THIS is the NAS I've been waiting for! - IceWhale ZimaCube N100 Review

[@CraftComputing]

I could have sworn when I looked up the N100, the ARK page said 2 channels.... Oh well, still hate being limited in capacity.

[@julms9495]

if you looked it up already, you also know that it only has 9 PCIe lanes: how does all these NVMEs and 2.5 GBit Ethernet as well as ASMedia Sata Controller fit into these 9 PCIe Lanes? the NVMEs alone take up 8 (2x 4 lanes)... Something sounds fishy to me.

[@brendandelear1145]

Has a pcie switch

[@bensanders6017]

Only 1 channel unfortunately 😢

[@shanent5793]

Do you usually rely on a single source for your info?

[@TheBinklemNetwork]

Still a nice video

[@nhansgoofyvideos7581]

Intel N100 only has single ram channel, unlike previous version like Jasper Lake or Gemini Lake. If you have 4800MT/s DDR5 single channel with the N100, that's already the fastest ram you can get.... All N100 product I have seen deploy 2 dimm/ 1 channel for higher memory capacity, but not bandwidth.

[@nhansgoofyvideos7581]

Also according to Intel block diagram, all PCIE connectivity on Alder Lake-N is from the PCH sitting on the same package... Unsure how fast the link to the CPU die is, nevertheless PCIE bandwidth & lanes would be limited.

[@kadancomputers]

That's what I came to the comments to say

[@CraftComputing]

I swear when I read the ARK page it said 2ch when I was writing this video. Oops.

[@borandiUK]

Doesn't the n300 have dual ch

[@smilespray]

I've got an N305-based mini PC and it only has a single channel. I think that applies to all the CPUs in this year's N line-up.

[@DBTechYT]

I really appreciate your transparency and criticisms on this

[@charlescc1000]

I wish they’d sell the chassis in a DIY model for people who just want the case. Looks like an awesome sized case for a NAS - plus 6x hot swap is awesome

[@stonent]

It looks like the layout may not be standard, but if they made one that was, it would be a nice case to have.

[@nosajuk]

Jonsbo n2 (5 bay) or n3 (8 bay)

[@charlescc1000]

@@nosajuk Yep I’ve seen the Jonsbo offerings. They look nice but I’m more intetested in mATX than MiniITX I have a supermicro 4 bay hot swap mini ITX case right now. Fit and finish is superb. I much prefer mATX because: 1) can find MBs with 4 ram slots instead. 2) can find MBs with more than 1 pcie slots and 3) often the case will support a full size PSU I really like having 2x pcie slots so that 1 can be used for an HBA card and the other for a 10Gb NIC The fractal node 804 is the closest option, but no hot swap. I used to have one and I sold it. I now regret selling it.

[@Cynyr]

​@@charlescc1000the zimacube looks like it is mini dtx, not uatx.

[@christianmino3753]

I'm POSITIVE you can find something similar. I have myself, just dont remember what is was called after all the cases and tech ive looked at over the past few years lol

[@brianramosSr]

YES!!!! @8:46 Finally!!! A review that explains what the true "value add" of network interface bonding or LACP, CORRECTLY!!! Client to server, the bandwidth is only as fast as the single interface to the client (by default, src mac add). Sorry I've been drinking too!!!

[@SpaceSquid420]

The DC input could be a very nice addition for off grid use much more efficient to just use a dc-dc converter off the batteries vs going through an inverter to ac and back.

[@jothain]

That's quite niche use case 😊

[@Bytional]

DC input is less stable than standard PSU for NAS, so it's a deal breaker for me.

[@kevinhu196]

C$680 is kinda a tough pill to swallow esp for a N100. However I do wish IceWhale succeed with this product. Hopefully this will open the door to DIY motherboard from topton, erying with low power high performance laptop U series chips but with god tier expansion (6 sata, 2,5GbE, PCIe). The only place you could find 12th gen laptop i5 is on laptop or MiniPC and these certainly don't come with 6 SATA ports.

[@ParkerTyler]

Their "pro" version is ridiculously overpriced. For fun I priced out a custom build with a 12600k, and a jonsbo n2 or n3 for 2/3 the cost (this was before Black Friday, during Black Friday the cost was 1/2.) And with some drives included for the same price.

