Category: Devices

Hardware reviews

GMKtec NucBox G9

This Mini PC

is for those enthusiasts who think on NVMe only based NAS solutions for home.

4 PCIe3x2 NVMe M.2 slots, Intel N150, 12 GB soldered LPDDR5, 64GB soldered eMMC disk. That make it possible to put some linux on eMMC and use all 4 disk for network shared resources. Also Intel N150 (it is actually very close to N100 in all ways of comparision) able to decode for example AV1, HW encoding of h.264, h.265 including HDR. Not bad for 6W TDP proccessor that you might want to use with 15W power limits just to get more performance, since active cooling makes it possible. Also there is two dedicated fans for NVMe disks. Disks can be as cheap as possible (just a reliable brand and enough capacity), since PCIe3x2 is limited on about 1.7GB/s so there is no need for high speed PCIe4x4 or PCIe5x4.

Internal eMMC speed is 200-300MB/s

On wiki there are some benchmarks like table below

And also more images of what is inside GMKtec NucBox G9

Some Windows 11 benchmarks of NucBox G9

And Manual on how to install TrueNAS on G9 eMMC

Aliexpress: 180$ (or 186$)

Tags CrystalDiskMark

Devices router Uncategorized

Router on Intel i7-1355U

Another pfSense router from AliExpress. 2x10Gbit/s SFP+, 4×2.5Gbit/s Ethernet. for ~700$ for Intel i7-1355U, 16GB (2x8GB) DDR5 and 128GB SSD and 100W 12v power supply. Based on CWWK model CW-ADL-PCIE-4L-1355U according to internal labels. it has 2 SATA ports inside but to use those pcie4x4 2xSFP+ card have to be removed.

This one with active cooling. Power limits is configurable. So instead of 15W TDP (default for this CPU) something like 55W might be set so it about double device performance.

Geekbench 6 (Linux/Vulkan)

	compute	single core	multi core
Topton i7-1355U router	9883	2118	5748
Topton N200 router	3409	1274	2753
Topton N100 router	3021	1240	3146
Intel NUC i7-10710u	5331	1431	6164

Geekbench 6

Geekbench 6 (Linux/Vulkan). After Power Limits tuning

	compute	single core	multi core
15W TDP	9883	2118	5748
55W TDP	11347	2108	7503

Geekbench 6

GeekbenchAI 1.0.0 (Linux) Power Limits 32W/42W (T limit 90C)

TDP	Single Precision	Half Precision	Quantized
15/55W TDP	622	624	551
32/42W TDP	1519	1532	964

GeekbenchAI

3DMark Night Raid (v1.1) Windows 11

	Score	Graphics	CPU
15/15W 55/55W	6957	8689	3268
20/30W 25/35W	11710	14410	5681
35W/45W 40W/55W	13706	17443	6191

Some more benchmarks

Topton i7-1355U Windows 11 benchmarks

Topton i7-1355U upgraded geekbench

Using setPL to change i7-1355U power limits

Inside this device

Topton i7-1355U router inside

Aliexpress: ~700$

Devices router

Router on Intel N200

Topton TP-X86-P5(N200) is yet another pfSence ce router from Aliexpress. This time 2×2.5Gbit/s ethernet ports (Intel i226-V) and Intel N200 CPU. With 16GB DDR5 RAM and 256GB nvme. That is kind of a lot for router needs, but just for test purposes.

Devices router

Router on Intel N100

Since Cisco SMB devices like RV320 are now end of life. And there are no good successors for this device. DYI routers on Intel N100 with 2.5 gbit ports and pfSense community edition might be an option to upgrade the router.

One HW example is Topton N100. That is a mini PC with Intel N100 + DDR5 single channel RAM + NVMe. It is fanless.

Devices Flash

Movespeed fun drive

Spinner. with 256GB flash drive inside. It is kind of fun. Another Movespeed flash. Model YSUFUN5-256GSN. This time with an advertised speed 500MB/s

Both Type-A and Type-C ports work at more or less same rates.

Tags CrystalDiskMark

Devices Flash

Movespeed U Drive

256GB Flash drive YSUYVP-256GSN from Chinese brand Movespeed. It is advertised as a 1000 MB/s transfer rate. Made from metal. Got both type-C and type-A ports.

Type-C speed

Tags CrystalDiskMark

Devices USB Charging USB meter

WITRN C4 Pro

Post author By liutyi
Post date 2024-03-16
No Comments on WITRN C4 Pro

WITRN C4 Pro. Yet another power meter. TYPE-C only. Voltages up to 48v supported, also up to 10A current. USB-PD standard is evolving and currently allows 240W charging, so power meters need to be upgraded too.

WITRN has different software for firmware updates and to explore curves. Both PC software and firmware are in active development.

Devices Flash

Kingston DTX/128GB

Kingston DataTreveler Exodia 128GB USB 3.2

CrystalDiksMark 8 results

Crystal Dew World: https://crystalmark.info/

MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

[Read]
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 8, T= 1): 112.742 MB/s [ 107.5 IOPS] < 73749.06 us>
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 110.769 MB/s [ 105.6 IOPS] < 9459.44 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 32, T= 1): 6.571 MB/s [ 1604.2 IOPS] < 19895.02 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 6.017 MB/s [ 1469.0 IOPS] < 679.74 us>

[Write]
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 8, T= 1): 11.092 MB/s [ 10.6 IOPS] <700412.00 us>
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 11.922 MB/s [ 11.4 IOPS] < 85698.35 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 32, T= 1): 1.128 MB/s [ 275.4 IOPS] <114998.19 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 1.083 MB/s [ 264.4 IOPS] < 3773.49 us>

Profile: Default
Test: 1 GiB (x5) [G: 82% (95/115GiB)]
Mode: [Admin]
Time: Measure 5 sec / Interval 5 sec
Date: 2023/01/08 10:10:18
OS: Windows 11 Professional 10.0 Build 22621
Comment: Kingston DTX/128GB

Tags CrystalDiskMark

Devices USB Charging USB meter

POWER-Z KM002C

ChargeLab new product. USB power meter with up to PD 3.1 support

With higher voltage (50v) and current (6A)

The device is not PC Software compatible with KM001 KM001C. First versions of application was about 90% Chinese. With almost no English translation.

(Update for 2022-04-05) But that is getting better. Version 1.2.8 is more usable with better English support

Despite the similar name, design is changed a lot since KM001C devices

Protocol MTK-PE is not detected by KM002C

Firmware 1.1.0 is unstable and has to be updated before using the device. Firmware update is possible for Power-Z Lab application.

To Download and apply new firmware Press “Chip button” on Update Firmware tab

Power-Z_Lab_2.0_1.2.8 Download

Power-Z Lab 2.2 Download

Link to Dropbox from ChargeLab

Link to Google Drive from ChargeLab

Link to AliExpress for KM003C: ~70$

air quality

Qingping CGS1

Qingping Air Detector (AKA ClearGrass Air Detector) is one of the best portable devices reviewed yet.

Impressive tech specs and design. Can be used both: as portable and not portable. And in a mixed way too. Good sensors for tvoc, t/rh, co2. High-resolution touch screen, Wi-Fi (that remember all Wi-Fi you were connected to), ambient light sensors, android and ios mobile app. And all that for a bit more than 100$ (incl. Delivery). For this price tag, it is a kind of flawless device. So the minor issues are not critical at all. Like it might have a different CO2 sensor (SenseAir S8 instead of Sensirion SDC30 for example) inside. But since S8 is not bad. It is still ok.