Plugging in a GPU is going to draw a lot more power through that PCIe slot, so it would be good to know how much power the board can deliver through PCIe.
30w at most. i was able to run the 1030 but not the 750ti properly. it will power on and run but once you use any gpu intensive processes like games it will be a white screen with the 750ti. the 750ti i have does not have a 6pin connector. the version of 750ti i have will require 28w to power on and 60w draw to fully operate
@@NovaspiritTechShame they didn't include a typical 6 pin gpu power socket to power the pcie x4 slot. Or they could've designed the USB-C input better and then you would just need to use like a 100W at 12V capable PD "charger" One thing you could do, but that would downgrade the link the x1, is to use GPU mining risers, those break out 6 pin to power the pcie socket.
Oh man..get one of those PCI SATA expanders...3D print a 4x or more 2.5" bay...turn that sucker into a TrueNAS Scale powerhouse!!! Arrrgh...you keep posting these awesome builds...and I keep buying em! You make my wallet cry! Keep em coming!!!!
Homelab for learning software dev or hardware management, this sounds like a solid competitor to the Raspberry Pi 5. The Pi 5 runs on ARM, and many services require AMD style chips, which the blade has.
The big issue for me is the lack of a second nic , the blade with 16mb makes it brilliant but the port limits it usage to hobbyists or single use devices unless you sacrifice your pci
Got my blade in the other day. I like it. If I was using a Zimaboard before and have data on those drives that I want to keep, but use with the Zima Blade do I just plug the old drives in? Little worried about accidentally formatting. Would love a how to.
I have a laptop and would love to run PC cards! Is there something like the Zimablade SBC that allows you to plug in any type of PC card standard (ISA, PCI, PCIe/PCIex16). I've heard that because of DMA, a USB3 to PCI is not possible, so most people use a Thunderbolt3 PCIe Expansion Chassis.. but I'm looking for a PC solution!
Great information. Some questions. Does the board support raid 10, what is the power consumption and adapter needed? Finally, can you do a tutorial on setting up an Ubuntu server using this board?
The board comes with 2 SATA connectors and RAID 10 requires a minimum of four drives. You would need to add a PCIe SATA(2connectors+) adapter card. If you go this way (PCIe SATA) you will also need an external power supply for the extra SATA drives.
The product is far too expensive, considering how old the hardware is, for the same money you can get an Intel N100 CPU or N305, which have much more power. Of course, they don't have a PCIe connection, but they do have current hardware with 4x 2.5Gbit RJ45 connection like NVMe and sata at the same price but twice as big, which you can live with because it is usually SFF format
If they had based the ZimaBlade on the N100 (or at least, the slightly older Jasper Lake N5105), the PCIe slot would go to gen3, doubling the bandwidth (per lane) over the gen2 of Apollo Lake. Also 9 lanes (8 for the N5105) instead of 6 for the Apollo Lake. Both are rated at 10W like the J3455, but way faster. What a lost opportunity.
I'm honestly not too impressed with the Zima Blade. It has two SATA ports, which is pretty neat, but not upgrading to DDR4 just shows how ancient the hardware is. With DDR5 picking up paces, I feel like this was a missed opportunity for a true upgrade.
@@Mr.Leeroyguess that is not the point... going with the old standard while it could support the newer and just try to be different with the form factor doesn't make sense, as mini PCs with that chip are readily available on any other outlet.
@@anno5936 It makes sense in many ways not involving specs, even if they manage to provide competitive logistics/pricing/support. But if we are talking specs, as an engineer I am telling you that their choice make hell lot more sense, since every new gen of DDR (or PCIE, etc..) requires what seems like exponentially increasing costs involving R&D, skill & experience, certification and debugging equipment. They might simply be not up to the task for DDR5, and it does not mean that they are not good, only meaning how demanding these interfaces became over years.
@@Mr.Leeroy the 3455 does not even support DDR5, and I'm not even talking/questioning the chipset which I'd say is not fit for the server field; which is a pitty since their software project looks very interesting to get into it.