[@lightingman117]

Post the PCPP link plz

[@KiraSlith]

​@@lightingman117Links get auto-filtered on KZbin.

[@fwiler]

Please show us how you got 6 sata ports, 4 nvme, thunderbolt, 2 open pcie slots, and keep the same form factor. As an added bonus get a super efficient, low power cpu too. So your "fun" cost means nothing because it's not comparable. Just a mini itx motherboard with thunderbolt is 1/3rd the cost. And it still won't have the capabilities this has.

[@dustojnikhummer]

@@fwiler The ZimaCube doesn't really have 4 NVMe ports, does it? I wouldn't count them if three of them run at PCIe 2.0 x1

[@doq]

Honestly, I think IceWhale missed on this one and it's purely because of the price and because the ZimaBoard and Blade provide compelling value options in the x86 SBC space. At MSRP $700, this is far too costly for a machine with this kind of specification. This would be far more of a market killer at $400. Then again, I really want a NAS to be a NAS and little else; if IceWhale offered a sort of "ZimaCube Core" at between $300 and $400 with similar hardware to their Board and Blade it'd be an instant pickup.

[@moto-rambler]

Yep, my thoughts exactly. Just give me a basic (and cheap) ZimaCube NAS. I don't care about the rest.

[@david_sanchez]

Hey Jeff. Thanks for putting this review together. I was recently looking for hardware to build a new NAS to replace my old one. I had seen ads for the Zima Cube popping up on Instagram and was very curious if anyone had any hands-on experience with it. After some digging into the 2 current marketed models, I felt the Pro model would have been the only option for my use case. Unfortunately, there were 2 things that made me decide against going with the Zima Cube. 1. The lack of 10 GbE networking. Although I can appreciate the fact that they included 2.5 GbE ports, I feel that a device with this much potential as a NAS device should have a factory option for 10 GbE. 2. A negative side effect of my first point is that now I’d have to tie up a PCIe slot with a 10 GbE NIC. Depending on the types of GPUs available that can fit into this form factor, that might prohibit me from installing both a GPU (Ai and deep learning stuff) and said NIC. 3. This is more of a company perception issue but I noticed that someone at the company is intentionally hiding all comments left on their ads for this product. To me, that feels like an intentional lack of transparency or lack of interest in interacting with potential customers. It just doesn’t sit right with me. Ultimately, I ended up converting my old 9700K desktop to a NAS running TrueNAS Scale. Aside from the original cost of the main components (acquired over 4 years ago), my only investment was a PCIe 10 GbE NIC and 4 more 3.5” HDDs for additional storage capacity. I’m hoping a company like IceWhale has success in this first generation of servers in this form factor and use what they’ve learned and what the consumer is suggesting as a way to improve on the next generation.

[@Clobercow1]

If you get to keep it, money did exchange hands bud.

[@Radek125]

People over estimate the cpu they need at home. I moved everything i was running from a 1700 proxmox system to a n100 beelink dual nic minipc also running proxmox. Plex, arr stack, docker with metric stack, self hosted sites and HA. Under 5% utilization average. 10% of the power cost

[@jamescollins6085]

I prefer the external power supply, as it makes sourcing a replacement far easier, as you said. It would be nice to see a model with both an internal and external power supply for redundancy, though.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

(PTSD in Synology exploding internal proprietary PSUs)

[@Cynyr]

Honestly as long as the internal is a standard form factor id rather have that. So flex atx, sfx, or atx, or 19v external barrel are all fine.

[@jamescollins6085]

@@marcogenovesi8570 That was one of the main deciding factors for me. I hate computers that are written off by one proprietary part.

[@MisterSixty]

18:10 The external power supply is preferred. An internal power supply would generate heat and harder to replace over time.

[@xXfzmusicXx]

While cool, this would have been so much better if it was Mini-ITX compatible. Then they could also sell it as a barebones.

