Radxa X4: An N100 Pi

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Moral of the story: thermal compound and a copper shim is around 50% more effective than just a thermal pad!

[@minigpracing3068]

Hmmm, I'll have to rethink something I was going to do if my uConsole ever arrives

[@Reziac]

I look at the thermal pad and I see insulation, and wonder if it's actually worse than nothing.

[@perrymcclusky4695]

I’m impressed. Looking forward to seeing your next video using this SBC. I want one!

[@Sithhy]

@@Reziac Graphics card usually use thermal pads for RAM chips & other bits (other than the GPU)

[@TomaszStachewicz]

​@@minigpracing3068 fellow uConsole user here. a CM with N100 would absolutely slap.

[@jmsiener]

Wow! Your little bit of copper actually fixed all of the system’s short comings! Kudos!

[@srtcsb]

The copper shim is a clever idea. Looking forward to your next tests with the X4. Thanks for another great video Chris.

[@flatronsoj]

"So lets go and take.........a closer look." me saying it out loud every review

[@ExplainingComputers]

Excellent!

[@Jonathannew-cp7fj]

Same lol always get strangely excited when Mr Scissors and Stanley come out to play too... Love this channel, makes my Sundays❤

[@DerekFrampton]

RIGHT! Here I am..... back agAIIIIN :)

[@OleMose]

@@Jonathannew-cp7fj Yes, the stress level raises a bit. :D

[@huubvanharen3698]

and I hope to talk to you verrry soon!

[@Michael-zh5ys]

Thanks, Chris! You do fine work.

[@d.barnette2687]

>>> (fast forwarding to the end of great comments I would make if others had not made them already) -- Max groovy video! So well done. I have a GMKTec G2 mini pc with N100 with which I am both amazed and extremely happy. Want cheaper but powerful? Try Orange Pi Zero 2W. That's a pretty groovy little beast as well! 🙂🙂🙂

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your support, most appreciated. I think a lot of us are impressed with N100 systems. Amazing what they can do compared to desktop PCs of not that may years ago, and consuming so little power.

[@stephenelliott7071]

Yes I'm not a fan of the 2 Micro HDMI connectors that seem prevalent on SBC's these days. 1 full sized HDMI connector is the much better option IMO.

[@MEWOVER9000]

Thank you for saying that. I feel like I've been going crazy lately having to deal with them. Nobody carries these. If you are short one, you HAVE to order one offline, which is a dumb reason to delay your project by a few days. They're also really really loose compared to standard HDMI. They're just so shallow that they wind up ratcheting left and right in the connection, putting unnecessary wear on the connector.

[@RafaCoringaProducoes]

my unpopular opinion: 2 micro hdmi helps a lot if you like 2 monitors

[@jeremyloveslinux]

I wonder if signage companies are the driver here, since a lot of products have multiple displays or otherwise need the two connectors.

[@CyberDunk2077]

The second HDMI port is there so you have a spare for when one of them breaks….. I agree that one full size one would be much better, I have lost count of the RPI 4 HDMI ports I’ve had to replace due to them breaking.

[@TooSlowTube]

@@jeremyloveslinux If so, I'm sure they'd prefer two full sized or mini HDMI (which are quite robust), mounted one on top of the other, with a small gap. Micro HDMI just seems designed to fail quickly.

[@alanthornton3530]

Hopefully Radxa will be interested in & follow your feedback in the video, they could easily supply a simple copper shim as you’ve done, a simple mod. It was when you mentioned about the fan noise, I wondered if an alternative fan could be fitted & use the GPIO pins to control the fan speed. Another excellent Sunday video & always good to see the ducks & geese

[@Darkk6969]

They can do a minor board revision to allow real fan speed control. ODroid been doing this for years with their XU4 board.

[@alanthornton3530]

@@Darkk6969 That's good to hear.

[@Graham_Wideman]

Why would Radxa supply a copper shim when they could just fix their heatsink design so it properly touches the CPU. No shim required.

[@wanyman]

For some reason my phone couldn't pick up the sound, but even with the closed captioning this was a fabulous video. Very interesting SBC.

