The EVERYTHING $300 Fanless Home Server

[@stephenneal7373]

I'm sure others have already posted - but a possible reason why the USB 2.0 RF dongle and the USB 3.0 flash drive didn't work together is that USB 3.0 connectors can give off a LOT of RF in the 2.4GHz range that can take out a lot of RF keyboard dongles if they are too close to a USB 3.0 port running at USB 3.0 speeds. I have a small USB 2.0 extender cable to move the dongle away from the port for just this scenario.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Totally correct. Have a great weekend!

[@adiadiadii]

Yes, there is a paper from Intel about it

[@kilo.sierra]

Today I learned ^

[@lost4468yt]

Is this a result of it being a Chinese system that presumably hasn't passed Western RF standards? Because doesn't this completely violate them if it's interfering with other devices?

[@nmlss-r9]

​@@lost4468ytLots of routers sold internationally with 3.0 ports reduced the 2.4Gh wifi speed some years ago. Not really a chinese only issue.

[@UpcraftConsulting]

If you want 1u rackmount I suggest sending them a message. I have bought customized Qotom devices with 1u cases for small upcharges before. They are usually very open to case customization. If you order in larger quantities they would even silkscreen your own logo on the box as they offer ODM services for an upcharge. (Quantity required wasn't even that large, like 6)

[@Kendal1999]

How much have you paid for custom 1U? Want to know if it worth few extra bucks to get it

[@UpcraftConsulting]

@Kendal1999 $50 is typical. Includes a new fixed / internal power supply.

[@Kendal1999]

​@UpcraftConsulting holy that's a good dead imo.

[@Darkk6969]

@@UpcraftConsulting That is very appealing! Will have to check it out.

[@jelle2819]

Mini PC Q20331G9 1U

[@craftkiller9627]

TWO DAYS AGO I bought one of the fanless boxes you reviewed last year, and NOW you show me this absolute beauty?!?!

[@DigitalIndependent]

This happens with everything… we‘ll have to get used to it

[@massimo79mmm]

i think this thing is even older than yours...

[@thatguyinabeanie]

return it

[@xephael3485]

@@DigitalIndependent luckly they didn't just get married .... lol

[@djole02]

@8:30 That's a M.2 B-key slot for 4G/5G WWAN cards. You can even clearly see the connections to the SIM card slot. edit: It's really great to see that you get this slot on this PC as it can offer quite inexpensive WAN redundancy.

[@TayschrennSedai]

That was my first thought, drop a 5G antenna onto it and profit. Not sure off hand what OS supports that OOB but it's a unique feature.

[@feedmytv]

@@TayschrennSedai I think it's used more as primary connection and not OOB. Like POS equipment. The only LTE OOB I ever saw in action was in DC colocation

[@TayschrennSedai]

@@feedmytv I actually was thinking for a failover connection. By oob I meant I don't know what OS supports LTE connections out of box, not out of band haha

[@anthonygreen77]

Can the wireless card be used as a redundant WAN link if your fixed ISP is down? Any info on how to set this up in pfsense? Also any idea on how much the wireless WAN cards cost?

[@gearboxworks]

@@TayschrennSedai- And that is a great example of why people using initialisms all the time can be so infuriating. #justsaying 🙂

[@stevenmishos]

One thing I'd like to see covered is how well these small companies manage firmware updates over time. I really liked Intel NUCs for small homelab devices because Intel did a good job keeping BIOS updated as vulnerabilities were discovered.

[@TheRealMrGuvernment]

Same. So many of these fly by night companies selling small boxes like this with left over parts from makers. My other main concern is, any spyware chips in these systems? Has anyone done a proper port mirror to monitor traffic going out of these devices, outside of the OS....

[@2dfx]

I'll tell you and save you the trouble. They're about as solid as D-Link. Meaning, the product will be obsolete and dropped from support before it's even released.

[@EvilDaveCanada]

Anyone know how ASUS is going to support the NUC series now that they bought it from Intel?

[@ChrisWijtmans]

they could be a target for gnu boot. But i want to avoid these since they are intel based. I am looking for something like this based on AMD or even ARM based. Althought a router only needs 2 ethernet ports. Which can be extended with a switch. thats all i need currently and i havent found it yet.