[@nosajuk]

Jonsbo has the n2 & n3 cases which are just like this one

[@denvera1g1]

N100 and its bigger brother the i3-N305(i am super pissed its the same MSP as the i3-1315u, and you'll see why), are both limited to single channel, and several people have tested, these things get weird if you add more than 16GB. Now, dont get me wrong, just because Intel's product page says it doesnt support more than 16GB doesnt mean you cant, but it seams Intel has added some firmware customer-phuckery to make your time with 32GB+ an unpleasant one. Even i have tested the N100 with 32GB of RAM and it just acts weird, reminds me of when i had deployed ~100x i7-10700 with cheap motherboards and 3000MT/s RAM, if you added more than 1 stick the MCLK would run at like 1/4 speed and the machine would feel like it was running on a hard drive from the early 00s (one of them is now my firewall, the other is now an HTPC both dropped down to 8-16GB for stability/performance) **As for why i am upset about the i3-N305 The i3-N305 and i3-1215u/1315u have the same $309 MSP But the atom based i3 only has single channel memory artificially limited to 16GB and 9 PCIe 3.0 lanes The Core based i3 processors support dual channel memory, theoretically up to 512GB once 128GB dimms come to the uDIMM form factor(supposedly this is where DDR5 will top out for nonECC) but the real i3's also supports 20 lanes of PCIe gen4 and has.... what was it 4x the GPU performance One could argue the N100 and N200 dont need 2 channels of DDR5, but the N305 sure does, it has double the cores and i think slightly better GPU

[@LouisHochmanTheJourno]

In my experience, many of CasaOS's one-clip setups ate too limited for the services they're meant to be used with. For instance, you can install Duplicati, but by default probably won't have access to the folders you want to back up. You can adjust any of that, but then you're no longer in one-click territory. It's the inherent difficulty with trying to curate an app store of other people's products that by design need and encourage customization to serve most users' needs. Once you've got to start fiddling with settings, you might as well be in a more flexible and powerful environment, like Portainer or just the command line. Plus, it wants to do everything as root. The file manager works as root, provides shares with no user restrictions, and so on. I use it to install Portrainer, do some basic file management, to mount remote shares easily and monitor CPU usage with its widgets. It's handy enough for that and mostly stays out of my way otherwise.

[@erci78t77]

That edisplay connection to the drives saves space but means you have proprietary weirdness. Proprietary weirdness increases e-waste later, but that can be hard to avoid. Personally I have a nasty habit of mixing up or losing power bricks during a move, so I tend to dislike laptop style power supplies. I like the N100 in there, it really is a nice little chip for the purpose. Dislike the aggressive and somewhat shady marketing. Setup looked more painful than needed, but I could work through it. Overall, great concept, might be nice on a shelf, but I personally will give it a pass.

[@sparkstack]

Quite a lot of time spent complaining about the lack of dual channel memory with the N100 version. That is a hardware limitation of the processor.

[@mytech6779]

The neutered multi-gig ethernet is disapointing, considering home servers have a 10-15 year life and will interact with every node on the LAN. The actual standard is 2.5/5/10Gb to be negotiated at runtime based on cable quality. Two ethernet ports can be nice for subnets routing and such (or servig both a fast and slow subnet, or jumbo and normal frame segments), but four ports is pointless especially when they could have just used a fully compliant multi-gig port.

[@BLASTIC0]

im all for the external 19/20v laptop power brick!!! (anytime it is possible, not just here)!!!! That mean you can also use any 100w USB C port to power this thing! THIS IS AWESOME!

[@Andreas-w]

I'm curious how they get the pcie lanes to work here since the cpu only has 9 lanes with a x16, 2 nvme, networking and sata.

[@CraftComputing]

PCIe switch

[@adaszko]

What is the Dropbox alternative the author mentions around 11:42? I can't make out the name

[@moto-rambler]

I've been so excited about this product but all that evaporated after watching this video and all because of the price. I'd rather build my own and build it the way I want it if I'm paying this kind of money.

[@thepappas]

I wish it had 1 or 2 10gbe rather than 2.5gbe. I skipped 2.5gbe on my Lan.

[@thepappas]

Ahh, I see it now, 2x pcie slots can accommodate a network upgrade. This might be worth it for me.

[@CraftComputing]

Actually, I have some new findings on this. New video next week. The PCIe slots on this are all routed through a switch with a 2.0 backhaul. Only 4Gb max, shared on every PCIe device.

[@thepappas]

@@CraftComputing yea for the video. Boo for io shortfall for a Nas device.

