Proxmox On Beelink S12 N100 Mini PC - Why I Downgraded My Hardware

🚀 Dive into the world of virtualization with me in today's video as I showcase Proxmox running on the Beelink S12 mini PC, powered by an Intel N100 CPU! 🖥️💡
In this episode, we'll explore the performance of the Beelink S12 through a series of benchmarks and discuss the reasons behind my decision to opt for this hardware over my more powerful computers in the homelab server rack. 🤔💻
Join me as I take you on a virtual tour of the Proxmox environment, where I've set up a variety of virtual machines, including both Windows and Linux VMs. 🌐🔧 We'll delve into the functionality, versatility, and efficiency of Proxmox in managing these VMs and the unique advantages it brings to the table.
Whether you're a seasoned IT enthusiast or just getting started with virtualization, this video aims to provide insights into the capabilities of Proxmox and the Beelink S12 mini PC.
Stick around until the end for a comprehensive conclusion, where I'll summarize the key takeaways and share my overall impressions of this hardware-software combination.

[@NatesZone]

A MAJOR update to this video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZTZqmOFnr5-sK8si=DXHjH4hmFeEY5YEY

[@KopfKino901]

"I just wanted a lower power draw" -> proceeds to have a huge screen for weather monitoring :D Thanks for the N100 review !

[@VoidGuyIdk]

Always a W to see Nate zone on the upload

[@geekcruz]

low power consumption to drive all those monitors, and it would be good to have for your homelab testing as well, is get a refurbed mac M1 mini. takes up no space, get a kvm if needed and bam, see the power savings. Loved the video, funny how i came across your channel and i am in the middle of doing the same thing, trying to go low power everything. Even considering replacing my udm pro with those same mini pc's and opensense. technology is fun, i love being a geek, lol.

[@deadmemesinside683]

Cool stuff! Power aint cheap here either. Thanks for this video.

[@NatesZone]

You bet! Thanks for watching! :-)

[@EwenorKvM]

Very nice video 👍🏻 Over here in Germany we had a price cap of 40 cents/kWh, now market rates are down to 25-30 cents (but a lot of people still pay 40 cents) - so this is very interesting.

[@EwenorKvM]

BTW: 1 EUR = 1,09 USD currently

[@NatesZone]

Thank you very much! Thanks for watching! :-)

[@Jonteponte71]

How very nice of the German government to have pricecaps for you! The rest of Europe keeps paying the price of the German insanity of closing down all of your nuclear and trying to make it on windpower and gas only. And failing.....badly. In Sweden we used to have stable and low prices (for decades) until the Social Democratic government tried something similar here. The last few years electricity prices has been insane. Sometimes 10-40 times as expensive as what is considered "normal" when it is cold. In that context. Mini PC's is the only option when running a homelab.

[@EwenorKvM]

@@Jonteponte71 Thx for your view on things. A mini.PC is not an option for me due to a lack of drive bays. I do not want to get into politics here, although I'd love to. The energy market is far to complex to be discussed here (blaming it on 3 powerplants accounting for 1,8% of production and not considering global influences?), and politics of the past 50 years even more. Is there any way we could exchange opinions another way?

[@si4632]

29 pence kWh here in UK 60 pence daily charge before you use anything. All to fund a war that Ukraine can't win 🤣

[@NatesZone]

JUST TO CONFIRM. I upgraded this N100 Mini PC to 32GB of RAM and it is working perfect! Some of you were concerned because Intel ARK lists the maximum RAM size of 16GB for the N100 CPU. Intel doesn't always enforce the amount of RAM you can install into your system. But it also depends on the type of system your running. It wont work with every intel system out on the market. So doing your due diligence is very important. I recommend you search google or any browser to see if other people were able to run more RAM in their computer than what Intel ARK lists for your particular CPU. Thanks! This is the RAM I bought: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WHB3TY9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[@Tennyson999]

Any issues since then? Thinking of picking this up to learn proxmox

[@NatesZone]

Still running great. No issues to report. :-)

[@meesturcroc]

How about now? Still good?

[@NatesZone]

@@meesturcroc Still working great.

[@jasonarnold9407]

@@NatesZone How about now? :) I was thinking of picking this up to run a Plex home media server. And maybe things like Pi-hole, Wordpress hosting, FileBrowsing, etc. Any thoughts on that? Thanks!

[@JB_inks]

Did you install Tailscale on the proxmox host and also in the VMs?

[@NatesZone]

I'm running Tailscale in an Ubuntu LXC container on Proxmox as an exit node, and also in subnet mode. I have the Tailscale client on my laptop & cellphone to remotely connect to my network from anywhere without having to port forward services and potentially get attacked. So far it has been working really well! It's definitely the best vpn tunneling software I've used so far. I followed this guide to get it setup: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3vdm32lr6aMgNEsi=dnXfBETAQeun0vls Thanks for watching! :-)

[@kevinhilton8683]

Any issues running the proxmox OS itself on the same nvme as the VMs? Wish there were rack ear attachments for this box.

[@NatesZone]

I've never had an issue with Proxmox running on the same SSD on any machine I've used to report. Proxmox runs pretty light on resources by itself. It's based on Debian Linux and I would actually say over the last year Proxmox in general performs better than ever from my experience. Especially when passing through a Graphics card to a VM and gaming. The Linux kernel updates seem to have helped with performance overall with Proxmox and VM's. But this is what I have experienced. Not sure if everyone else out there had similar experiences. But since I started using Proxmox in 2018 I can say for sure this software has matured a ton since then.