[@andy.3407]

Thank you so much for providing a thoughtful video on this interesting sbc.. I like that you went the extra mile to add the copper shim and remove the fan…. Nice to have peace and quiet!😊

[@WIImotionmasher]

the N100 seems like a powerful chip for the price. I see it in laptops. If it was well cooled it'd be a fully functional computer for media and computing. Im excited to see it in an SBC so affordable

[@azbesthu]

Having the ability to set up power limits in bios also helps. This one has 6W/15W so stays cool under longer stress. But with better cooling it can be faster by setting 15/15 or more.

[@JerziTBoss]

I bought N100 mini PC for my parents and while I was setting it up I connected it to 4k monitor. The only time I saw few stutters while working on it was when graphics drivers were installing. After that smooth as butter no matter what I did on it. W11 runs really well on it. It runs even better when I got my hands on Winget and removed all the bloat Microsoft put into it.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@JerziTBoss 4K is a gimmick, especially to older people (including myself) who have suffered age-related macular degeneration anyway and probably don't have the eyesight quality to take advantage of it. My eyes have never looked at a 1080p image and said to my brain "We need more pixels, please". I think lack of 4k is just used as one more excuse by millennials for not being able to watch particular videos when, in reality, they weren't taught to sit and focus in school and emerged with goldfish-like attention spans.

[@_________________404]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 Nah. 4K monitor is a huge improvement over 1080p. On a 1080p screen you can see the pixels if you look up close, on 4K one you don’t see them.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@_________________404 I don't need to look up close, I'm not looking for problems.

[@TheCompoundingInvestor]

It is amazing how far we have come from Colossus in 1943 which had a power consumption of 8.5kW, 17ft wide and weighed 15 tonnes.

[@_________________404]

It’s all because of integrated circuits. There hasn’t been any revolutionary breakthrough in the actual computer architecture design. Computers from 60 years ago work fundamentally the same as computers today. Only difference is that the CPU is a single integrated circuit, not something that’s taking multiple server racks because it’s assembled out of individual transistors or vacuum tubes.

[@kaseyboles30]

Yep nowadays 8.5 kw is what you need just for the gpu. ;) But seriously the bargain basement smart phone these days has many orders of magnitude more processing power.

[@myne00]

Don't give nvidia ideas.

[@danielreed5199]

To be fair, if you include a PC in your Home Heating Budget, you can save a lot of money.

[@JACKT443]

You mean European and American scientists

[@shonigman]

I wanted to say that I’m not one to comment much but have been a subscriber for quite some time and your overall skill and knowledge is always a joy to observe. For example, the time taken in this episode to review the cooling efficiency of the included heat sink and then recommending some very simple solutions to to correct a weak solution provided with this Radxa X4 An N100 Pi kit will surely help one of your viewers from a premature failure down the road. Great insight as always! Thanks for all you do!

[@leonidd00]

Wow! I am impressed how well it is actually working with modified passive cooling system. Interesting video! Thank you!

[@lionelreesable]

Hi Chris, thank you for a very insightful presentation. I was particularly impressed by the solution to the temperature issue. Hope you are doing well, best wishes.

[@perrymcclusky4695]

I’m impressed. Looking forward to seeing the next video on this SBC. I want one!

[@kiodiekin]

another excellent review. wish it was longer. lol made me realized how long I've had my x4 now and need to edit my review lol thanks for the video breakdown. also nice to see someone else get similar heat temps when proper thermal paste and the pads are applied correctly

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks! 👍

[@mrroobarb]

2 pins, can't control the fan? How many people are screaming PWM... great stuff as ever Chris. And I'll see you again verrrrrry soon

[@quademasters249]

I suspect he means the CPU can;t tell how fast it's spinning because there's no tach wire.

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

@@quademasters249 right, but one could still do blind PWM, right?

[@quademasters249]

@@SeeJayPlayGames Sure but without feedback, you can't tell if the blades are actually turning. Meaning anything less than 100% duty cycle is a crap shoot. I guess you could watch temps and simply increase duty cycle fixed amounts till you hit 100% duty cycle. Then back it down as temps go down. Almost like the cooling fan in your car.

[@m3chanist]

O it can command it, it just can't control it in closed loop. Are you really in control if you can't confirm your orders are being obeyed or even listened to?