[@dopeytree]

Power consumption was a bit wasted. Can you run some more tests does it support APSM? type in the command and show what it shows. Then also run powertop. I expect some of the extra chips they are using are causing the cpu to not reach higher c states.

[@dktol56]

According to NASCompares, IceWhale is working on a successor to CasaOS, called ZimaOS, to power the ZimaCube. Presumably, it will have more NAS capabilities.

[@tannerdavisr]

This is also stated on their KS page

[@survivingnetworkingandit2084]

What is peerdrop? I can't find any info on it.

[@ahslan7304]

Could this be a replacement for my HP N54L Microserver?!? It's been running for over 10 years and it's still going...it's mainly just my file server at this point but would be nice to consolidate my Plex and file server into one box...

[@ffsireallydontcare]

A little nitpick, 4 bonded connections technically can provide increased bandwidth for a single client, but it depends on a bunch of stuff as I'm sure you already know... In Linux land: 1. the bonding algorithm chosen - round robin transmit direction only 2. the receiver has a single NIC with a bandwidth greater than one of the sender's bonded links 3. the traffic doesn't traverse any aggregated crosslinks where a single link is less than the bonded bandwidth (unless these employ a round-robin algorithm) Unfortunately truth in marketing takes second place to "bigger number sell more".

[@marcogenovesi8570]

bonding does not allow more than 1 NIC's worth of speed per connection. TCP protocol does not allow that.

[@ffsireallydontcare]

@@marcogenovesi8570 As I said, it depends on the algorithm. LACP doesn't support round-robin, but Linux bonding does. There's no guarantee that frames will arrive at the next hop in the right order, but generally it isn't a problem and has been used for decades. Also TCP has nothing to do with bonding. Bonding happens at the ethernet level, layer 2, TCP is layer 3.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

@@ffsireallydontcare You can break TCP traffic or cause lag and congestion aka "bufferbloat" by buffering it too much or sending it out of order. TCP very much has to do with bonding and any layer under it that can reorder or buffer packets. Plus the L2 switching equipment may or may not be happy with a host using multiple ports with the same IP and MAC, also causing performance issues. Why do you think this is not supported in industry-standard LACP? Even on Linux there is only 1 mode out of like 8 that supports splitting TCP traffic. It relies on some assumptions that aren't always true, and are almost always NOT true if you move outside a (small) LAN. This is one of the main reasons that MultipathTCP or MPTCP spec was developed

[@ffsireallydontcare]

@@marcogenovesi8570 TCP may be impacted by what happens at layer 2, but TCP itself has nothing to do with bonding. At least when most people talk about bonding they mean layer 2, so etherchannel, LACP, Linux bonding or Windows teaming. TCP doesn't care what happens in layer 2, it simply assumes that packets will be presented to it in order and if they aren't there is a performance impact. As with all compromises, that performance impact may be preferable compared to unbalanced distribution of traffic across layer 2 links when using a different algorithm. "Layer 2" switching equipment will not care about the IP, only the MAC. *Some* brands of equipment allow you to do layer 3 actions on layer 2 interfaces, such as Cisco's higher end equipment using their own ASICs, but layer 2 equipment in general has no visibility into that part of the frame. Linux bonding with round-robin support isn't something just cooked up in Linus's garage, it's an implementation supported by big names in the industry such as IBM and RedHat. Yes, network engineers (I'm one of them with 20+ years experience in large enterprise) prefer an aggregation algorithm that keeps frames in order, and so therefore skew to implementations that guide the traffic down a predictable link based on their MAC address, but there are also many situations where that isn't an ideal solution. At the IP level you can also do link aggregation by using equal weight routes and/or something like MultipathTCP (which I haven't ever used), but given that's usually deployed deep inside large LANs, MANs or WANs, most people won't ever have exposure to it or be aware of it, aside from reading about it in a book. So I stand by my original statement, Linux bonding *can* be used to provide more bandwidth than a single link can provide, with caveats.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

@@ffsireallydontcare I also stand with what I said, Linux's balance-rr is a hack and it accomplishes only half of the "bonding" equation anyway. Ingress traffic isn't round-robin as the switch has no clue it has to split it. All forms of bonding you can actually do between most devices will be limited to what I said, a connection is still bound to a single NIC, so it works more like a load balancing than actual bonding. >At the IP level you can also do link aggregation by using equal weight routes That's also load balancing, not aggregation. Each connection can go on one side or the other. Also this can break some crappier protocols/applications (FTP in my experience, also some custom built internal businness applications I've seen) as they don't expect traffic from the same client coming from two different IPs. That's why pfsense and Opnsense have an option called "sticky connections" to remember where each connection was started so they don't flip flop between routes and round robin only when deciding where a new connection should go. To do real aggregation you have to use MPTCP or tunnel the traffic over a VPN that has multipath (Glorytun or OpenVPN).

