2023-07-14 21:34:00
Although it is difficult to understand from the title, the subject this time is N100DC-ITX
Computers 30 years ago didn’t need CPU fans.
However, notably, since the appearance of Windows 95, CPU speedup and miniaturization have become necessary, and CPU fans have become essential. Nowadays, water cooling is widely used, including simple ones.
On the other hand, there are a certain number of needs for CPUs (SoCs) that do not require such absolute speed and do not require fans, and many people will probably remember the Intel Atom series.
And those cores became one in the Core i series.
Readers of this magazine are well aware that the evolution of the Atom series has been built in as an E-core, and that the Alder Lake-N series is made up of only that E-core.
As you can see, the PCs that adopted Alder Lake-N were all mini PCs. However, at the end of last month, the long-awaited Alder Lake-N onboard motherboards went on sale.
What’s more, it’s fanless and has a DC jack, isn’t it exciting? If you don’t need a power supply unit and don’t install an HDD, zero spindle will come into view. I thought I had to get this at all costs, so I bought it on the day it went on sale, even though I was traveling.
It’s true that when I hear the word fanless, I dream of operating in a silent situation, but I’m worried about whether it’s really okay. To dispel this concern, it is important to obtain the temperature of the CPU.
So, this time I will review the N100DC-ITX and introduce how to get the temperature with Ubuntu.
Current hardware configuration
The basic hardware configuration this time is as follows.
Manufacturer Model Motherboard ASRockN100DC-ITX Memory KingstonKVR32N22S8/8SSDWestern DigitalWDS500G3X0CAC Adapter Elecom WDS500G3X0C Case SilverStoneSG13
The memory happened to be on sale at Amazon at a good timing, so I bought it. 8GB should be enough, depending on what you use it for.
As for the AC adapter, when I searched for one that met the conditions, I found that the one that advertised for Fujitsu’s notebook PC would fit. I figured 65W would be enough, but anything with a lower wattage would work just fine. In the first place, there is not much hardware that can be connected.
The case was selected considering that a large case fan would be included. There is space for an ATX power supply, but it will not be used this time, so it will remain empty.N-ATXBP-PROIt would have been nice if there was one, but it seems to be difficult to obtain now, so I’m considering using a PVC board.
This Ubuntu version
The Ubuntu version used this time is 23.04. I’ve confirmed that 22.04 LTS can also get the CPU temperature, so that’s fine.
Also, the installer is not the default one,old installerare using. For some reason, the default installer stopped in the middle of the installation, but I didn’t investigate the details due to time constraints.
When I open “About this system” on Ubuntu 23.04, I get:
“About this system” of Ubuntu23.04 installed on N100DC-ITX
The hardware is recognized without any problems, but I am concerned that the “firmware version” is 1.05.1.06 at the time of writingdownloadSince it is now possible, I would like to update it.
N100DC-ITX miscellaneous impressions
If I had to say something about the N100DC-ITX, it’s probably that it’s intended for server use rather than desktop use. Having a serial port and having a pin header for a parallel port is considered for special equipment.
The fact that the display output is only D-Sub 15 pin (analog) and HDMI is now unacceptable for desktop use. Considering the recent severe power situation, it may be possible to replace the motherboard of the home server with this.
There are three expansion slots, one of which is an M.2 slot for NVMe SSD. It would be nice here. There is another M.2 slot for Wi-Fi. Be careful here,CNViThis bus is for exclusive use. In other words, it is not general PCIe, so a dedicated module is required. Users like me who are trying to connect a non-Wi-Fi module here should be careful.As an asideASUS PRIME N100I-D D4Since PCIe seems to pass through the slot for Wi-Fi, I would like to expect domestic sales.
After that, there is a PCIe x1 slot, and the point is how to use it. I’m a little wasteful, but I’m planning to connect a 2.5GbE NIC.
temperature monitoring in ubuntu
To monitor temperature in Ubuntu, install the package lm-sensors and then detect the sensors. Open a terminal and run the following command:
$ sudo apt install lm-sensors
$ sudo sensors-detect
Running sensors-detect will ask you a lot of questions, but basically you just have to keep pressing the enter key. It is recommended to enter “yes” to the question “Do you want to add these lines automatically to /etc/modules?”.
The end of the results of running the sensors-detect command
Now run the following command to enable the setting.
$ sudo systemctl restart systemd-modules-load.service
By the way, /etc/modules is the configuration file for loading the kernel modules listed at the end of the sensors-detect command at boot time, but it is now only left for historical reasons. A symbolic link is created under /etc/modules-load.d/ with the name modules.conf, and this is loaded.
In other words, rather than writing to /etc/modules, you should create a file (extension conf) that describes the modules between “cut here” under /etc/modules-load.d/.
After restarting, open the terminal and execute the “sensors” command to display the temperature. The temperature of the CPU is “coretemp-isa-0000” and the temperature of the NVMe SSD is “nvme-pci-0200”.
Execution result of the sensors command
In this figure, the CPU temperature is 50°C. The air conditioning is working as it is and the case is left open, so I guess it’s settled at this level.
It’s not worth running the sensors command one by one to get the temperature, so install the “psensor” package and start it so that it can be displayed in a graph.
If you check the item you want to display as a graph, it will be displayed on the left. This time Core 0 to 3 would be fine.
Check the items you want to display as a graph
stress test
There is a package called “stress-ng” as a tool to intentionally increase the CPU load. Both APT and Snap provide packages, but this time we will install the Snap package version. It should be easy to install from Ubuntu Software.
After the installation is complete, run the following command from your terminal.
When I start “System Monitor”, it is true that the CPU load is 100% for all 4 cores. Looking at Psensor, it exceeds 90 degrees Celsius. It’s hard to imagine a situation in which the N100DC-ITX is under load for a long period of time (although this time it’s less than 20 minutes), but I get the impression that the temperature is too high.
Execution result without fan
Install a 12cm case fan and try again.in particularF12-PWMpurchased.
The effect was tremendous, and the CPU temperature stopped at 75°C.
Running result with case fan
Power consumption
According to the author’s watt checker, the power consumption was 11W at idle and 23W at high load without a case fan. 13W at idle with case fan and 25W at high load. Not exactly too many, but not too few either.
The power consumption of the LarkBox X (2022 model) used in the 26th session was about 8W when idle.
When I checked the UEFI BIOS settings, “Long Duration Power Limit” was “10”. This means that PL1 is “10W”. By the way, even if I set this to “6”, the power consumption at idle did not decrease. Similarly, “Short Duration Power Limit” is 25, so this means that PL2 is 25W.
UEFI BIOS OC Tweaker menu
For unknown reasons, “Package C State Support” was disabled by default. You should enable this to reduce power consumption. At the same time, “Enhanced Halt State (C1E)” was also enabled.
UEFI BIOS Advanced Menu
in conclusion
The bottom line is that although you can expect it to work without a case fan, having one is a huge benefit. As a writer, I don’t dream of a fanless PC, and I plan to operate it with a case fan.
Depending on the application, lowering the “Long Duration Power Limit” and “Short Duration Power Limit” can be expected to reduce heat generation, but I would like to leave my dream as a dream.
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#Ubuntu #weather31stMiddleaged #Ubuntu #guy #dream #fanless #PCPC #Watch