[@SourojitBh]

Awesome video! Informative and also very entertaining. Thanks! 👌🏻

[@jonathanleach3914]

excellent. As with so many of these SBCs - so much power in such a small sized computer...thanks

[@markwilson7788]

I find your videos very informative. Allows me to revisit what I really need from a computer and the much better options that fit my criteria. Plan to be delivering my own solution following your guidance, rather than purchasing another expensive unit that is not the ideal solution for my needs.

[@BrendanJWalker]

Quite interesting indeed. Thank you so very much professor, looking forward to the next episode 🎉🎉😊😊❤❤❤

[@Starchface]

Very good information concerning the fitment of the thermal pad. I don't know if the case or the board itself is to blame. Things change but since Radxa's name is on both, Radxa needs to mitigate this. It could be as simple as including such a shim with the case and/or the board. At least we can be prepared for this, the fan performance, and the driver installation issue thanks to the comprehensive testing and review. But now we've reached the end of another comment. Thank you Christopher!

[@lunisamazigh4386]

I would have liked to see the 2040 usage along with its hw & sw interaction the N100, maybe that's what you intend to clarify in the incoming review. Anyway very good content, keep it up!

[@JasonWade]

Funny how drivers were needed to get the network working in Windows, but worked without issue in Linux. Times have changed.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Yes, this did make me smile!

[@poorlybuffalo555]

@@ExplainingComputers There's a kernel of truth here...

[@myne00]

Tbf win10 is old now

[@DerekFrampton]

It was winblows 11 too, that's a bag of worms I only opened after stripping it down to nothing but necessary components during install using a very nice XML file :) Cheers

[@samuelhulme8347]

@@myne00windows 11 was used in this video.

[@chrisdixon5241]

Great video, looking forward to seeing what you do with it next!

[@AghoshBPrasad]

Wow.. This is the most practical SBC i have come across so far in such a small form factor, performance and thermals!

[@Grandwigg]

This was a great video for several reasons. First, its my Sunday Lunch Explaining Computers video routine. Second, the board itself impressive. I really enjoy seeing the capabilities, reach, and variety in the single board area right now. Third, the experimenting with the temperatures and heat transfer methods was pure joy for me. My Sunday afternoon feels whole nowl

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@aisle9]

I love your videos. So much information about computers I would probably never hear about otherwise, and dry British humor to go along with it.

[@_________________404]

The cheapest one I could find on aliexpress costs slightly more than a full N100 mini PC which already includes an M.2 SSD, case, heatsink, fan and everything you need to use it. It’s not cost competitive.

[@AndrewTSq]

The cheapest is roughly $80 when I check on Ali express ? Not sure I have seen a full N100 mini pc for that price, more like $150 and up.

[@_________________404]

@@AndrewTSq For me the cheapest aliexpress shows for “Radxa N100” is $139. Which is the same or 10 dollars more than what an N100 mini PC costs.

[@ДмитроЖигалкін]

​​@@AndrewTSq compare 8-16 GB versions and n100 mini pcs will be cheaper and more featured than radxa x4 if you extract ssd drive price

[@keithmiller9665]

I couldn’t agree more with this board not being cost competitive. Personally I prefer the Trigkey G4 mini PC for about £150. True it doesn’t have 2.5 gigbit nic but it does have an 500GB NVME, case and 16GB RAM. Once you add all the bits on the Trigkey G4 mini PC becomes cost competitive with this board but YMMV. Either way a really interesting video. What I will say is that for me the n100 CPU is a Pi killer given its hardware video transcoding support (QSV / VAAPI) which ARM chips lack.

[@dlewis9760]

GMKtec NucBox G5 $150. 12GB RAM + 256GB SSD 2 full size HDMI ports. No GPIO. N97 which is a little bit faster than a N100. I think most people "THINK" they are going to use the GPIO pins a lot more than they do.

[@halledwardb]

Always enjoy the videos. Fun everytime. My 13 and 16 daughters decided to build a paging and packet network, they have almost finished welding up the tower guy poles. We decided on the Asus Intel 13 Rugged Nuc running the J7425e processor, and it seems close to the N100 in performance with the N100 edging it out on some things. They are running 4 USB sound cards from masters communications, and direwolf a software sound modem. I really wonder what the performance differences are between the N and the J series are. Not many channels doing performance and real world testing on these edge decices that I know of.

[@Bareego]

I find the J series quite a lot weaker than N, they don't clock a high.