[@FlaxTheSeedOne]

What about an Internal non propriatery powersuply? Or just placing the brick inside? Also the EDisplay connector makes this Product also Planned obsolote. Like in 5Years I cant put another Mother board in to use as a NAS, I have to rely on ZIMA to provide new upgrades. I hate it and it makes this Ewaste in the future.

[@MRPtech]

Great review. I end up getting 3x N100 mini PCs. Proxmox cluster + CEPH between them. I was tempting to get CUBE but now i am glad i didn't

[@SapioiT]

I think they should use an external power supply, but place it inside the case and with proper cooling.

[@mistakek]

I was going to build another erying based server similar to the last nas one you build as my 3rd proxmox node, and was putting the parts together that I needed, when I came across the zima cube, and the 1235u version, seems like it would work nicely out of the box, but I'm a little concerned about the statements they're making, and not really answering questions lots of people are asking, like pcie bandwidth for the nvme's, and their latest block diagram for the pcie lane allocation. They said they were going to use a pcie switch, but then in the block diagram, it only shows the cpu lane allocation only. I've made a pre order pledge, but I'm not sure I'm going to go through with it unless I see better updates. It looks like it would be a fantastic device, but I'm just not sure it will be based on the flip flopping around on these questions.

[@frustratedalien666]

The N100 can't be dual channel. Intel hamstrung it, that isn't Icewhale's fault

[@-iIIiiiiiIiiiiIIIiiIi-]

4:52 This is the ONLY board that comes with a x16 slot even tho the N100 only supports 9 lanes.

[@T313COmun1s7]

In my (maybe not so humble) opinion, I see too many compromises in the Zima products. So to temper your likelihood of continuing to pitch Zima hardware reviews when the misses are as large as some of these are, I have a suggestion. I know this is gonna hurt, but since some of the misses should really relegate Zima products to non-starters for multiples of the use cases they advertise it for, I think it is warranted. The next time you pitch a Zima product, and this includes a review, I suggest the drink that you have to pair with it is Zima Clearmalt. I think the comparison here is actually really good. Good enough to explain why this hardware company chose the name.

[@leviathanpriim3951]

🤔 looks like a modified Jonsbo N2 and some custom boards and backplane, neat.

[@clintcolombin]

& the moment the board goes bad, that entire thing is e-waste due to the custom board having the ports hard wired. Why can't they use a detached set of ports for the front panel & run an off the shelf converter from barrel to atx?

[@jastirria]

I had been contemplating getting one of these for a while now. But after watching your Erying video, i opted for one of their itx boards and a jonsbo n3

[@eliotcole]

With the power brick, couldn't you actually do redundancy with that? Simply with a Y-Splitter on the barrel jack and dual power supplies?

[@marcogenovesi8570]

An Y-splitter is ok to split power from a single PSU to multiple devices. For load sharing you need an "ideal diode" aka an anti-reverse-current-flow module on each cable to avoid backfeeding power into the PSUs. Or a Y-joiner module like the Y-PWR that integrates two "ideal diodes" into a single board. You can find "ideal diode" modules on the usual chinese places

[@TheAsjdj]

I wonder, is it possible to replace the board inside for something else?

[@jimbo-dev]

I just ordered a new nas hardware, I'm building it on the aliexpress topton nas/router board and on some levels this feels like similar product prebuilt with higher price. This ZimaCube however has a bit beefier cpu options but the topton board with four 2.5G nics costs less than 250€ brand new - and that price includes the cpu too.