Could you please test SATA SSD performance in linux? Is the hardware fast enough to get 500-600 MB/sec read/write on both drives (that support that speed)? Anyone tested that?
Neat PC but if they get these out at start of 2024 as planned the processors they are using will be 8 years old. Instead of this I ended up picking up Asrock N100DC-ITX motherboard with integrated N100 CPU.
You need to shake and wave things around more when you hold them up for us to see. Do you do that in the face of someone sitting right there? Because we are.
What does this thing do. Not even the website states what it does what it's for or why I would want one. Shouldn't a basic review tell you what the thing does?
To be honest, this looks kinda disappointing. At first, from the thumbnail, I was expecting like a dual m.2 NVME slots, which would have made this into a perfect DIY highs peed NAS candidate, couple with USB-C power delivery input. Instead it has old memory type, the same silly PCI-e socket positioning that makes you remove the metal bracket and that miniDP port and eMMC. As a owner of a Zimaboard, I would say that the last one is more capable and better though product.
Use for Plex? Doubt. For direct play/stream it may be capable but transcoding it’ll really struggle. Where are the benchmarks? Lackluster review, overly positive despite all the shortcomings, feels disingenuous.
Plugging in a GPU is going to draw a lot more power through that PCIe slot, so it would be good to know how much power the board can deliver through PCIe.
30w at most. i was able to run the 1030 but not the 750ti properly. it will power on and run but once you use any gpu intensive processes like games it will be a white screen with the 750ti. the 750ti i have does not have a 6pin connector. the version of 750ti i have will require 28w to power on and 60w draw to fully operate
@@NovaspiritTechShame they didn't include a typical 6 pin gpu power socket to power the pcie x4 slot.
Or they could've designed the USB-C input better and then you would just need to use like a 100W at 12V capable PD "charger"
One thing you could do, but that would downgrade the link the x1, is to use GPU mining risers, those break out 6 pin to power the pcie socket.
Oh man..get one of those PCI SATA expanders...3D print a 4x or more 2.5" bay...turn that sucker into a TrueNAS Scale powerhouse!!!
Arrrgh...you keep posting these awesome builds...and I keep buying em! You make my wallet cry!
Keep em coming!!!!
0:25 is the USB C actually Power Delivery? It doesn’t say that in the specs. Just 12V 3A.
Interesting review. 60% more power for 10% more compute doesn't sound that good
Homelab for learning software dev or hardware management, this sounds like a solid competitor to the Raspberry Pi 5. The Pi 5 runs on ARM, and many services require AMD style chips, which the blade has.
The big issue for me is the lack of a second nic , the blade with 16mb makes it brilliant but the port limits it usage to hobbyists or single use devices unless you sacrifice your pci
Got my blade in the other day. I like it. If I was using a Zimaboard before and have data on those drives that I want to keep, but use with the Zima Blade do I just plug the old drives in? Little worried about accidentally formatting. Would love a how to.
Yes
Hi, sorry for the late. It is capable make a overclock???
I have a laptop and would love to run PC cards!
Is there something like the Zimablade SBC that allows you to plug in any type of PC card standard (ISA, PCI, PCIe/PCIex16).
I've heard that because of DMA, a USB3 to PCI is not possible, so most people use a Thunderbolt3 PCIe Expansion Chassis.. but I'm looking for a PC solution!
Hi Don, would you consider to use the ZimaBlade for a low cost pfSense solution?
I ordered my zimablade Nas Kit for review. Cant wait.
Great information. Some questions. Does the board support raid 10, what is the power consumption and adapter needed? Finally, can you do a tutorial on setting up an Ubuntu server using this board?
The board comes with 2 SATA connectors and RAID 10 requires a minimum of four drives. You would need to add a PCIe SATA(2connectors+) adapter card. If you go this way (PCIe SATA) you will also need an external power supply for the extra SATA drives.
