Testing Cytron MAKERDISK M.2 NVMe SSDs on Raspberry Pi 5 with GEEKWORM X1001 and Waveshare M.2 PCIe HAT+

MAKERDISK M.2 NVMe SSD Raspberry Pi 5 review

Cytron has sent us a few of their MAKERDISK NVMe SSDs preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS so that we can test them on a Raspberry Pi 5 SBC, either with a GEEKWORM X1001 or Waveshare M.2 PCIe HAT+ add-on boards both of which were also provided by the company. Ever since the first M.2 PCIe HATs for the Raspberry Pi 5 were released, we knew Raspberry Pi Limited was working on its own model, and based on some Twitter/X “rumors” (with photos) the launch of the official M.2 HAT+ should be just around the corner. So it’s the perfect timing to test some SSDs on the Raspberry Pi 5 even though I’ve yet to get the official HAT+ Cytron “MAKERDISK” package unboxing The Malaysian company sent me a kit with everything I needed to get started, minus the Raspberry Pi 5 I already owned. This includes 128GB or 256GB NVMe […]

CWWK NAS mini-ITX motherboard features six SATA connectors, three 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports

CWWK NAS Motherboard

In our last post, we wrote about the CWWK X86-P1 which is a fanless SBC and mini PC that goes for $101 and up, but while writing another product that got my attention was the CWWK NAS motherboard which is built around the Intel Celeron J Series SoC and features six SATA connectors and three 2.5GbE network ports, two of which are connected to Intel i226-V controllers and the other one to a Realtek RTL8125BG controller. The board also has support for dual 2280 M.2 NVMe SSDs and DDR4 memory. Other than that, it has HDMI, DisplayPort, USB 2.0, 3.0, PCIe, and audio output ports. The board follows the mini-ITX form factor, and previously, we have written about many different boards with the same form factor, such as the Sapphire Edge+ VPR-4616-MB, ASRock Industrial Boards, Kontron K3931-N, and many others. Feel free to check those out if you are interested […]

MINIX Z100-0dB review – Part 3: A fanless Intel N100 mini PC tested with Ubuntu 22.04

MINIX Z100-0dB review Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

After the first part of the review with an unboxing and a teardown of the MINIX NEO Z100-0dB mini PC, we tested the fanless Intel N100 mini PC with Windows 11 Pro in the second part, and we are now ready to report our experience with Linux, and more specifically Ubuntu 22.04, on the MINIX Z100-0dB mini PC in the final and third part of the review. We will go through features testing, run some benchmarks to evaluate the performance in Linux, perform storage and network performance tests, check the cooling ability of the mini with a stress test, and also check its power consumption under different scenarios. We will also compare the MINIX Z100-0dB to the actively cooled GEEKOM Mini Air12 mini PC that uses the same Intel Processor N100 CPU. Ubuntu 22.04 installation We will install Ubuntu 22.04 alongside Windows 11 Pro in dual boot configuration, so we […]

PineBerry Pi launches five additional HAT+ boards for the Raspberry Pi 5 with 2.5GbE, GbE, M.2 NVMe, and more

Raspberry Pi 5 HAT M.2 2.5GbE

PineBerry Pi was the first company to launch a Raspberry Pi HAT+ board making use of the Raspberry Pi 5’s PCIe FPC connector with the Hatdrive! M.2 HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 along with the HatDrive! Bottom expansion board that goes underneath the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC. The company has now launched five additional HAT+ boards for the Raspberry Pi 5 with various PCIe (NVMe/AI modules) and networking (2.5GbE, GbE) options. Here’s the list with basic specifications: HatNET! 2.5G –  2.5GbE for the Raspberry Pi 5 using a Realtek RTL8125BG controller, dedicated MAC address range (i.e. not randomly assigned), and an RJ45 jack with Activity and Link LEDs HatDrive! NET 1G – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8111H) and M.2 M-Key socket for NVMe 2230,2242 SSD. Implemented through an ASMedia PCIe Gen 2 switch and booting with the SSD is not supported at this time. You may want to follow the […]

Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC Review Ubuntu 22.04

After going through an unboxing and teardown of the Beelink SEi12 i7-12650H mini PC, and testing the 12th gen Intel Core i7-12650H mini PC in Windows 11 Pro, we’ll now report our experience with Ubuntu 22.04 in the third part of the review to show how the Beelink SEi12 performs in Linux. We will perform feature testing, run some benchmarks to evaluate performance, test Ethernet, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth, submit the system to a stress test to check its cooling performance and measure fan noise and power consumption. We’ll also compare it to the GEEKOM Mini IT12 mini PC with the same Intel Core i7-12650H CPU. Ubuntu 22.04 installation We shrank the Windows partition is about half to install Ubuntu 22.04 in dual boot configuration along with Windows 11 Pro. We then installed Ubuntu 22.04.3 ISO from a USB flash without any issues. Ubuntu 22.04 system information After a system […]

$20 coupon codes for the GEEKOM Mini IT13 mini PC with Core i7-13620H, 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD (Sponsored)

GEEKOM Mini IT13 20 dollar coupon codes

GEEKOM is offering a $20 discount for the powerful GEEKOM Mini IT13 mini PC with coupon codes for Amazon (code CNXSWIT13) and the official GEEKOM store (code cnxsoftware) bringing the price down to just $609. The mini PC features an Intel Core i7-13620H 10-core/16-thread Raptor Lake processor, 32GB DDR4 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD for storage. It can drive up to four 4K displays through HDMI and USB4 ports, supports 2.5GbE and WiFi 6E networking, and comes with a total of six USB ports for expansion. GEEKOM Mini IT13 specifications: SoC – Intel Core i7-13620H 13th Gen Raptor Lake processor with 10 cores, 16 threads up to 4.90 GHz, 24MB Cache, Iris Xe graphics; PBP: 45W System Memory – 32GB dual-channel DDR4-3200 via 2x SODIMM sockets Storage 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD M.2 2242 SATA SSD slot, expandable up to 1TB 2.5-inch SATA HDD (7mm) slot, […]

52Pi NVdigi Expansion Board for Raspberry Pi 5 combines HiFiBerry Digi+ audio output with M.2 PCIe x1 slot

52Pi NVDigi Extension Adapter Board

The 52Pi NVdigi is another PCIe expansion board for the Raspberry Pi 5 which integrates HiFiBerry Digi+ to provide high-quality S/PDIF output. It also features an M.2 PCIe x1 slot that supports NVMe 2242/2230 SSDs. Furthermore, it offers an optical output (TOSLink) and an RCA output for versatile audio connections. The HiFiBerry Digi+ is a high-quality S/PDIF output for the Raspberry Pi. It uses the I2S sound port that connects directly to the CPU without the need for an additional USB conversion. It supports sample rates up to 192kHz/24bit. 52Pi NVdigi Expansion Board Specification: HiFiBerry Digi+ Integration – Provides high-quality S/PDIF output for Raspberry Pi 5. Direct I2S Connection – Connects directly to the CPU via the I2S sound port for optimal audio. High-Resolution Audio – Supports sample rates up to 192kHz and 24-bit depth for immersive audio. Multiple Audio Outputs – Features both optical (TOSLink) and electrical (RCA) outputs. M.2 […]

Add two M.2 NVMe SSDs to Raspberry Pi 5 with Geekworm X1004 HAT+

Raspberry Pi 5 Dual NVMe SSDs

We’ve seen a range of PCIe HAT(+) for the Raspberry Pi 5 taking one NVMe SSD, but Geekworm X1004 is different as it can take up to two standard M.2 2280 SSDs over the Pi 5’s PCIe connector and 40-pin GPIO header. The official Raspberry Pi 5 M.2 HAT+ is not available yet, but we already have an embarrassment of choice with products such as the PineBerry Pi HatDrive, Waveshare PCIe To M.2 HAT+, Pimoroni NVMe Base, and the Geekworm X1003. The latest X1004 adds even more options with support for two M.2 SSDs for up to 8TB storage, although this may not make that much sense on the Pi 5 as we’ll discuss further below. Geekworm X1004 specifications: Supported SBC – Raspberry Pi 5 only Chipset – ASMedia ASM1182e PCI express packet switch with 1x PCIe x1 Gen2 upstream port and 2x PCIe x 1 Gen2 downstream ports 2x […]

Youyeetoo X1 x86 SBC