[@peterboil4064]

GNU Boot doesn't even really exist... @@ChrisWijtmans

[@billhgong]

The mouse keyboard dongle and USB drive issue just can’t be resolved since USB 3.0 will interfere with 2.4GHz signals. At such close range EMI shielding won’t work either so it’s not a design flaw for this particular product. If you use an extension cable for the dongle it should resolve the issue. Also the SSD is covered in epoxy or sealant is most likely to make it environment-proof instead of for security reasons. The slot below two m.2 2280 slots is a m.2 3042 slot and is wired for WWAN (when considering the SIM slot is next to it, and of course the majority of m.2 WWAN cards are in 3042 size unlike WLAN cards at 2230 size).

[@moomah5929]

He could trying using an USB extension cable to move the dongle away from the USB3 port and stick. I did this with some of my dongles. Btw, still funny how many people leave bad reviews for wireless 2.4GHz devices simply because they don't know about this USB3 design flaw.

[@zyeborm]

Yeah you need an extension cable to get them to work half the time

[@billhgong]

@@moomah5929 That's right, they're supposed to blame Intel and USB-IF 😏

[@eveningstarnm3107]

An SSD in a security device from China sealed in epoxy... I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, right?

[@kingneutron1]

ZOMG FML, you just DESTROYED my NY resolution to *take a break* from ordering things on AMZN! But MAN this is too good to pass up, I have a 15-bay SAS shelf that I want to try with this and see if I can get 10Gig Fiber networking going somehow in the homelab! Will be a challenge since the Qotom will be the only capable unit, but if I get a good tax refund I might build a 10Gig-capable server :^) In the meantime I have 2x 2.5Gbit routers with 10Gbit SFP+ connectors that may benefit from this in the meantime. You Rock!!

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Wow thanks! Just to be clear, the SFF-8087 is SATA not SAS in this system.

[@kingneutron1]

@@ServeTheHomeVideo Ehh still hoping to make it work, I have a 5-bay external SAS/SATA enclosure that runs off 2xMolex (standard PC power supply) and an internal SAS to 4-SATA breakout cable that fits the QOTOM port. Just waiting for a VGA cable to arrive :)

[@pinkowl9752]

The AliExpress reseller just uploaded your video to their product page, lol.

[@naps1saps]

I've seen this with other products but is usually an embed youtube vid so not technically stealing?

[@NetITGeeks]

@@naps1saps In AliExpress situation here, they actually downloaded this video and uploaded to their own servers. Hence, they are stealing content. LOL

[@benchy5769]

@@naps1sapsthat’s not a embedded video, I don’t think AliExpress allow embedded KZbin video on product page

[@nestorkropotkin8952]

Really glad I am still early on in my Home Server project. Still might keep my NGFW separated from my NAS/Home Server but this might just pull me back into the All In One plan again. The nice thing about 'passive' cooling is that adding active cooling to it is not hard. :D

[@BenX256]

Thank you! I've been looking everywhere for something that checks all the boxes for a new proxmox/router unit for my homelab, I think this blows my requirements out of the water and gives me room to grow. this is probably it!

[@CrimsonDemonKyo]

I have been looking at this alot and I have found that the spot you were thinking was for a Wifi card is a M.2 B Keyed 3042/3052 slot this is commonly used for 3G,4G,5G Celluar Card. Wifi cards use M.2 A+E or M.2 E keyed slots. I was not able to find a good way to use wifi in this without some type of adapter card.

[@djsmeguk]

Rhis looks like a possibility to replace both a 12 year old homelab server and a newer but still old qotom netbox. The 2.5 and 10g combo looks amazing and replacing the old server HDD setup with something more portable would be a nice upgrade.

[@saxxonpike]

This is absolutely nutty for the price point.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Exactly

[@marcogenovesi8570]

These chinese industrial-ish things are on a roll. I remember a year ago when it was hard to get even a multiple eth mini PC and now boom it slices it dices it washes the dishes

[@waifulhu]

you always manage to post a video about the exact device i need at the exact time i'm looking for it lmao

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Welcome to STH! :-) Happy new year!