[@halledwardb]

@Bareego i thought so as well, but looking at them on cpu monkey the The Atom X7425e vs N100 The N100 is 3% faster single core and 8% faster multi core. I thought the Atom came out of the J series but maybe I'm wrong.

[@dingolovethrob]

Great work on the heatsink , and you had me laughing about how happy you were

[@2008spoonman]

Hi mr. Barnatt, always a pleasure to see a new video from you! Nice review and now I also want a Radxa ! 👍🏼😎

[@jaffarbh]

Thank you Chris for the cool, cooling solution. I am very tempted to treat myself a Radxa X4 as a fun tool to play with.

[@RyanFranklinWilliams]

I really appreciate that you took the time to suss out what was going on with the heat. I have absolutely no use for this board, but it kind of seemed like the overwhelming majority of the reviews all touched on that being a problem. And is someone who likes to buy things I don't need, you may have tipped the scales!

[@RobinTheHoodedMan]

Another great video. Although to my way of thinking the cpu should be on the topside, as hot air rises. Looking forward to your next video, as well as learning 'linux in a virtual machine' series!! The first episode of that series was helpful.

[@arudanel5542]

even a single, tiny fan will counteract that though, tbf. But it does limit case options, though an aluminum heatsink case for this is an interesting idea. Set it cpu down on an all aluminum case, add in ssd, and add top enclosure. It could even fit a larger 80mm cooling fan which would cool better and quieter. Sadly, the soldered ram is downright pathetic on this. It'd be better with a single DDR4 slot. Most folks got older DDR4 ram around, and having something useful to slot it into would be kind of cool. Plus the slot would cost less than a memory chip, so it could edge the price down a notch too.

[@nERVEcenter117]

Thank you so much for testing a truly effective thermal fix! Every complaint about this system complained about the case and the thermals. Now we know why! I'd love this as a little off-grid computer.

[@Oharafolk]

Thank you so much Chris, i really like this reviews

[@voneschenbachmusic]

Very nice SBC! Thanks for the review Chris!

[@shawnvines2514]

Very interesting video. I will have to search through your videos and find a better enclosure for the N100. I saw another video today on that form factor for the NVMe drive

[@kopprev]

LIke you, Chris I have spent time with a lot of different Linux distros and environments and still find I really like Mint with Cinnamon.

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

It's always nice to see duckies in an SBC review. 🦆❤️ In all seriousness, the Radxa X4 really is a nice little single-board computer. My favorite part was the sysbench test. Poor little SBC though... It deserves a cup of tea and a long nap after what it's been through!

[@jekader]

Great review and nice tip about using a copper shim. Would like to see how one can interact with GPIO pins from linux compared to an rPI and what changes need to be done to the code.

[@Jonathannew-cp7fj]

Nice video as usual and I'm intrigued to see which os you're going to use next time... Roll on Sunday 😊❤

[@jyvben1520]

Dos 1.0, or the last MS-DOS but compiled for Arm ?

[@jimlynch9390]

Another outstanding video. Thanks, Chris.

[@Colin_Ames]

Excellent review, as always. It’s a shame that more care wasn’t taken with the heatsink. An owner should not have to search for a copper shim in order to provide proper cooling. I also agree with your comment about the HDMI connector. One full size is better than two small ones.

[@ashadowintime7305]

Yeah that gap is really a deal breaker. Hope they fix it soon

[@3dhYT]

This is the best Radxa X4 test on KZbin.

[@markwiehenstroer2831]

Excellent suggestions for Radxa regarding your findings on better cooling and the HDMI connectors. All in all, though, they have developed a very good SBC.

[@jpmyers6950]

I say more N-100 boards! I think that one comes up a bit short but maybe more coming. It's a great chip with no need for a fan. The ASRock board I use is in a spacious little mini itx case and is such a gem. Never gets hot and runs soo snappy using LMDE. Thanks for the great video Chris!

[@ivanarango6098]

Muchas gracias por la información Sir Barnatt, saludos desde Colombia👍👍

[@Kw1161]

Thanks Chris for this review of the Radxa X4 SBC. I suggest you buy a pair and set them up to run headless running sys bench in your coat pockets to become unique hand warmers in the winter…😂! Have a great week!

[@AndrewTSq]

I have put this on my christmas wishlist. Thanks.

