Let’s end CNX Software’s Giveaway Week 2024 with a bang! The last prize is an iKOOLCORE R2 mini PC and router powered by an Intel Core i3-N300 Alder Lake-N CPU, equipped with 8GB RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD, and featuring four 2.5GbE ports.
The tiny PC also comes with HDMI and USB-C ports for dual 4K video output, an M.2 E-Key socket to install a wireless module for WiFi and Bluetooth, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port with DisplayPort Alt. mode, and a not-so-useful USB-C audio port using Realtek ALC987 codec.
My review of the iKOOLCORE R2 last year was a learning experience as it was the first time I used Proxmox VE and pfSense, and since I wanted to use the system both as a mini PC running Ubuntu 22.04 desktop and a router/firewall running pfSense at the same time, I had to first configure passthrough in Proxmox VE for the Intel UHD graphics and the USB ports connected to a mouse and a keyboard.
Once it was done, I could run Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop, pfSense 2.7.2, and OpenWrt 23.05 simultaneously on the system. Almost everything worked as expected with great 2.5GbE networking performance, all features working on Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop with no obvious impact on performance due to running Proxmox VE in the background. One thing that did not work for me was HDMI audio passthrough…
The giveaway prize includes the iKOOLCORE R2 with an Intel Core i3-N300, 8GB RAM, a 512GB NVME SSD, and all accessories that come in the package including a 12V/4A USB-C power supply, a VESA mount with a screw bag, a USB Type-C to DC jack in case you prefer to use your own 12V power supply, a QC passed card, and a Quick Guide.
To enter the draw simply leave a comment with your country and whatever else you’d like to say (no links in the body of the comment). If the country is missing, I’ll consider the entry void. Other rules are as follows:
- Only one entry per contest. I will filter out entries with the same IP and/or email address.
- Contests are open for 48 hours starting at 10 a.m. (Bangkok time) every day.
- Comments will be closed after 48 hours. If comments are open, the contest is still going on.
- Winners will be selected with random.org and announced in the comments section of each giveaway.
- I’ll contact the winner by email, and I’ll expect an answer within 24 hours, or I’ll pick another winner. Note that I may not be able to contact people who log in with Facebook, Twitter, or Google, so it’s better to use an email address to enter the draw.
- Shipping
- $32 for registered airmail small packet or ePacket for overseas shipping payable via PayPal within 48 hours once the contest (for a given product) is complete. If PayPal is not an option in your country, we can try to find another payment solution.
- All prizes will be shipped at the same time once we get all the winners, so around November 14.
- I’ll make sure we have 7 different winners, so if you have already won a device during this giveaway week, I’ll draw another person.
Good luck! The iKOOLCORE R2 sample given away here sells for $389 and you can get an extra 5% off with CNXSOFT coupon code. Sadly all variants are out of stock right now, but the company says it will be restocked in January 2025.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
As expected the iKOOLCORE R2 was the most popular prize of Giveaway Week 2024 with 368 entries.
Drum rolls…. Random.org is select the winner and that’s #39. Congratulations marquis! I’ll contact you by email shortly.
USA – Love the reviews of these types of devices.
USA – thank you for the great articles. Appreciate the content.
A bang indeed. UK.
Hello from the USA, thanks for doing this every year!
Hello from Romania
Greetings from Chile
US for the win!
hi from USA.
Netherlands
Thank you from Italy
USA – been reading your site for many years and have spent a lot of money because of it. Thank you for the awesome news coverage and reviews!
Canada – this would make a nice low power home lab to hide behind the TV.
Hi from New Zealand
USA – Looks like a powerful little device!
Bonjour de France !
The UK. Best of luck to all.
Hello again from Canada. 🤞🙏🍁👍
Malaysia!
Saludos desde Argentina!
Hi from japan
Romania – I love it.
Hallo from Brasil
Slovak Republic
Germany – these are pretty cool little routers
Greetings from Germany and good luck to everyone!
United States.
USB-C audio: bringing the phone experience everywhere.
Good morning from the UK!
Hi from india!