[@NonyaDamnbusiness]

Dammit, Patrick! I already replaced my old 1GB Protectli firewall running baremetal Arista/Untangle with a CWWK N305 4-port 2n5GB firewall and virtualized OPNsense on it passing thru WAN/LAN NICs and installing HAOS as a VM and moved all my docker stuff over to an LXC running Docker (~20 containers) and now this shows up. Oh well, at 7% CPU utilization and only using 48% of the 32GB RAM I have installed it I think I'm good to go for a while. it did replace a separate firewall and Proxmox server so at least overall power consumption is down. And I did add a Zigbee USB stick to it and it's slowly replacing the Philips Hue-based lighting systems I have with cheaper options that don't require me to have a "cloud account" with Philips.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Cool box! You are right the challenge is often on memory capacity not CPU performance.

[@RyanGrange]

I have an older QOTOM model with dual 1Gb eth, a J1900 cpu, 4GB RAM, and 60GB EMMC storage. It's served me faithfully as a pfSense firewall/router for many years now.

[@Name-bs3rp]

I ran their i7 gen 7(?) box for opnsense nonstop with ids, sensei and what not for years without a single hiccup. Even with their sus PSU. It did get VERY hot though. But my mini pc farm lives on cheap laptop base coolers. which has been sufficent.

[@trisymphony]

This feature set screams "make me into a 1U server with 4 hotswap bays connected over the SFF 8087". I would love to buy that as a NAS/homelab box.

[@webluke]

So much of the Chinese network gear is so close to being super useful but falls short of being useful without something extra. Even Western name brands always seem to compromise on dumb things that wouldn't have increased the cost by much but lost sales because of it.

[@hypercube33]

100% would buy this right now if it came in a stubby 1U short box.

[@mito-pb8qg]

@@webluke They wouldn't cannibalize sales of their outrageously overpriced enterprise level gear like that, which DOES have those features.

[@philipslighting8240]

Buy it then.

[@thisisreallyme3130]

If you ditch the case, it might fit inside a 1U enclosure, or worst case onto a 1U shelf. The case can't be doing too much heatsinking, since the top is where the fins are and there's just air under them..

[@Elristan]

Oooooooh these are SO GOOD. Thankful I stumbled on this video, I nearly bought parts to build a node with half the cores, none of the high speed NICs and only 4 to 6 SATA ports... Supposedly woulda been more power efficient though, but marginally... And the whole thing would have been more expensive than this (excluding DAS enclosure). Thanks !

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

It was a crazy find.

[@stevenwheelwright572]

the coral edge TPU has a m.2 E key form factor that would work with that empty WiFi slot. you could then run an NVR with object detection very easily with frigate

[@ShadVonHass]

Does it get assisted at all by the usual iGPU or would the coral do it all?

[@concinnus]

@@ShadVonHass The C series CPUs don't have an iGPU.

[@theglowcloud2215]

"very easily" lol there's nothing easy about configuring Frigate with object detection when it comes to most off-the-shelf cameras

[@j67160]

Frigate thinks my wall is actually a human

[@NatesRandomVideo]

STH starting the year off with a bang. Cheers!

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

This month is going to be bonkers now that the new studio is taking shape

[@randomlegodev]

this might just be the overpowered router I've been looking for, awesome video :)

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Thanks!

[@tommybronze3451]

So comparing it's CPU Atom C3758 (8 cores) - cpu mark score 4614 Netgate 6100 CPU Atmo C3558 (4 cores) - cpu mark score 2417 Not a massive performance boost, but damn it's a great alternative for failover router alternative to netgate products ! An yes I doo agree that this one do actually take the cake in terms of connectivity & extendibility @ low power package. Wait ... I've just realised, this could work as both my failover firewall and failover web server ... where's my credit card ?! THANKS PATRIC for so far the best late Christmas / new year gift !

[@Meowbay]

Low power? These boxes pull an average of 24 Watt 24/7.