How cost effective would be compared to used mini pc likes the HP 800 g2 or g3 with i5?
Love to see the radarr / arrs setup with VPN for qbit. Could not get the docker to connection via container for vpn with the casaos
I wish I can show stuff like that or it will get flagged. I've been using that type of setup since I started pi-hosted
...thanks for the review
it needs a bigger chassie for a total of 4 harddrives
The product is far too expensive, considering how old the hardware is, for the same money you can get an Intel N100 CPU or N305, which have much more power. Of course, they don't have a PCIe connection, but they do have current hardware with 4x 2.5Gbit RJ45 connection like NVMe and sata at the same price but twice as big, which you can live with because it is usually SFF format
If they had based the ZimaBlade on the N100 (or at least, the slightly older Jasper Lake N5105), the PCIe slot would go to gen3, doubling the bandwidth (per lane) over the gen2 of Apollo Lake. Also 9 lanes (8 for the N5105) instead of 6 for the Apollo Lake. Both are rated at 10W like the J3455, but way faster. What a lost opportunity.
Thanks Don.
I'm honestly not too impressed with the Zima Blade. It has two SATA ports, which is pretty neat, but not upgrading to DDR4 just shows how ancient the hardware is. With DDR5 picking up paces, I feel like this was a missed opportunity for a true upgrade.
aha, like you actually need DDR5 speeds for ~2k passmark system
@@Mr.Leeroyguess that is not the point... going with the old standard while it could support the newer and just try to be different with the form factor doesn't make sense, as mini PCs with that chip are readily available on any other outlet.
@@anno5936 It makes sense in many ways not involving specs, even if they manage to provide competitive logistics/pricing/support.
But if we are talking specs, as an engineer I am telling you that their choice make hell lot more sense, since every new gen of DDR (or PCIE, etc..) requires what seems like exponentially increasing costs involving R&D, skill & experience, certification and debugging equipment. They might simply be not up to the task for DDR5, and it does not mean that they are not good, only meaning how demanding these interfaces became over years.
@@Mr.Leeroy the 3455 does not even support DDR5, and I'm not even talking/questioning the chipset which I'd say is not fit for the server field; which is a pitty since their software project looks very interesting to get into it.
Could you please test SATA SSD performance in linux? Is the hardware fast enough to get 500-600 MB/sec read/write on both drives (that support that speed)? Anyone tested that?
Neat PC but if they get these out at start of 2024 as planned the processors they are using will be 8 years old. Instead of this I ended up picking up Asrock N100DC-ITX motherboard with integrated N100 CPU.
unless u actually have a use for that pcie slot so much better mini pc deals out there.
You need to shake and wave things around more when you hold them up for us to see. Do you do that in the face of someone sitting right there? Because we are.
too bad if you go through their crowd supply you won’t get it until next year.
HI. ¿can you plug a GPU and Open and Run CANVAS please??????????????????????????
Uses more power for slightly faster and you lose an Ethernet port? No thnx
32GB eMMC is not sufficient and old technology. Making it not worth the purchase. How much would it have cost them to install a 64GB SSD?
Apart from some pc board real estate, probably not much. Maybe just add an empty M.2 2242 socket and let you fill it. Another design miss.
What does this thing do. Not even the website states what it does what it's for or why I would want one. Shouldn't a basic review tell you what the thing does?
See 5:25 for some ideas.
To be honest, this looks kinda disappointing. At first, from the thumbnail, I was expecting like a dual m.2 NVME slots, which would have made this into a perfect DIY highs peed NAS candidate, couple with USB-C power delivery input. Instead it has old memory type, the same silly PCI-e socket positioning that makes you remove the metal bracket and that miniDP port and eMMC. As a owner of a Zimaboard, I would say that the last one is more capable and better though product.
Use for Plex? Doubt. For direct play/stream it may be capable but transcoding it’ll really struggle. Where are the benchmarks? Lackluster review, overly positive despite all the shortcomings, feels disingenuous.