Canada. Reading you daily since the appearance of the first hdmi sticks (cx-01 and the like). Thanks.
OMG, this should be great (Colombia)
Chida from India! Could send you a review of this if I get my hands on one of this!
Greetings from Bulgaria
India
Hello from Hungary!
Greetings from Spain
Hi from Hungary!
G’day from Australia!
Merhaba from Turkiye.
Greeting from Israel
Wow, I’d love to make a nice wireless router out of this, with a help of m.2 riser or two!
Belarus
Great site, great news. Thanks for all you are donig. Hello from Slovakia.
Hello from Israel
US – I could use one of these to replace my router.
One final hurrah from The Netherlands! Thanks!
G’Day from Australia
My RPI in Israel got damaged, I can use this SBC
Hello and thanks from Czech Republic :-)
USA, thanks for the giveaway week!
Australia ftw
wow !!
this will be great to my project for FM DX web server
<https://fmdx.org/projects/webserver.php>
USA. Lovely little box. Thanks for giveaway week.
Hello from Belgium
Morocco – It is amazing how much performance that little nugget can deliver. Thank you for the giveaway and the amazing content through all these years.
Greetings from Vietnam
Germany here. I love mini-PCs.
Greetings from France!
Hello from Russia
Greetings from Belgium!
Greetings from Hungary.
Greetings from Sardinia, Italy!
That looks like an awesome mini PC! It would have a nice home in Romania!
Vietnam icool computer
France
Hello from Taiwan,
Hi from Portugal
Hi from a home office in a rainy country !
Bonjour de France
Hello from France
Thanks from India
wow that’s quite a giveaway – maybe this year !
from Romania
Greetings from Italy!
Hi from Portugal
Hello from Germany.
Italy. Tks.
Nice little computer to run a server.
From France
Thanks from Hungary
Greetings from Czechia!
Netherlands
Heyhey, love your content. It’s one of the tech websites in my RSS feed 😉 I’m from The Netherlands.
Greetings from Spain!
Ukraine
Hello from Ireland.
Good morning from Great Britain.
Hi from Germany
Hello from Serbia
Switzerland
USA in for 1
Sweden! Long time follower and reader!
Greetings from Germany
Austria
USA – I’ve been wanting this since the original review came out. Got a NanoPi R5C until I could afford this but never got around to it.
Hi from Spain. Cool minipc
I’ll put a paper bag over it. UK.
Hello from India
Germany
Nice device! My cheap N100 Firebat T8 died recently, so I can make really good use of this one.
Ireland
Swizerland
Have a great Sunday from the UK
Hello from Sweden
Netherlands here
Greetings from Croatia
Greetings from Sweden
Should be more than enough for my day to day use. Belgium
Greetings from Germany
Hello from Belgium!
Greetings from Latvia.
Hello from the Uk
Hi from Poland, I’d love to have a micropc! Cheers!
Would love one of these for my network in the UK!
Italy here – good luck everyone!
China. Thank you
Canada
Keep up the great reviews
Germany
Sweden – Hello and thank for all your hard work
Hello from France
Hi from France !
Hello from the Netherlands
Greetings from USA
Brazil
Germany. I just built a similar system with Incus and Opnsense.
Hello from Slovenia
Greetings from UK
Keep up the great work! Dan, UK.
Good morning fro The Netherlands!
Sweden. I just love these mini machines. Maybe I ‘m the lucky one this year.
Nice little box.
From France
Poland – it is a very nice device!
Hello from Sweden. CNX ROCKS!
Hi from Guatemala!
Greetings from Latvia!
Hello from the UK!
Hi , From India….
UK – sounds like a great device to use to learn about Proxmox
Hello from Australia! Love this site for reviews!
Hello from Serbia
Canada. Greetings.
USA great review!
Greetings from Japan. It is a great device.
Hello from Germany!
Grüße aus Deutschland
Hello from Latvia!
russia
Denmark – Hi, I love the reviews of these types of devices.
Denmark, looks like a very useful little pc, good luck everyone!
Greetings from switzerland !