[@tommybronze3451]

@@Meowbay and what exactly you expected with sas controller, 4x 10gbe and so on ? alternative is some 1U server that sucks 300W at idle from the wall :/

[@kantei_ka]

I got this a week back. I paid 232$ for the PC. 50$ for shipping and around 60$ more on customs. The processor is CS3758R with 8GB RAM and 128 GB SSD. I'm running pfsemse and it's running fine. Also, I tested that all the SFP+ ports and the RJ45 ports are running fine thlugh I didn't get enough time to benchmark or stress test the unit.

[@rabidturtles359]

@kantei_ka Would you be able to tell me if the controller driving the 8087 port is SAS compatible? I would like to use my SAS drives on this unit.

[@user-jt6sn7yu1d]

Did you use a sfp+ to rj45 module at all? If so can you recommend one that works.. thanks

[@gtoger]

Very interesting. I've been looking for a device like this to run a small ESXi lab on that wouldn't scream away in the hall closet. I'm a little concerned the proc wouldn't hold up very well in that use but it otherwise looks nearly perfect.

[@camaycama7479]

Not sure that CPU support virtualization ?

[@Br4mVAL]

@@camaycama7479 it does

[@Darkk6969]

@@camaycama7479 It does. 12:17 in the video. VT-x is what you're looking for.

[@robbyandrews223]

@@camaycama7479 Denverton definitely supports Intel VT.

[@lvmeijer]

@@camaycama7479 He mentions in the video he ran Proxmox, as well as Windows and Linux

[@Pit_stains]

Very nice. As I write this, shipping is $42.04 regardless of build (on amazon). I might try this out to replace a super old desktop PC i've been running pfsense on. Thanks

[@PeterZin]

I spotted this thing on Aliexpress a couple of months ago. Such a sweet connectivity hub. It would make a nice 10gbe router/firewall to pair with wifi 7 AP later down the road this year.

[@keylanoslokj1806]

Why would you combine those devices? (New person to networking here)

[@gearboxworks]

I kept expecting Patrick to complain about "the lack of USB ports." 😂 I really wish it had at least an option for IPMI or equivalent; that is high up my list of preferences for on any server. Lastly, having an HDMI port or mini-HDMI port would be nice given how many monitors these days no longer have VGA ports. OTHER THAN THAT, seems like a really awesome find, especially with the Atom C3xxx processor.

[@theaddies]

Great video. What a cool device. Do you happen to have further information relating to specific ram this machine can accommodate. You mention ECC ram. I was wondering if you have any idea specifically which sticks.

[@drtbantha]

Would love to see this with a newer processor - either a more powerful one or a more power efficient one. As it stands, there doesn’t seem to be a compelling reason to replace my trusty Lenovo SFF with i7-4770.

[@PaulSpades]

You don't want power, you want speed. The storage and network interfaces on this little thing are an order of magnitude faster than what that (pre?)skylake system can push trough its busses. If you keep all of your working dataset in ram, that doesn't matter, but if you don't...

[@BrandonPeccoralo]

1000% correct. this unit is cheap because of all the networking problems with this intel cpus

[@ralf391]

2024: The desk has hit rock bottom. Frohes und Gesundes, STH!

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Happy new year!

[@reneb5222]

I bought the 1U unit version with i226V nics with 64 GB memory. It also has fan and is looking great. There's one major issue with the unit intel x553 SFP+ ixgbe is a no go on Proxmox. No kernel driver in Debian.

[@dktol56]

In the vyos forums, there are reports of link problems with the X553 and the ixgbe driver in the 6.x kernels, but not the 5.x kernels. Seems that some sort of regression occurred in the in-tree ixgbe driver maintained by the Intel developers, but a forum poster troubleshooting the problem was able to get it to work by compiling the latest Intel out-of-tree source against the vyos kernel. Probably just a temporary fix until this gets sorted out. BTW, it doesn't affect pfsense and opnsense since they are bsd-based. I'm surprised that Patrick didn't run into this issue with the 10Gb SFP+ ports when testing proxmox and truenas scale, as they are both based on Debian 12 with a 6.x kernel. Maybe both are using the out-of-tree Intel driver in their custom kernels?