[@th3r3v92]

Iirc they are working on a separate OS called ZimaOS or something like that for this product, but I have no idea what will happen then with CasaOS.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

Probably migrate everything to that. CasaOS is just a web management interface for Debian anyway so it's not like it's hard

[@xero110]

Is there such a thing as a DAS+RAID controller over USB? I don't want to deal with an OS. All I want is to plug in a 6 bay box like this over USB to my desktop, laptop, raspberry PI, tablet, etc. I'll do all the sharing from which ever device I have the DAS mounted to.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

yeah, most USB DAS with more than 1 bay have integrated RAID option with a selector on the back and a windows/macos utility to manage the array options (then saved in the DAS)

[@ericguizzetti]

I'd love to see an update on the software provided with this unit. Maybe they have improved it now./?

[@Jayme]

How long before they make a rack mount version of this? 🤔

[@FTLN]

Glad they sent you one Jeff, thought you might have dug a bit deeper into three performances of six disks on that backplane. If a HBA card was used in the x16 sit is there a way of plugging as hb as card into the disks?

[@Ranmacanada]

Would like something with at least 12-16 drives in this form factor. It's frustating that disk shelves are the only option.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

you need a Tardis for that, there isn't enough space in this form factor fir 12-16 3.5' drives

[@fedupguy2004]

The laptop power solution, as used by apple for example, is much better as you can keep power heat away from computerm, makes the PC/Nas lighter, smaller and easier to keep on table top away from dust. Power bricks dont care about dust.

[@frankwong9486]

It looks like need the pro i5 version to have the 6bay+ 2 nvme on board+ 4 on daughter board which looks like through a pcie switch to spread the limited pcie lanes So technically 6+2+4 slot plus a free x16 and a free x4 slot on pro version On n100 looks like 6bay + 1 or 2 on board and 2 on daughter board ,all nvme will have very limited lanes available ,however they say the nvme expansion card is not included so u an confuse will that missing that daughter board beside the hdd tray

[@ewenchan1239]

I wished that you had talked about the power consumption of the ZimaCube because I saw somewhere else that it can pull upwards of 140 W with six drives installed. Thus, as much as the fact that my 36-bay, 4U, dual socket Xeon sucks back 500-700 W, it is relatively, right in line with what this NAS appliance pulls, given that it's only running 6 hard drives. I also would've loved if it they had an "in-between" version which used the Intel Core i3-N305 processor, with both of the PCIe slots available, but don't quite need all of the performance that the 1235U provides.

[@BryceDearden]

Does the bios allow your to bifurcate the x16 slot?

[@Cynyr]

The n100 only has 9 pcie lanes...

[@BryceDearden]

@@Cynyr and?

[@Cynyr]

@@BryceDearden it's probably a x4 electrically already given the low pcie lanes count (9) on the n100. Their site isn't clear about how many lanes go where... But 1x each for the 2 nics, 1x each for the 2 m.2s, 1x for the SATA controller, is 5 of 9, leaving 4 lanes for the "x16" slot. It could be a x1 electrically, with usb on a chipset. I forget if the n100 has onboard usb.

[@peteradshead2383]

$700 F !!!!! , I have a ryzen 5900g , 64gb , and don't think it costed that .

[@JessicaFEREM]

I would find it cool if they had an internally mounted external power brick, like by default it's just bolted into the frame but it's just like a Velcro strap or spring loaded or something so you could just yoink the old brick and plug in a new one internally.

[@JessicaFEREM]

Have it be plugged into a header on a mobo

[@sherrilltechnology]

I think they are going in the right direction but a lot of work is needed, great video Jeff!

[@beholdr87]

That looks perfect for my needs

[@remy333]

Been wanting one like this. Saw something similar around recently and couldn’t remember what it was called. This is almost identical. Only difference were the vertical mounting plates on the drive trays were transparent neon yellow on the one I saw. Curious how you like it after a month or two. 🍻

[@danieldougan269]

ZimaCube? I would expect the case to be transparent and the hardware to be from the 1990s. Crisp and refreshing. Is a beer appropriate with a ZimaCube?

[@MarkConstable]

Might be available by next April ('24) but I think the Pro version will be too expensive. Maybe Terraform will come out with an i5-1235U range.

