had no time to finish the setup, the 2.5g are still not configured but for now it does work without issues.

1661419018753.png
 

Snk B

Member
Jul 19, 2022
61
54
18
Well, mine has secretly turned up after a complaint was made to Australia Post.
I'm just running through it now and it looks about 300% better than the earlier one I returned from a different seller.

The NICs are i226 and need manual driver installation in Windows 11, they are not detected by Windows Update. I was a bit nostalgic about having to manually install each interface one by one. ;)

I'll post a bit more later on.

Edit_1: things are bad when you start numbering your edits, but here we go. Please note that clicking on the thumbnails will link to an unsized image and the file could be large.

This is the link to what I bought.
I had previously bought an earlier model from a different seller and it had issues and is currently <*still*> in dispute with the AliExpress seller. But the story isn't about that, it's about the replacement and OMG what a difference they are. The packaging was better, the BIOS - Wow the options I have now a too many to go through but it's needless to say that if I want to change anything I probably have a BIOS setting for it with this new one.

It came well packed and even though the box corners had a bit of damage the unit was well protected.


The heatsinks are a combination of a copper block to the lid for the CPU and an aluminium block across the NICs. Contact and paste look really good and I haven't had a reason to open it up yet.





As noted above, I started with Windows 11 Pro, I didn't mean to as I thought the WD Blue SSD I used was clean and it wasn't so I went with that. Drivers for the new i226 NICs are an issue during installation as the drivers have to be manually installed, the link is below for you.

The i226 complete driver pack for every supported OS is below.

Once installed, I used iperf3 in both directions and the scores were spot on.



Doing a 'drag & drop' test of an 8Gb file showed a very consistent transfer rate and around the 40% CPU utilization.



Here are some photos of the CPU details, and benchmark results from CPU-Z. (they aren't screenshots - sorry)





CPU-Z score card for the N5105 mini-router .

Single;


... and Multi;



Power and Temps.
Power consumption was no higher than 26 watts, it was almost like it was being throttled. You can expect a range of 22 - 25watts when working generally and a system idle draw of around 11 watts; please note that the power supply draws 2 watts when the unit is shut down.

CPU temperature sat at a constant 67 degrees while running CPU-Z benchmark; With load at 100%, CPU temperature variation between the cores at full load was within 1*c.


Ubuntu was a walk in the park, here are some results from lscpu & lspci, lspci -vv







Thanks.
Did you buy the adapter for the 2nd M2?
If not, it's a nice addition compared to other sellers.
Topton for example, sells this adapter for 15$
 

dazagrt

Active Member
Mar 1, 2021
195
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Did you buy the adapter for the 2nd M2?
If not, it's a nice addition compared to other sellers.
Topton for example, sells this adapter for 15$
No I didn't, it just came installed. I took it out for the tests and added an AX200 WiFi card in its place.
 

burtal

Active Member
Jul 7, 2022
111
63
28
No copper shim required ....i took a block of wood and some sandpaper and file down the pegs ... now it sits flush without any gaps or way smaller gap

steps:
1. remove the NIC "heatsink" and clean up the paste
2. clean up all the paste from the cpu and cooper block
3. carefully mount the MB back without applying any paste....2screws are enough just to hold it
4. put a powerful light behind and look to see how much gap there is between the cpu and copper block.
5.remove the MB
6. start file down the pegs ...
7. cleanup and holding the MB in postion (or place 2 screws) check the gap again with a light or looking into the sun.
8. rinse and repeat untill the gap is small
 

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DanielN

New Member
Jul 6, 2022
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Guys, has anyone used Hyper-V on these minipc's?
It would be interesting to see how it performs for Ubuntu Server + pfSense virtualization
I went that way at first with Hyper-V, but I couldn't get IOMMU to work, the Windows NIC drivers doesn't see it as IOMMU enabled. However it does work in Proxmox VE... and allows me to address the NIC's directly via PCI from the VM without a middle layer of going through the Hypervisor for translation of the NIC...listed below as PCI Devices...

1661434769828.png

 
Last edited:

PavanG

New Member
Aug 11, 2022
7
0
1
Just received my Topton N6005 v4 unit with i226 nics. Was supposed to arrive on the 4th of September, but I'm not complaining.

Once my RAM, SSD, and FAN arrive, I will try and answer any questions.
 

Ipse

New Member
Aug 21, 2022
8
4
3
i have the same unit, the alu block you are referring to is the one on the inside shell that has come pads? that should be for the vrm, it that preventing you having good temps? did you apply the bios optimization? how hot did it run before?

i switched my production firewall to this topton unit to see how it handles but i had no time to finish the setup, the 2.5g are still not configured but for now it does work without issues.

View attachment 24138
Yeah, on mine the aluminum block cutouts don't line properly with the VRs so it kept the gap between CPU and the copper block large. I just removed the aluminum block, haven't gone past 70C since, and that's without the fan.

Yes, I did apply all the BIOS and pfSense optimisations recommended here.

Oh: I was asking about the inability to see Turbo frequency in action...it looks like *BSD has a problem determining anything except the base clock.

Last "words of wisdom" : don't be stupid like me and when/if you run a test with the case open (on mine the sides come off) grab it by the side pressing the RESET button.... unless you have time at 1am re-configuring BIOS settings. Lesson learned.
 

prdtabim

Active Member
Jan 29, 2022
170
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28
I went that way at first with Hyper-V, but I couldn't get IOMMU to work, the Windows NIC drivers doesn't see it as IOMMU enabled. However it does work in Proxmox VE... and allows me to address the NIC's directly via PCI from the VM without a middle layer of going through the Hypervisor for translation of the NIC...listed below as PCI Devices...

View attachment 24149

IOMMU is detected in Proxmox VE after I declare "intel_iommu=on iommu=pt" in grub options.
 

pigr8

Member
Jul 13, 2017
54
62
18
Yeah, on mine the aluminum block cutouts don't line properly with the VRs so it kept the gap between CPU and the copper block large. I just removed the aluminum block, haven't gone past 70C since, and that's without the fan.

Yes, I did apply all the BIOS and pfSense optimisations recommended here.

Oh: I was asking about the inability to see Turbo frequency in action...it looks like *BSD has a problem determining anything except the base clock.

Last "words of wisdom" : don't be stupid like me and when/if you run a test with the case open (on mine the sides come off) grab it by the side pressing the RESET button.... unless you have time at 1am re-configuring BIOS settings. Lesson learned.
now i have to open it up again and check my block too, i wonder if that is the case.