[@Tgspartnership]

a great find Patrick!! thanks for testing this machine sounds like a little beauty.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

The Kettop-Mi4125L5 has a J4125, meaning you get QuickSync too for Plex support.

[@blademan7671]

Amazing value: 4 x 10Gb SFP+, Dual dimm, nvme, 8 cores, fanless for ~$300. Dual SFP+ mellanox is $50 just by itself. I spent much more for my firewall/router. Maybe a perfect time to migrate from the Optiplex running Pfsense, to this box running OpnSense.

[@diogosn]

In addition is fanless, not having to clean internally is very good.

[@jefferytse]

That’s exactly what I’m thinking to do.

[@ShadVonHass]

pfsense optiplex user checking in. This is looking extremely tempting

[@AustinMichael]

@@ShadVonHass this is designed more for storage servers imo, not really routers. You can get much cheaper n95 or n100 boxes that will use much less power for a router.

[@terminalvelocity4858]

@@AustinMichael True, but this is a great futureproof and those N series boxes might not do higher speed VPN connections very well because of the CPU. I wish I could find one of these exact boxes mentioned in the video, but without the SFP and a more powerful CPU like an i3/i5. Any suggestions anyone?

[@ViciousXUSMC]

Seems amazing, I just dont knot if I can go back to a little box running an Atom after building PFSense using a R210ii and a Xeon running every package out there and watching it laugh at it. For 1gb this is probably absolutetly perfect, but for VPN and full packet inspection I think this would choke trying to handle more than that.

[@pbrigham]

Oh boy, what a Pfsense killer, just love it.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Also OPNsense

[@saiyantwan]

Now we just need a rack mountable version of this. I know I could put it on a shelf but would just love to mount it. It also makes me a bit upset with the hunsn rackmount i bought about a year or so ago for my opnsense set up.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

We have 2-3 different 1U rackmounts that we are already working on the articles/ videos for. Probably later this month after we finish the MS-01 review.

[@andrewpiechocki9006]

@@ServeTheHomeVideo Sadly those are all sold out except for the lowest end 2C/2T 4x1GB NICs with no SFP+.

[@omegatotal]

need more of these in 1u super compact chassis AND 1u half width chassis that can run 2 side by side for HA

[@hellsing56666]

Seems really great for a home router/nas.

[@hokatichenci]

That seems like a whole lot of I/O - what' the pci-e topology/architecture? Does it actually have enough lanes/speed to support all that?

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

The C3758 has built in 10GbE NICs which is what makes it possible

[@sathivv950]

@@ServeTheHomeVideo I am realizing now reading this comment that this must be the important bit. Reading the comments from people lamenting that this was not an i3 or more powerful processor I went looking for a mini pc with an i3 or greater and could not find a single offering with sfp+ ports or 10G anything. And this has 4 of them plus the 2.5G ethernet ports. I think this is exactly what I need to upgrade my existing 10G switch connections into some proper vlans. Thank you.

[@JoaquinVacas]

While not having a iGPU is a bit of a tradeoff, having that much cores for SW encoding is something to be aware of. 👌

[@MostlyPennyCat]

There's a version with a Celeron J for quick sync support.

[@adamsherman]

So, can I run a pair of NVMe drives as well as a Coral TPU? Add a large SATA drive for non-redundant bulk video storage and this thing can run Frigate and a zillion other containers. Love it.

[@roast54321]

Hey Patrick, anyway you and the team can add firewall throughput as part of your testing regiment? Would be nice to know if the C3758 can handle 1Gb, 3Gb, 8Gb or 10Gb internet. Routing tests for no rules, 25 rules and 25 queues.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

The pfSense folks have this CPU running at over 18Gbps with iperf3 traffic in the 8200 Max as shown

[@SB-qm5wg]

$300 is fair for this. Good review. ty

[@drescherjm]

Looks fantastic for the price.