[@legojenn]

This is a nifty setup. I have a virtual image on my desktop that a friend in another country uses to evade geoblocking that can't be evaded by a vpn. (nothing illicit, just anticompetitive business behaviour). Speed is not a necessity, but a rig like this would be useful in headless mode on my guest network.

[@sarahdaviscc]

What a great video. Thank you so much.

[@moviemayhem2012]

I love this man he explains stuff clearly and almost feel like a teacher to me !😂

[@dono42]

I could see these working well in a 3-node K8s homelab cluster. I am already doing that with three Raspberry PIs, but some containers are sometimes not available in ARM format.

[@joir2000]

Very interesting board. Thanks for the review.

[@sparxz2145]

Hope they review the fragile looking micro HDMI ports, as you said. One full size HDMI and one full-size display port would have been better, These micro-ports are only excusable or useful, on hand-held portable devices. Great review Chris.

[@staninjapan07]

Great stuff. If it runs Mint well (which I run on an old i5 macbook pro with 8GB RAM), then it would probably be perhaps one and a half times quicker / easier going with an even lighter distro. That occurs to me as I have just tried running Debian 12 LXDE (lightweight, apparently, but I am no expert) on both my mac and a newer ideapad330 only from USB (live boot) and it was quicker on both with a dozen apps running than Mint on mac/SSD or ideapad/USB. Every time I watch your great videos on SBCs I wonder when I might need to replace the 2011 mac (OK just now though) with something like this N100. Thanks for all the understandable videos made easy for beginners like me.

[@josemanuelsenoransrodrigue9102]

Thanks for the new video

[@techmaster-ch5yd]

Interesting video, good to see that SBC can now provide a real time clock with battery (CR2032 or CR2016), and also a M.2 connector. However I prefer buying mini-PC than SBC, it's more convenient if the purpose is to replace a desktop computer, you can buy mini-PC with N100 CPU for a good price, I think SBC should be dedicated only for some DIY projects where the size and power consumption matter (and raspberry PI Pico or PI Zero may be a better option ).

[@rfxtuber]

That's it for another videoooooooooo~~~! 😅 May there be millions more Chris!!!!

[@briankleinschmidt3664]

It does my little duck heart good to see you well.

[@Corum001]

Thank you, very interesting and informative. cheers. 👍

[@chuckles3079]

I like this sbc, but I agree with you about the micro HDMI ports. Also, It would have been easy for Radxa to build the cooling fan with the copper shim instead of the included thermal pads for a few pennies more. Also, if it used a 8 thread chip would be great. I hope it is easy to install Debian Linux on it. Great video and keep them coming.!

[@RobertBoerner]

"Nice to warm me hands on in the winter..." :-)

[@mimo5383]

Just power it via a battery bank (from the other pocket) to keep both hands warm.

[@roelfbackus]

I consider buying one to warm my hands on in the winter. 😄

[@paulluce2557]

mimo5383 Just need a long USB C cable that goes up one sleeve , across your shoulders and down the other......

[@marsovac]

When you apply thermal paste directly on silicon, spread it. If you dont, unlike when applying on an IHS you risk a catastrophic failure. Depending on how the paste spread automatically through pressure, there could be a part of the silicon that did not get cover, but is nowhere near a temperature probe, and in that case the cpu might not throttle but simply burn out. Silicon is not an IHS (low thermal mass) so the spread must be perfect. This also applies to GPU thermal paste replacement.

[@11thHourRecords]

Great stuff and an excellent engineering discovery - der8auer will be looking over his shoulder now.

[@rysterstech]

Note if you are trying the copper shim yourself, be very careful to get the correct thickness copper shim and dont over tighten the screws holding the board in place as the N100 like all mobile CPUs has a bare die, meaning it is easy to crack from excess pressure. I would also recommend applying electrical tape to the bottom of the board except where the CPU is, as otherwise if the coppershim moves it could short something and fry the board.

[@gregholloway2656]

Great review Chris! Baffling that the Windows Ethernet driver was somehow 780MB in size. I’ll bet you could use the onboard RP2040 to pwm control the fan speed. Feed the temperature from Mint over to the micro using serial. Disappointing that the Radxa case doesn’t supply mechanical support for the two micro-hdmi jacks. 👍

[@tommyhawkins8461]

What is the thickness/size of the copper pad in 16:47?