[@MrPir84free]

If this makes you feel better, there are still vendors out there that will outfit a N100 board with DDR4 instead of DDR5. Also the N300/N305 have similar memory restrictions as the N100. Overall, the quad core box should be as capable to handle the typical load plus the needs of many; but I can see the advantages of using the pro; but to me, I'd rather use the NAS as a NAS/File server device than to run apps. Don't get me wrong, running some apps might be warranted under some circumstances, but who's going to be running JUST a Zimacube for a home lab ? I already get "that look" when I monkey around inside the home router... I can see the quad core box being a "better option" when it comes to cost; but many are seemingly selecting the Pro version, probably because it's less restricting of an option. IF I choose a Zimacube for myself as a replacement for my 16 bay NAS's, well, I'm likely to "buy once, cry once" and splurge for the Pro version. My 16 bay NAS's have an underwhelming CPU inside them anyways, so buy once, cry once. But for the package, I would expect it to be more or less functional with some sort of "base installer" .. As far as power supplies are concerned, personally, I find an internal power supply would be a preferred option long term; hate external power supplies, although I do use them. But it does save space inside the case, so there is that. It probably is easier to source an external power supply if needed down the road than an oddball internal power supply.

[@mxuther]

a new mobo with intel 305 4x2.5gbe 6xsata 2xM.2 + PCIE... its very very cool for nas/server with vms

[@andrew8200m]

They have already issued a new board with a second slot that is black. how long have you had this sample? It would appear you are potentially late to the party in terms of reliable up to date information.

[@CraftComputing]

Only 6 weeks!!!

[@andrew8200m]

@@CraftComputing it’s a shame that they haven’t relayed this info over to you and a replacement board more in line with the expected retail product, hopefully they see this review and get something to you promptly. Another video for us to watch can’t hurt either can it :)

[@gabest4]

These new "atom" processors must be very cheap. How can you buy a handheld, mini pc or notebook with embedded Ryzen for a few hundred dollars, but no motherboard?

[@BladeRunner21577]

I liked the salesman sidestep of "I dont have an opinion, whats yours?" on the external power brick. But I suppose you have to keep them sweet. There is only one reason not to fit a PSU to this and thats to cheap out on getting the certification for it. Proprietary connectors... A single SODIMM slot. I think had you spent your own money on that you would be disappointed in it.

[@CraftComputing]

I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm giving my opinion, which includes both positive and negative aspects to an external power brick.

[@BladeRunner21577]

@@CraftComputing Fair enough. Ordinarily if you bought a server like this and it had an external power brick what would you think?

[@fwiler]

Personally I don't think software is a must. I would prefer just hardware sold with nothing added to save costs. I just like the added storage capability in a very small form factor. In fact I wouldn't mind a 2.5" only drive bay to make it smaller for ssd. Too many excellent mini pc form factors with no thought on storage. This solves that.

[@tom_w67]

sorry but the n100 (as per the intel ark page) only support 1 channel of memory that why there is only 1 slot for memory and only support 16 gig max ( look at any other motherboard maker that has an n100 cpu) and the n100 only has 9 pci lanes (that why the 16x slot is only wired for 8x max) so it is a base system for either nas with lite docker support or simple desktop usage. and for #2 casa os is NOT a nas base os you need to add OMV or some other nas os to work properly. but sorry.......I would buy the ASRock N100M and a case and memory and m2 drive an 8 port sata card and do my own. but thats me.

[@Radek125]

I have seen videos on people upgrading to the new single 48 gb sodimms

[@intrax2tv]

Nice case to store your spinning rust ! Why not make a small case and use only 2.5 inch sata bays for ssd's ? That would be forward thinking ! I setup a n100 mini pc as a nas for around half of the price of this cube...

[@gael6081]

N100 at 60W idle at the wall, disks down... not nice (that's on their own video on their kickstarter).

[@JamieStuff]

I would like to see this case released as a stand alone mITX case, preferably with a spot for an SFX PSU.

[@devops1044]

Gonna have to take a pass, more interested in something with more horsepower and a rack mount form factor. I agree that homelab or SOHO usage is leaning toward self-hosting services. IceWhale seems to be excellent at design. Their products, fit and finish seem very good. Maybe the next iteration will be rack mountable.

[@TommyThousandFaces]

They don't ship the device with CasaOS because it can't handle any form of drive array. It can only stripe drives, that's it. I think it's pretty disingenous by IceWhale to market their OS as ready for this device. I wanted to see some performance and a full build.