[@profosist]

The reason for the mouse and keyboard wireless not working is due to interference from the USB 3.0 flash drive.ive seen this with front panel on desktop too

[@leonwatertor6647]

Absolute great video i was looking if i could buy one unfortunately amazon does not ship this item to the netherlands and aliexpress has a huge markup for the same system plus 50 euro shipping. Anyway great video and keep up the good work

[@cmuller1441]

The DAS provides little for the price. Just use a sff8087 to 4*SATA cable, put your 4 disks in an old PC case with a PSU and with a bridge on the MB power cable to keep it on. You'll probably want to connect the 2 cases together to keep a clean ground (the old PC case is grounded but the mini-pc is powered by a floating PSU). Cost $10 plus stuff you already own instead of $300...

[@JohnPMiller]

I'm happy with my 4-port N5105 box, but this box will make a lot of people with faster connections happy.

[@headlibrarian1996]

This seems like it would make a good ceph storage cluster node, and they're cheap enough to make a five node cluster instead of the three node clusters you typically see with the MS-01.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Yes

[@adamkonrad]

This is really good and the price point is crazy!

[@PashaDefragzor]

Woah, lucky 38. Nice device, thanks for review.

[@thegeekno72]

What an unexpected (to me at least) review drop, I was wondering if this one would get in your hands, I ordered mine last week already, still waiting for the delivery so that'll be a treat to enjoy while I wait patiently ! EDIT : Hi patrick, did you mention the nanoSIM slot or did I miss it ? 🤔 Happy new year to you and the team !

[@notreal5311]

Came to the comments to ask about the SIM card slot! Also the bookmarks talk about Proxmox and TrueNas at 14:48 but its just DAS talk - would have liked to see how it hndled running Proxmox etc. Think they did a little partying on NYE! Cheers!

[@leoliu5017]

I bought 1 4 port 2.5g nic card, 1 8 port 2.5g hub, 1 4 port spf+ switch, buy a matx , modify switch fan, then realise this meet all my needs while cost 1/4-1/3 . It will consume less power and without fan noise😮

[@blender_wiki]

Wow this is great, courious to see if he can really manage the 10GbE with Jumbo frames. Can you do a review on the AsRock Rack E3C256D4I-2T Mini-ITX Server motherboard?? Can be really nice

[@TravelerNick]

Yes please. Could you?

[@floriantthebault521]

Super vid, as usual ! I've been looking at the data sheet of Qotom, but I can't find the chipset used for the SFP+ NIC. I only see it's using the i225-V (1Gbit/s) and i226-V (2.5Gbit/s) for the RJ45 ports, but nothing about the SFP+. Would you know which NIC (and speed) are using the two SPF+ ports ?

[@GreySectoid]

It looks good, but then again my ITX form factor build Ryzen APU + 64 gigs ECC + 4 spinning disks draws 50-60 watts and cost about the same. However, I do see the appeal of this kind of left-field setup, more so if the power draw would be significantly less.

[@Caper_Crusader]

Great review! Subbed

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

Wonder how their Q30912DS would work as a proxmox/truenas/opnsense combo box

[@Qotom-Mini-pc]

You can set it as Home Cloud Storage + advanced Router+ desktop computer. If wanna better performance, cpu i5-10210u and i7-10710u are optional.

[@MuckingFedic]

This amazing! Thank you!

[@concinnus]

I just ran across the C3558 version of this like a week ago, what're the odds? But yeah, I225V is a bit of a bummer (tho they say I225/I226, so I guess they can have either).

[@dota2tournamentss]

damn, finally something with good IO, but I would love to see it with n305 or something like i5 12600t

[@jorper2526]

Look at the N305 PCIE lanes.. Simply not enough lanes to do something like this. 12600T.. I mean maybe it's possible.. But that is getting into some really extremely niche cases. Most of the devices like this one are ostensibly built for Edge/Industrial use. The only thing that will have perfect IO is one you build yourself, but it probably won't be in the form factor you want.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

This is 100% correct.

[@dota2tournamentss]

@@jorper2526 yes n305 is really bad if we look on pcie lanes

[@poofygoof]

Leftover Denvertons must've been blown out of inventory at bargain-basement prices for these to show up now. IIRC these pre-date the Xeon-D branding, and were introduced in 2017. Not a replacement for my Jaketown server, but a way step-up from my current Pineview router / firewall.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

I was the first 3rd party to get a D-1540 so I remember Xeon D launched in Q1 2015. Those were fun days!!!