[@ericjarvie]

I enquired of that too what is the gauge 'thickness' of the copper shim?

[@ericjarvie]

I should add the shim appears in the video to encompass the entirety of the thermal boss however its thickness specification would be an bonus as Ebay offer an wide variety of Copper Shims in various thickness and sizes..Again c.mon EC it's no state secret just how thick was that super cooling shim you cleverly fitted..Cmon EC our Ebay orders are awaiting..!!

[@dialogue62]

Yes please, I would also like to know the shim size.

[@ericjarvie]

I can tell that EC gave an rough approximation of the dimensions in the video using an standard Thermal pad Christopher states the gap to be about 1mm..So at a.guess the Thermal pad would be around 0.5mm..Thus the gap would be in the region of 1.5 mm...Both Amazon and Ebay retail Copper shims of 20mm x 20mm sizes with an range of thicknesses between 1 to 2mm in 0.25 increments..In fact sets of variable sizes are offered on these platforms..However there is one Important aspect to consider and that is that simply glueing an shim to the thermal boss may not be an permnament solution or approach as its possible in time the shim could lose its adhesion and pose an short circuit risk..An better approach would be pernament affixing with screws or other but this would involve more planning and an novel approach..Do bear in mind that if this was manufactured by say Radxa then the copper heat sink/shim would likely be electro welded to the thermal boss to mitigate any potential short circuit risk..ECs fix is great but should that shim lose its adhesion then serious issues could likely occur..Regardless it is an only experimental approach that shows the potential for improvement to the X4s thermals on this fact i'm sure EC would agree..With that in mind there's nothing to stop you having an machine shop weld an shim onto the thermal boss permnamently and above all safely...🙂👍

[@PS_Tube]

Greetings. As always, quite an informative video. I certainly agree with the fact the SBCs should provide a full size HDMI out instead of micro. But seems like it's the new 'hip' trend.

[@Aruneh]

At about 13:40 it looks like C stares are disabled, which could affect power usage, depending on how well Radxa implemented it (and also possibly the SSD). Very interesting board though!

[@ahmad-murery]

Amazing system indeed. I would like to see DotNet program take advantage of GPIO on it. Maybe we could install a slower fan so we could get a better temperature while keeping the system quiet enough. Thanks Chris!

[@judsonleach5248]

Nice Sir! - It must be Sunday morning again! - Like Clockwork! It's almost like these videos are scheduled or something! 🙂 Cheers! - Judson & Buddy! - Have a GREAT WEEK, Everyone!!!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings my friends! :)

[@christer8964]

Finally a small computer that is fast enough and cool enough.

[@dktol56]

You should enable the C-states in the BIOS - the idle power draw under Linux Mint should drop well under 10W (maybe 4-6W).

[@SusanAmberBruce]

It's one of those, "The war was lost for want of a nail" situations, can't think why they don't supply a coper shim or manufacture a better fitting heat sink.

[@a.j.haverkamp4023]

3:30 N100 is 12th gen. Speed control with a two wire fan can be done by changing the voltage.

[@ExplainingComputers]

It can, but that is not supported here -- there are two wires for the fan, VCC and GND. So there is no way to control the fan speed with the setup here. But some circuit could be rigged via the GPIO.

[@sbc_tinkerer]

Pesky micro-hdmi ports is putting it very nicely. Radxa was so close and slipped up there.

[@armisis]

Agreed these micro hdmi ports stink. Would rather deal with usbc video out to hdmi.

[@nielsdebakker3283]

@@armisis I have seen usb-c on N100 but not with display out. (my asrock n100m has hdmi, dp en vga. But that is not Pi size)

[@TheOleHermit]

@@nielsdebakker3283 Depends upon the SBC. Many are only PD power inputs to minimize production costs. My Latte Panda Delta 3's USB-C is fully functional. I use a multi-port hub that allows USB-C PD pass through for power + full size HDMI & USB 3.0 ports, as well. I look forward to the day when full bidirectional USB-C becomes industry standard. 🙏

[@espressomatic]

If you're not running this system headless, you're likely doing something wrong.