[@teamvigod]

Was looking to buy this to run proxmox but what were the hurdles you said you don’t want to get into when setting up? Wondering if I should look at another mini

[@NatesZone]

The hurdles had nothing to do with the computer. I had to relearn some knowledge that had faded from my memory over time and I made a couple mistakes. There are so many technical things to remember that it’s impossible for me to retain every bit of knowledge. The computer has been working great so far! Still working to this day! :)

[@teamvigod]

@@NatesZone That’s good news! Thanks. Also can relate to not remembering some technical details over time. There is so much to remember and a near infinite number of little commands or options it’s near impossible. Thanks for the video it was very thorough and will use it as my guide to setup my first Proxmox!

[@dmealiffe]

@NatesZone what is the source for your weather map?

[@NatesZone]

It's called MyRadar. You can download it on Windows Store, IOS, & Android.

[@emonsahariar9292]

I am just afraid of mini-pc brands. Please do a long term review for this Beelink machine.

[@johnbeer4963]

if it's any use to you I bought a Beelink SER4 Ryzen 4700U system in mid august 2022 and it's been on 24/7 since then without issue.

[@bokami3445]

Wish I'd seen this a week ago, I just dropped $$$ on two 16GB/DDR4 for an old Lenovo M700, when I could've upgraded my S12 Pro to 32GB for less. Oh well, at least I know it'll handle 32GB (when I need it in the future, and prices come down a bit)

[@rodrigomarins273]

Hey, can you tell me if is possible run windows + Home Assistant with proxmox in n100 16gb?

[@NatesZone]

This mini PC should be more than adequate for Proxmox and Home Assistant. I have seen many people running Home Assistant on Raspberry Pi 3's and 4's with success. And the Raspberry Pi devices aren't nearly as powerful as an N100 CPU. Plus the Raspberry Pi only goes up to 8GB of RAM. The N100 can go up to 32GB of RAM. I have been running my N100 with 32GB of RAM with no issues since Christmas last year.

[@rodrigomarins273]

@@NatesZone Thanks so much :)

[@mr.domingues]

Is it normal to have that double cursor inside the VMs?

[@NatesZone]

Yes it is. Its a normal issue to encounter when using virtual machines.

[@1337kaas]

The word "Debian" was formed as a portmanteau of the first name of his then-girlfriend (later ex-wife) Debra Lynn and his own first name. So the way you pronounced it is correct.

[@thenanook]

hi, i bought the beelink eq12 that comes with dual 2.5gb nics, i225-v from intel, and proxmo is not able to connect with full speed, further more not een 300mb and i have a 1 gb connection, many forums talks about some issues with teh kernel, does your pc have this nics too? or do you know the solution?

[@NatesZone]

I have the S12 Mini with only one 1 Gig ethernet port. I would wait for more updates to roll out on Proxmox to see if they fix your issues. Usually updating the Linux kernel has fixed issues like this in the past from my experience.

[@a_landstander]

Can you point to exactly what RAM you used to upgrade the S12 Pro to 32gb?

[@NatesZone]

I bought this: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WHB3TY9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[@a_landstander]

@@NatesZone thanks... this should turn what is already an amazing machine into something much more, esp for virtualization.

[@a_landstander]

Did you ever run memtest or some other torture test with the 32gb installed?

[@NatesZone]

@@a_landstander I ran Aida 64 for over an hour. I stressed the CPU and 32GB of RAM and the system was stable. No issues to report.

[@Kuba-iu9hh]

Which windows 11 version are you using here

[@NatesZone]

I am using RevisionOS on the latest version of Windows 11 at the time of recording the video. revi.cc/revios/download

[@Kuba-iu9hh]

@@NatesZone thanks Nate ;)

[@nebraskaman4313]

nice

[@idan678]

man my n100 gettings for around 100% cpu usage almost all the time.. how your machine got this low cpu usage

[@bokami3445]

Deb(ra) & Ian --- Debian, named for Ian Murdock and his (then) girlfriend and (later) wife Debra Lynn Roundy. Rest In Peace Ian, your legacy continues...

[@PbPomper]

17 cents per kWh? I pay 40 here in The Netherlands :P

[@NatesZone]

Jeez, that's terrible! :(

[@PbPomper]

It's a good incentive to be power efficient :P Hence my interest in this chip. I was a bit put off by the 16 GB limitation at first (for VMs), but good to see that 32 might be possible. Great setup you have there!@@NatesZone

[@NatesZone]

Yes it is! Thank you very much! :-)@@PbPomper

[@WilliamFrota]

Intel ark for N100 shows 16gb maximum memory 😢

[@NatesZone]

Intel typically doesn't enforce Ram size limits. I have read other people successfully running more than 16GB of ram with N100 Machines. Thanks for watching! :-)

[@grandclamp]

It does works with 32gb ram

[@CodeSnowy]

haha, it is funny to see people in the US paying 17 cents/KWh and complain *Crying at 48 cents/KWh in the UK

[@NatesZone]

I feel bad for you guys in Europe. Your energy prices have gotten completely out of control. Here in the Midwestern USA we have been accustomed to cheap electricity for a long time up until the virus hit. And ever since then, they have been constantly raising the price per KW/h here. The problem is there are a lot of people here that were barely getting by before the price hikes and now the problem has gotten so much worse for a lot of people here. I'm sure you guys are also having the same problem there too. There are certain groups of people that are IMO responsible for this but I hate talking politics. I'm in the camp of getting energy from every source available whether it's sustainable or nuclear or even coal. Basically All of the above. I hope your prices come down where your at and frankly everywhere. Best of luck! Thanks! :-)

[@vvasylenko92]

in Ukraine 7 cents, but missiles were flying over my head

[@leatherwiz]

16 Cent 😂, I wish …. we are paying almost 40 € cents in Germany 🇩🇪because our stupid government shut down all nuclear power plants and someone blew up our cheap gas supply pipeline in the Baltic Sea….

[@NatesZone]

Did you see the pinned comment? I did an update to this video.