[@poofygoof]

@@ServeTheHomeVideo I stand corrected!

[@massimilianogilli1164]

I would have loved to see some syntethic benchmarks on those nics. Does it make sense to make this unit a Wireless AP as well?

[@hk9443]

Is there no temperature readings mentioned?

[@PhilippDurrer]

Damn, I'm looking for something in this form factor that can truly route 4x10GbE RJ45, could you run iperf on that thing and let us know how well it does doing 10G?

[@billlodhia5640]

I'd love to know if the SFF port is a SAS controller or not, since I could also use this with an LTO drive straight up

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

It is not. SATA only because it comes from the Atom C3758 SoC

[@billlodhia5640]

Also, I'd love to hear about the gumstick port!

[@JFlogerzi]

How many drives could that port support?@@ServeTheHomeVideo

[@confusedbeard69]

Maybe it this is the upgrade I've been waiting for. My i5-3330 pfsensebox is a tad old and uses a bit of power.

[@kotgc7987]

Is there a way to use this as a main server, then run VMs on it, sending the audio/video to other rooms where a monitor, mouse and keyboard can run on the VMs? I'm guessing the monitor, mouse and keyboard needs cables which may not reach the main server, so perhaps some small device that receives the main server's data by ethernet and then outputs via cables to monitors, keyboards and mice?

[@shubinternet]

I'd love to see firewall benchmarks with this device compared to NetGate, etc....

[@Erin-Thor]

Very, VERY interesting‼️ 🤓 The Atom processor though? 😳 I recently did the same thing, replaced a dead NAS 14TB drive with a 20TB drive because it was less expensive.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Atom CPUs run tons of infrastructure products.

[@Erin-Thor]

@ - Yes, I know. I bought one of the first ones on a tiny handheld Fujitsu laptop, I didn’t understand or think to research the term “NEWEST INTEL PROCESSOR!” It was as non-functional as it gets slower than you could imagine. I know they have improved, multiple cores, It’s just one of those memories that sticks in ur brain. 🤪

[@LockonKubi]

last time I was aware of the Intel Atom platform as a thing was the netbook and compute stick era. Did not know it just moved into this embedded appliance space instead.

[@canonip3000]

I am thinking of getting one of those to "replace" my HP Microserver Gen8. Only to connect the 4-Bay SFF8087 cable of the Microserver to this

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

That is really interesting

[@MoraFermi]

I think I saw a C6000 version of this motherboard somewhere on aliexpress.. I looked at it, saw this weird collection of networking ports and the "NAS motherboard" label and got so confused I passed on it.. Maybe I should go find it again. Edit: Oh wait no, this was exactly this board, with the -R cpu. Intel's part naming scheme can cause serious confusion.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Even if it was a C5000 let me know

[@brettpeckinpaugh]

Great video, you talk about virtualization. What can this handle virtualizing? The process is not the beefiest. I recently got a NUC 13 and installed ESXI 8 and I am pretty happy with how many machines I can run on it. I also have a server running a few quests and docker containers, so curious what this little box could do for me besides just being a router/firewall. Currently my server is the NAS as it needs direct connect between a quest and the NAS storage drives.

[@Bytional]

I saw these mini servers 3 years ago, still in factory testing, a few examples leaked in China, glad to see they really developed these.

[@b4ttlemast0r]

The features / IO are crazy, but the processor paired with it is pretty weak

[@jrherita]

I do wish these had faster processors. When I run this class of CPU in pfsense under Proxmox they’re barely able to route 1.5 gbps - no chance of 2.5 gbps or especially 10 gbps. That’s with nothing else running at the time under Proxmox too.

[@robbyandrews223]

Is that using PCIe passthru with PFSense getting direct access to the NIC?

[@jrherita]

No - VirtIO (paravirtualized) due to need to share the internal with other VMs. CPU is a Pentium N6005 (ODROID-H3+)@@robbyandrews223

[@Emenblade]

@5:20 as an unraid user I'll tell ya what, having your usb on the 2.0 port rather than the 3.0 port is a GOOD IDEA, because most drives don't draw as much power and this stay cooler and run more reliably on the usb 2 port!

