This summary of the video was created by an AI. It might contain some inaccuracies.
00:00:00 – 00:21:55
The video primarily revolves around DIY NAS (Network-Attached Storage) builds with a keen focus on motherboard and CPU combinations. Discussions include various motherboard options sourced mainly from AliExpress, with significant contributions from viewer comments informing the updated recommendations. Key names mentioned include Martin, who suggested the BD77i and BD790i motherboards, and David Wester, who provided feedback on the Topton n100 and n305 boards.
The video evaluates several specific motherboards for their performance, build quality, and features. Notable highlights include the Mini's Forum board, BD77i and BD790i for AMD systems, and the cww kboard with multiple LAN ports and SAS ports. The Min Forum AR 9900i for Intel, featuring a 13th-gen I9 HX CPU, also receives significant attention. Key themes include the critical role of ECC (Error Correcting Code) memory in long-term NAS builds, challenges in finding compatible motherboards, and considerations for power consumption and price.
The presenter discusses the superiority of newer boards over previous recommendations, particularly for flash storage systems. They also touch on BIOS updates, HBA card support, and the importance of community feedback in refining their recommendations. Conclusively, the video emphasizes continuous improvement and community interaction in guiding NAS hardware choices and expresses gratitude for viewer input.
00:00:00
In this part of the video, the presenter revisits the topic of DIY NAS (Network-Attached Storage) builds, specifically focusing on motherboard and CPU combinations. He reflects on the previous week’s discussion about available CPU and motherboard combos, primarily sourced from retailers like AliExpress. He shares that viewer comments highlighted even more viable motherboard and CPU options that deserve attention. In response, he decided to create a follow-up piece, discussing these suggestions.
He mentions that an article attached to the video contains all the motherboards discussed and notes that he purchased two of the recommended boards based on the comments. The focus is on motherboards with pre-soldered CPUs, emphasizing convenience and miniaturization seen in recent AMD and Intel models. There are also valuable suggestions within the video comments section, emphasizing the importance of community input. The presenter wraps up by introducing the first of two AMD motherboards, highlighting the Mini’s Forum board and its relevance to ITX custom Pro Series builds for NAS projects.
00:03:00
In this segment, the discussion revolves around the BD77i and BD790i motherboard, specifically a choice made by a commenter named Martin. The focus is on the Ryzen 7 embedded processor used in the system, highlighting its strong specifications including an 8-core, 16-thread processor, impressive 4.1 GHz speed, and substantial power consumption. The video also touches on the motherboard’s top-notch build quality with pre-attached heat sinks and fans, but mentions a drawback of only having a single LAN port. The main PCI slot is Gen 5 * 16, which offers extensive bandwidth, though adding a network upgrade card to it might be considered inefficient. The segment underscores the overall excellence of AMD ITX boards, despite minor limitations like the baseline LAN port.
00:06:00
In this part of the video, the speaker reviews two ITX motherboards. The first one is praised for leveraging a PCI slot effectively, offering high internal power standards, and being reasonably priced at $389, though it requires separate memory for a CPU-mobo combo.
The second motherboard, the cww kboard from AMD, stands out with its impressive specs, including 4 2.5-gigabit LAN ports and a powerful CPU. Despite a challenging availability, it can be found on AliExpress for $358. It features SAS ports to overcome SATA bottlenecks and a Gen 4 x8 PCIe slot, though some may criticize its limitations. The motherboard has an impressive overall spec for an AMD build, despite a 54-watt TDP for the CPU. The speaker is particularly impressed with the overall performance and wishes they had included it in a previous roundup.
00:09:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses design improvements in the new system, highlighting features such as additional USB2 ports, dual SODIMM slots with DDR5 support, and enhanced SATA drive capabilities, allowing for significant storage expansion. The build quality is noted as impressive, with some variability in the included CPU (mentioning AMD Ryzen 7/9) and concerns about power consumption. Next, the focus shifts to the Min Forum AR 9900i, featuring an Intel CPU, specifically the 13th generation I9 HX version, noted for its high performance and expanded capabilities, including a 24-core processor. BIOS updates and debates around HBA card support are also mentioned.
00:12:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the impressive features and specifications of a high-performance motherboard, ideal for power users. The motherboard boasts a strong CPU benchmark and integrated graphics performance, particularly within the Intel Core i9 family. Key features include a PCIe Gen 5 x16 slot, four M.2 NVMe slots, and multiple PCIe Gen 4 slots with active heat sinks. However, there are some drawbacks such as the absence of traditional SATA and HD SAS connectors, which could complicate adding archival storage. Despite these limitations, the motherboard offers excellent performance for those focused on utilizing flash storage, and is reasonably priced at $549. There are also some unclear aspects regarding storage support, indicated by contradictory information on official pages and forums like Reddit.
00:15:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the superiority of the flash M2 MVME system over the previously recommended one, due to its higher bandwidth and speed. They also mention a rollback on recommending a CPU motherboard combo, based on feedback from a viewer named David Wester. Specifically, they address issues with Topton’s n100 and n305 boards, highlighting that the original versions shared bandwidth between M2 MVME and PCIe slots, which limited performance. It’s noted that newer versions of the n100 board with a green board have resolved this issue, though availability is currently limited.
Additionally, the speaker touches on the topic of ECC (Error Correcting Code) and its importance for custom NAS builds. They mention that finding ITX motherboards that come with ECC and a CPU attached is challenging, which is a significant concern for long-term storage users.
00:18:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the challenges of finding motherboards with ECC (Error-Correcting Code) memory support. They explain how difficult it is to locate suitable models, particularly mini-ITX (mitx) boards with pre-attached CPUs. The speaker notes that while such options are scarce, one of the boards mentioned earlier does support ECC, which is a rare and valuable feature. They also highlight that older server boards from Super Micro with pre-attached CPUs are available but often come with high power consumption and complex or inadequate documentation. They suggest that good secondhand deals can be found on platforms like eBay, although these might not offer the latest features or bandwidth capabilities.
00:21:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the potential intimidation of purchasing low-cost X99 motherboards, highlighting the added expenses in time and hardware resources that may arise. They provide an update to their best CPU and motherboard combos for DIY NAS (Network-Attached Storage) builds and express gratitude for the helpful comments on the previous video. The speaker mentions they will include the new results in the linked article and offers thanks before signing off with well wishes for the weekend.