[@TheOleHermit]

@@espressomatic Depends upon application and user's skill level, doesn't it. Many young folks are new to Linux and just beginning to learn to code and simply want an inexpensive SBC connected to a keyboard & monitor to get started. Admittedly, they should be using RPi to exploit the community and documentation support. Personally, I'm a poor typist and hate using the cli to control my remote HQcams and use VNC, instead.

[@salan3]

I must admit that for me (and I suspect a few others), The GPIO is not of interest. The open case is a pain (bits dropping in etc) and I want it to run cool and low power. That size of machine would be great. Over the years (decades lol) I have gone from using tens of KW and needing AC in the room (plus ear defenders) to power usage of a few hundred watts, No AC, practically no noise.

[@espressomatic]

N100 runs insanely hot and absolutely needs a good fan. Even with a heatsink 10x the size of the one they have available (on my different N100 system), I use a 120mm fan to keep it cool. Otherwise the heatsink gets hot enough that you can't touch it with bare fingers.

[@jeraldgooch6438]

Chris: 1. Nice to see you drop things to the floor when opening new boxes! 2. We like ducks. More ducks. 3. What is the licensing on Windows for this device? E.g. does the McGraw provide or do I need to supply? 4. How does one access the RP2040 chip from, say, a Python script in Windows. Thanks for yet another wonderful video.

[@ExplainingComputers]

You will need to buy a Windows license if you want to activate it beyond evaluation (which is not limited these days). Prices for a Windows key do vary! :) I've yet to experiment with the GPIO, but the RP2040 mounts as like a Pico on a USB port if you press it's button, and this would allow Micropython to be installed and scripts copied over.

[@andrina118]

Perfect post Sunday dinner fare!

[@cromulence]

One thing that is especially useful with the N100 is the GPU - you can do hardware video encoding, so for something like a Plex server it's idea. Impressive to see it in such a small form factor now!

[@StevenJennings-x8w]

Best thing about a Sunday!!! Mr Chris dropping his video for me to ignore my wife and kids!!! Amazing!!!

[@sid_gm1949]

Greetings! Looks like I arrived earlier than I anticipated 😅

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings!

[@AMDRADEONRUBY]

Like a new mini PC video I love them you are the bee mate have a nice day always nice hearing your voice

[@trevorberridge6079]

Amazing to see the Raxda working cooler without the fan when it has a proper heat sink set up. I have to say though that I couldn't hear the fan noise. However, if the temperatures are going to remain perfectly manageable without it I can see how attractive a fanless option would be.

[@srvuk]

Wow that copper shim and paste made an immense difference. The general heatsink design and implementation needs some reworking and clearly, a copper shim and paste solution would eliminate the need for a fan altogether. Silence really is golden. You might want to point people to where you git your particular shim from. Those 3 Gen 2 USB ports immediately jump out at me as far as purchase decision goes because the versatility that this gives to multiple OS booting possibilities is immense for snappy performance. Overall it seems to be a cracking device fr the money and the Pi5, or Orange Pi 5 would never get a look in for me. I don;t see the issue with the small HDMI ports but if I really was concerned then I might consider the purchase of a small to regular HDMI cable/dongle a worthwhile investment for constant swapping, where I could pretty much eliminate any stress on the connectors. Apart from the heatsink/fan design, if I were to love to see one change it would be the option for a 2280 M,2 but beggars cannot be choosers, Kudos for the inclusion of the M,2 screw though. Perhaps an N97 version may come, with 2280 M,2 supported but right now, we can only dream whilst we live in today's world. This is a positive from many perspectives from my own desires for such a product. But I am stuck with the Lemon (Orange) Pi 5 for now.

[@rickard9294]

Nice video again! I would have appreciated some GPU comparison between it and RPi5 but also some benchmark numbers to get a picture of how much faster it is.

[@johncundiff7075]

Good Morning Mr. Barnatt!! yes, not a big fan of micro HD ports.... the little N100 CPU is great though!! Perhaps a better cooling solution is needed from out of the box!! Can you tell where you got the little copper shim?? I've needed to have one of those over the years??

[@ericjarvie]

Ebay has an wide variety of shims in different specifications aimed primarily for Heatsinks CPUs etc however EC has not divulged the shim thickness as if you mirrored these details exactly you'd likely get very similar thermal outcomes..