[@7MBoosted]

Any comment on the news that I have been hearing that Ice Whale is moving Casa OS into EOL?

[@okolol]

is this the nas that linus from ltt invested in?

[@patrickprafke4894]

In my personal opinion guided by experience. Anything NOT proprietary and replaceable. Irregardless of its clunkyness. Is more peace of mind and value then dealing with trying to find said part in 10 years. When they stopoed making it 9 years ago.

[@yagmobile]

I wish Icewhale had stayed with the CPU cooler solution in this video. I ordered my N100 Cube in November '24 and mine comes with a really annoyingly loud fan solution that looks more like a laptop fan. Very flat, very noisy, without cooling the surrounding M.2 SSDs like a Top Blow fan, and all without any need: there's enough space!

[@thespencerowen]

Yay! ZimaCube. I'm a backer and big fan.

[@RoccoWocco]

The jonsbo n2 has the same formfactor but allows you to use any parts you want. I replaced the 5 hotswap bays with icydock hotswap sata ssd cages. So it has 10 hotswap ssd bays now! It's perfect

[@jmariano0627]

Which cage did you use ?

[@RoccoWocco]

@@jmariano0627 MB742SP-B

[@F0XH0UND007]

You can build a NAS that is much superior using the n2 chassis and 1700/1200 series m-atx board even if it's running an 11th gen.

[@johnbeeck2540]

JONSBO 3 would be another DIY option to consider...

[@marconwps]

Good external psu!

[@runthejules91]

love your content thank you very much!

[@CraftComputing]

Hey, thanks 🙂

[@Sevunteen]

I keep thinking of Zima, clear beer. 😆

[@gearboxworks]

“Now, I ain’t no n00b when it comes to Linux…” 🤣

[@denvera1g1]

if there was a standard for modular power connectors i'd say go with an internal PSU, if it goes bad, just swap in a new one. But because anti-capitalistic practices run rampant and all of these PSU manufactures try to lock you into their ecosystem with proprietary connectors for a standardized cable, well an external brick is the only saine option that doesnt require you to re-wire the entire server.

[@BipedBD]

11:41 Peardrop?

[@marcogenovesi8570]

"peerdrop"

[@stucorbishley]

Channeling J K Simmons in the sponsor spot? 👌

[@CraftComputing]

Nailed it, and thank you 🤘

[@nikiiv]

N100 has never ever supported dual channel, nor it had ever said that on ARK. Given that every single board N100 had one slot, that might've provided a hint. Alas, I don't get why nobody (aka reviewers) ever talks about what chip is driving the SATA drives, unless...

[@foureight84]

This is a half step-up from your average AliExpress nas box.

[@SB-qm5wg]

dual-chan ram would be preferred.

[@borandiUK]

If it's external power, type C please. No barrel jack nonsense.

[@808jpm]

So you couldn't find a bottle or six of Zima to drink during this video?

[@sphbecker]

The N100 definitely only supports 1 memory channel, not sure how you could be so confidently wrong.

[@vollhorst140]

Jeff you should correct a the memory channel mishap with at least a little text in the video. Still love you, nice video nevertheless.

[@CraftComputing]

There's no such thing as correcting with text in video unfortunately. KZbin did away with annotations years ago.

[@mikedoth]

Love the design, just not the ram slots...

[@g.s.3389]

did you really test it? all the other reviewers on youtube have destroyed the N100 version.

[@reviewaccount469]

What a crazy price, and good luck to the average user of that thing with questionable software support from a kickstarter.

[@TheSiliconSoul]

I'm not much a fan of soldered CPUs either honestly. I understand it somewhat occasionally with laptops...not so much in prosumer gear.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

laptop and embedded CPUs are BGA-only and have been like that for many years. If you want to use them in a product there is not much choice

[@popquizzz]

too many compromises, especially memory channels

[@Geardos1]

I have n100 based mini pc and they are all like that, one ram slot. It's unfortunate sacrifice but the cpu is so damn good for the wattage it pulls, it's excusable.

[@DigitalJedi]

That memory controller is part of why it's so low-power. There is basically nothing on those dies that doesn't have to be there. 8 E-cores at the max i3 configuration, enough cache to scrape by feeding them, and a ram controller small enough to not dominate die area too badly.

[@shephusted2714]

just build your own - better route