Singapore with love
singapore
I think this giveaway is kool to the core! Netherlands
Hello, Jean-Luc, Eliot from the UK, here. Would like to enter the competition, please.
Please also ensure that my address is not kept for any reason beyond this competition alone (or for anything else other than this competition) and that once the competition is completed the email is removed from the competition systems & information storage, and all associated systems & information storage.
Apologies for having to say all of that, I know I am unlikely to win, and that won’t help, but, yeah, sorry.
Hello from Spain
Looks good, uk
USA
Hello from Czechia.I love your channel.
In it to win it from the United States
Saludos desde España (Greetings from Spain)
The Netherlands say thank you for your interesting blog
From sunny Scotland UK. Always dependable reviews. One of my favourite tech sites.
USA
Excellent review! From the UK
Portugal
Greetings from Poland!
From USA with love.
Halo from Indonesia
Here from the USA
USA – Hello all 🙂
USA – I need a new project and this fits the bill perfectly
Grretings from germany
Great site with lots of interesting info. Greetings from Belgium
Hi from Thailand!
Thanks from Canada
You guys are doing good work. Please keep it up.
Dave from the UK
I’m a long time reader from Hungary
Greetings from Belarus!
Australia – Just saw the review of the R2 Max and was thinking about building a higher performance router
Hi from the USA!
Greetings from Sweden!
Greetings from Brazil!
What about having one of those in the Amazon region?
Slovenia
USA- thank you for your reviews!
USA
Love the site.
poland
USA. I’ve loved the versatility of these tiny intel boxes.
Usa
hello from VietNam
Oh, nice! UK here!
Good job. UK
Denmark – love these little Nuc style PCs.
France
Salutari din Romania
Gizme from Taiwan, fan of mini PCs
Trying my luck from Italy
From Poland
USA I’ve always wanted a mini-pc as a server at home to learn things like homelab or just how to setup home networks.
USA
Howdy from Czech Republic
France – Great Reviews
Hello from France 🙂
Hello from France ! 🙂
Sweden – keep up the good work
Hello
Canada-thanks for offering this prize I’ve been thinking of getting into the Linux world. This may provide the boost i need to get in there
Hi from UAE.
Germany
I enjoy the reviews. USA
Yay ! Thanks from France
Portugal!
Could be an interesting mini server. France.
Hi from Spain. Thanks Jean-Luc.
From Russia, with love!
Hi from Sweden , thanks for a great website !
Poland. Thank you for your all hard work!
USA
USA – this is great, thanks!
A great mini PC for home lab projects. I’ve been using an Intel J5005 with Proxmox for a couple of years, and I’m really enjoying it. Israel
Germany – need new PC for my mom . That would be perfect. Or as little DMS-server.
Nice one! Good luck everyone! From Germany:)
USA – I see a hot router xD
Hi from UAE.
Hello from Malaysia !
Greetings From Canada
Hi from the UK
Italy! Ciao! Thanks!
Greetings from Latvia!
US I love the reviews and I think it is great you do the contest as well. It is always great to see the devices to homes that can use it.
Hello from Estonia
Hello, I’m from the UK.
Hi from Austria
Hi from Italy
Hello from France!
USA
Love these articles!
Serbia
Hello from USA. I like the device. I would try it with Proxmox. Thanks.
Hungary
Excellent a down under delight
Hello from Iran
Bulgaria. I’ve wanted to try such powerful device for months
Hi from United Kingdom!
🍁Hello for Canada🍁
USA checking in. Love the site, always enjoy burning time reading articles from you folks!
Hello from Australia
USA checking in, love the site!
Hello from Croatia !
Kia ora from New Zealand 🙂
Hi from the UK
Greetings from Russia!
Jean-Luc, form for comments has problems – it loads once out of five
Italy
thank you
Hello from Israel
I’m in. 😁
I used to get my embedded news from many sources, but now it is mostly you. Thanks for that! I live in Germany.
Awesome!
Cyprus
Hello, from India. Appreciate it for doing this for your readers.