[@totalermist]

To anyone considering using a copper shim: be *very* careful not to use a shim that's too thick! This CPU has the die exposed and there doesn't seem to be spring-loaded screws. There a considerable risk of breaking the silicon if the screws are too tight or the pressure is applied unevenly.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Yes, very true -- you need to be very careful. Hence why I used a shim that required some space to be filled with thermal compound.

[@kawsper]

@@ExplainingComputers What dimensions is your copper shim?

[@jierenzheng7670]

It is so fun to see how the N100 performs (I have a chinese laptop using the same CPU), sure Single core performance for application snappiness can be better, but it is decent for what it is. I am excited to see the new e-cores from Intel Skymont to perform.

[@anonylesss]

i have to post a little update on my own personal X4 4GB/32GB experience: i installed the original thermal pad (i believe i got an improved version of the heatsink labeled Rev V1.006) with some thermal paste on both sides of the pad. installed Debian 12 KDE Plasma and ran the exact same stress tech you ran (same command exactly) . i got the 48c average on Psensor, max at 54c after at least 10 minutes of test! so it might be an "improved thermal pad" or my thermal paste doing its job - but these are really good thermals with the original cooling solution provided by Radxa. btw, it's my mom's new "PC" replacing a Pi4 4GB , and she is very happy with its performance so far:)

[@LeicaM11]

I‘d prefer a Displayport output for monitor connection. But for most applications a HDCP controlled port will,do o a tv set.

[@darkevilpt5306]

A decent review ! At last!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. I got there! :)

[@darkevilpt5306]

@@ExplainingComputers you always do good man ! Some others are the problem.

[@MnemonicCarrier]

This is very interesting. I love that it has a 2.5Gbps ethernet, and an m.2 NVMe slot.

[@MrTasic]

it wold be very interesting to use SBCs own GPIOs to control the fan

[@kayakMike1000]

I thought fans were pwm...

[@aravindhOfficials]

The Intel N100 Processor is part of Intel's Alder Lake-N series, designed for efficient performance in budget-friendly laptops and mini PCs. Below are the details regarding the maximum supported RAM and storage (ROM): Maximum RAM Support: Memory Type: DDR4 and LPDDR5 Max RAM Capacity: DDR4: Up to 16 GB LPDDR5: Up to 16 GB Memory Speed: DDR4-3200 LPDDR5-4800 Memory Channels: Dual-channel support Maximum ROM (Storage) Support: While the Intel N100 processor itself doesn't directly limit storage capacity (ROM), the platform (motherboard or chipset) typically determines maximum storage. It generally supports SSDs (SATA, NVMe) or eMMC storage based on the device. Common configurations for devices with the Intel N100 processor often support up to 2 TB SSD (NVMe or SATA) storage. Make sure to check the device manufacturer’s specifications for the exact maximum storage capacity for your particular system. You said: Intel N100 Processor: 4 cores, 4 threads, with a max turbo frequency of 3.40 GHz and 6 MB Intel® Smart Cache for superior processing power. ChatGPT said: ChatGPT The Intel N100 Processor is a 4-core, 4-thread processor from Intel's Alder Lake-N series, designed for power efficiency and reliable performance in budget systems. Here are its key specifications: Cores: 4 (Efficient Cores) Threads: 4 Max Turbo Frequency: 3.40 GHz Base Frequency: 0.8 GHz (Energy-efficient performance) Cache: 6 MB Intel® Smart Cache TDP: 6W (very power efficient) Graphics: Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics The 6 MB Intel® Smart Cache helps optimize performance by allowing faster access to frequently used data, improving responsiveness in multitasking, web browsing, and light productivity tasks. This processor is ideal for lightweight tasks such as web browsing, office work, and media consumption, and is commonly found in low-power laptops, mini PCs, and budget systems.

[@the-matrix-has-you]

I have bought two Radxa X4 with 8GB Ram and 64GB EMMC just before it is out of stock on AliExpress. Two SBC's gonna be my Web Servers as these boards have more power than a i5 that is released 7 years ago! I hope they will be in stock soon cause I want a 16GB Ram one too!

[@ExplainingComputers]

I think and hope they will return. A lot of potential with this board.

[@the-matrix-has-you]

@@ExplainingComputers Yes Sir it definitely has potential. At last we programmers,developers,tinkerers have a good enough SBC on market we can use!