[@rdcardex]

Sweet! I was looking how to shrink my homelab budget, and this looks pretty darn awesome to achieve that goal. Thanks Patrick... have an awesome day.

[@accesser]

That looks awesome Are there any SSD or MVME consumer DAS units rather than spinning rust

[@EddLovette]

NVMe doesn’t work over SFF8087/8088

[@sh0ckwaveVR6]

i have one since october ;) this thing is amazing!

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

We have several folks in the STH forums with them as well.

[@rabidturtles359]

​@@ServeTheHomeVideoDoes anyone have any info about the controller behind the SFF 8087 port? I would like to use it with my SAS drives I already have. Thanks!

[@BrianThomas]

I'm in the process of buying this as we speak. That's so odd that I stumbled across this video at the same time.

[@andrewpiechocki9006]

Be happy - they are sold out everywhere now! haha

[@BrianThomas]

@@andrewpiechocki9006 right. I got mine. Get yours. 😊

[@vandorb12]

When you first showed off the Hunsun appliances, I stared saving up, but now with SFP+ ports on this unit, I'm tempted to deviate and go for this just for the potential to future-proof my homelab.

[@johnzirnkilton7236]

Finally!!! Ive been running an old dell R410 and the power consumption and not having hw accelerated encryption has been not fun.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

This is also a lot quieter.

[@memadmax69]

Sweet. I'll take 10. Thanks.

[@placksheep]

Darn, only versions of this I can find are the 2-4 core variants. I've been looking for something like this to replace an old edgerouter.

[@shmehfleh3115]

I'm guessing a video DAC is integrated onto this little enterprise-ish platform, which is why they went with VGA. Still, I wish they would've implemented HDMI instead. It's getting harder to find monitors with VGA support these days.

[@ChrisWijtmans]

display port would be better.

[@valdemaraspetrutis6237]

Use cheap HDMI to VGA converter

[@Kushari]

Just bought this to be my router based on this video.

[@SgtDeagle]

yeah. 2.4ghz connection to mices or Keyboards dont like a usb 3.0 connection directly nearby, have the same issues since years with different devices

[@hmurchison8123]

This will be perfect to build my nextgen firewall.

[@beakerwsw]

I'm sure these are great, but can we get some reviews of things that are actually rack mountable?

[@giuseppearbia]

This is what I was waiting for but no Intel 226.......why....?

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Excellent question.

[@Qotom-Mini-pc]

You can leave a message when purchasing this product. Need 226

[@Malli2602]

Is there a alternative like that with min. 2*10g and 4*2.5g nic. And available in Germany?

[@Malli2602]

Wana use it for opnsense and some docker under unraid

[@allni3807]

有一个铭凡的主机2个万兆sfp，两个2.5g，价格三千八人民币。13代英特尔笔记本i9cpu，还有一款等几天才卖的两个万兆sfp，四个2.5g，价格最低配置1400人民币左右，同样是笔记本cpu12代的

[@Malli2602]

@@allni3807 could you write that in English please. There is no way to translate that with phone. Thank you.

[@AppZoneIL]

i am setting up 10G home network, I am considering using this device as my router, will it be fast enough to be a 10g router?

[@jamess1787]

If this thing has the SFF8088, I'd buy it in a second. I'm working on a storage systems upgrading from USB3.1 Zfs disk NAS. In due time.

[@EddLovette]

The SFF8087 is functionally identical, it’s just a less hardened connector. Is that really holding you back?

[@patrickdk77]

@@EddLovette but is that sff8087 just a quad sata, or is it a real bonded sas connector? Can I use it with an expander, or no

[@rivimey]

Patrick noted elsewhere that it's just quad sata, not sas, @@patrickdk77

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

​@@patrickdk77sata only

[@duckyatsea]

Those look like they're both USB3....even on the black one, you can see that there's cutouts for the 5 extra pins (though I can't quite see if the pins are actually there).

[@davidgrim5990]

Gave up on. It. I need the nas part to have a fan and so far I have only seen one vendor do this. As a stand alone server it would be fine