Bulgaria – Currently experimenting with th arm64 port of Proxmox VE and hittinf some roadblocks, but it’s fun!
South Africa represent!
Hello from Argentina!
Hello from Belgium
Hallo from The Netherlands
Hello from Finland! Thanks for the giveaway!
Slovakia
Hello from USA
USA
Hi from Csta Rica!
Nice giveaways you have here.
Greetings from Poland!
Very cool product! Would be awesome to use as a VyOS router!
Hi From USA
Poland!
Belgium.
A bit surprised.
I follow your page every day, and only now I notice the giveaway week?
wow what a final! thanks for this week and greets from germany again 👋
Thanks for giving back to the community
United Kingdom
Good luck all
Hello from Nigeria!
Croatia 🙂 beautifuly country
Germany – Potentially a nice little bit of kit to experiment with!
USA. I like opnSense
Hello from France
Cool PC!
Hello from Poland.
Taiwan,
This looks very powerful.
Hong Kong, and wow, nice finale!
Greetings from USA! This device would make a great router!
Greece
Solar system
From India good Router
Hi from France!
Switzerland
Vietnam
Australia
Greeting from China. Enjoy your articles!
Greetings from Vietnam
Hi from India…
Interesting product and very compact
Canada
USA
Always following for com technology finds!
This is destined to be a proxmox node in the Netherlands😀
Yes please!
India, Loved Your Review And This Product
I’m from the US. Would love to hear about the setup and performance of pfsense behind proxmox.
Love from Germany
Hi from Pakistan…
Apa Khabar from Malaysia~
UK England – thanks for doing this!
Germany
Lithuania!
türkiye
Hello from Canada and thanks for the giveaway!
Germany – Nice Setup for a Homeassistant Setup with ESP32 ESPHome Voice Assistent
USA – Thank you!
USA, always happy to see your giveaways
hello from Germany
Greetings from Spain and good luck everybody!
Hello from Holland!
This would make an excellent pfsense instance to replace my aging Intel core2duo. USA, Wisconsin specifically.
This will replace my aging pfsense on an old Intel core 2duo. USA
Hello from France
Poland
Greetings from Asturies (Spain)
USA
Thank you very much for the chance!
Hi from the UK.
Hello from Canada
This is Sachin from India.
Started reading about your review recently. Good to hear that you have something to share.
Thanks
Sachin
I see that there is a lot of comments already but nevertheless here’a a nother one.
Greetings from Portugal
Greetings from Portugal
Greetings from UK.
Looks like a neat replacement for my old Windows 10 desktop that I can’t upgrade on account of not having a TPM 🙁
Hello from the Peru
Portugal – great way to start my homelab 🙂
Greetings from the United States! Have been thinking about one of these for homelab router and possibly IDS
Hello from USA
Nice setup!
Hi from Portugal.
Spain – And I bought an iKoolcore R2 thanks to your great review and instructions. Thanks!
Hi from Germany!
USA – Ouch the comment form is below all the comments.
Would love to see feature comparisons in this space.
Canada
Thanks.
Italy
sperem, ciao
Hello From Morocco
USA – I would run Tomato64 on the iKOOLCORE R2
Hello from India!
hi, from USA.
Thanks for the giveaway straight from Brazil
Hello from Sweden
SYN
Hello from the United States of America!
Salut from Romania!😀
Russia
Hello from the UK
Israel. Wow an amazing mini PC
Thank you from France 🥰🤞
South Africa
Hello from Slovenia
USA – glad this showed up on my news feed
Hi from Italy
Hi from UK
Hi from USA
Poland mountain!
Hello from Germany!
Germany
USA!
Belarus
Hello from Belgium.
Greetings from Lithuania
Romania. I’m not actually that lucky.
Hello from USA. Love the size of it.
USA – Looking forward to winning 🙂
This would definitely make for an interesting tiny home server. Also greetings from Germany.
Slovakia let’s go!
Poland
USA!
Hello from the USA, thanks for what you do!
USA – Thanks for the giveaways. Love the content.
Hola desde Argentina! I hope I win!
Indonesia – I’m excited