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ZimaBoard 2: 30-second evaluate
IceWhale constructed its popularity on a easy thought: reasonably priced, hackable, x86 single-board servers for individuals who need management over their very own information. The unique ZimaBoard launched in 2021 on Kickstarter. Utilizing an Intel Apollo Lake processor, it supplied a stage of expandability that ARM-based boards crowding the market on the time couldn’t match. 4 years later, the corporate is again with the ZimaBoard 2, and the replace is substantial in all of the ways in which matter most.
Alongside that comes sooner LPDDR5x reminiscence, an upgraded PCIe Gen 3 x4 slot, twin 2.5GbE networking, and the identical passively cooled all-aluminium chassis idea that made the primary board so interesting to homelab builders.
Two variants can be found at retail: the ZimaBoard 2 832 with 8GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC, and the ZimaBoard 2 1664 with 16GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC. Each ship pre-installed with ZimaOS, and each assist a variety of other working programs for those who want one thing else.
Whereas it’s doable to get N150 PC programs for lower than even the cheaper 832 mannequin, these don’t sometimes provide a PCIe slot, so this {hardware} would possibly curiosity these growing an answer primarily based on an X4 slot. But it surely may also be helpful, because it’s passively cooled, to these creating embedded options, reminiscent of automated signage.
The ZimaBoard 2, like its predecessor, is a singular providing that isn’t costly for the flexibleness it gives. Nonetheless, there are cheaper methods to get a small N150 system working TrueNAS or Proxmox, and a Raspberry Pi can run a few of the apps, like Pi-Gap, that this technique would possibly in any other case be helpful for.
I am undecided this {hardware} is generic sufficient to be certainly one of our greatest NAS gadgets for residence and small enterprise customers, however there are individuals who might be interested in what it has to supply.
(Picture credit score: Mark Pickavance)
- IceWhale ZimaBoard 2 (32GB 8GB RAM) at Amazon for $359.90
ZimaBoard 2: Worth and availability
- How a lot does it price? From $279
- When is it out? Out there now
- The place are you able to get it? Direct from IceWhale
There are two variations of the Zimaboard 2: a less expensive 832 mannequin with 8GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage, and a barely costlier 1664 mannequin with double the reminiscence and storage. Since you may’t improve both the reminiscence or the eMMC storage, it will be a good suggestion to decide on properly earlier than buying both.
Direct from IceWhale, the pricing is $279 for the 832 and $349 for the 1664 mannequin, although delivery prices fluctuate by location.
It’s doable to get it from a web-based retailer, reminiscent of Amazon, however the 1664 mannequin is $399.90 within the US and £322.99 within the UK.
For these in Europe, the Euro costs are €238.62 and €298.49 respectively. At present, the web store permits you to purchase from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Japan and South Korea. All these areas could be paid both within the native foreign money or US {dollars}, with the curious exception of the UK, the place it might solely be paid in {dollars}.
That doesn’t appear costly, till you place these numbers in opposition to what you would possibly pay for a mini PC.
For instance, the GMK NucBox G3 Professional prices much less, $259 on Amazon.com, which will get you an Intel Core i3-10110U Processor (Beats 4300U/N150), 8GB DDR4, 256GB of M.2 SATA storage, and it consists of WiFi and Bluetooth. Storage and reminiscence are upgradable, and there’s a second M.2 slot.
That’s from a identified model. However for those who simply need an N150 mini PC or NAS, then lower than $200 is feasible through Amazon, and even cheaper programs could be discovered on AliExpress.
Until you desire a particular characteristic of the ZimaBoard 2, reminiscent of passive cooling or an exterior PCIe slot, there are cheaper choices obtainable.
(Picture credit score: Mark Pickavance)
ZimaBoard 2: Specs
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Mannequin:
1664 Mannequin
CPU:
Intel Processor N150 (Twin Lake), quad-core, as much as 3.6GHz Turbo
Structure:
x86-64, 4 cores / 4 threads
Cache:
6MB
GPU:
Intel UHD Graphics (24 EUs) at 1000MHz
TDP:
6W PBP (configured at 10W)
Reminiscence:
16GB LPDDR5x at 4800MHz (soldered)
Storage:
64GB eMMC (OS storage)
SATA Ports
2 x SATA III (6Gbps) for HDD or SSD
Max SATA Capability
As much as 36TB through two drives
PCIe Growth
NVMe SSD, 10GbE NIC, GPU, AI accelerator through PCIe Gen 3×4 slot
Ethernet
2 x 2.5GbE (Intel i226 controllers)
USB
2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Kind-A)
Show
1 x Mini DisplayPort 1.4 (4K60 output)
Audio
None onboard
WiFi / Bluetooth
None onboard (PCIe growth required)
PCIe Slot
1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 (side-mounted, exterior)
Supported Add-ins
10GbE NIC, NVMe adapter, GPU, AI accelerator, WiFi card
Fan Header
Optionally available fan header for PCIe card cooling
Pre-cut PCIe Part
Accommodates longer PCIe playing cards
Dimensions
140 x 83 x 31mm
Chassis
Full aluminium enclosure doubling as a heatsink
Cooling
Absolutely passive (fanless); optionally available fan through header
Energy Provide
12V DC 60W adapter included
Packaging
Field could be repurposed as a stand for the board and two 2.5in drives
Bundled OS
ZimaOS (Linux-based, pre-installed on eMMC)
Alt OS Assist
TrueNAS, Proxmox, Debian, Ubuntu Server, pfSense, OpenWrt, Home windows, LibreELEC
App Retailer
372 one-click set up purposes through ZimaOS
Container Assist
Docker inbuilt through ZimaOS
VM Assist
Sure (restricted by 4-core CPU; single VM really useful)
Distant Entry
By way of Zima Shopper (Mac, PC, iOS, Android)
Guarantee
2-year guarantee
ZimaBoard 2: Design
- All-metal development
- Passively cooled
- PCIe 3.0 x4 slot
Whereas I’ve seen even smaller, the ZimaBoard 2 is tiny for an Intel X86 platform. At simply 140 x 83 x 31 mm, it sits comfortably within the palm of 1 hand, and the complete aluminium chassis that encloses it’s doing two jobs directly: defending the electronics and performing as a radiator for inner warmth ace. There is no such thing as a fan, no vent, and no thermal compound to handle. The board runs silently beneath all circumstances, which is both its most interesting characteristic or a trigger for concern, relying on what stress you intend to place it beneath.
IceWhale has stored the format sensible. Ports are clearly labelled, and the side-mounted PCIe 3.0 x4 slot is pre-cut to simply accept longer playing cards. A fan header is current for many who add a PCIe card that runs heat. The packaging has a intelligent trick: the cardboard field is designed in order that chopping the lid converts it right into a stand for the board and two 2.5in drives, which is a small however considerate contact for a product aimed squarely at budget-conscious builders.
Nonetheless, on this reviewer’s view, sizzling electronics and cardboard aren’t good bedfellows, and I do suggest spending one other $30 on the aluminium rack tray accent IceWhale affords.
It’s a little bit of an train to mount the ZimaBoard 2 to that rack, nevertheless it makes the drives and any PCIe playing cards you connect appear far more safe and a part of the system.
As a way to scale back the quantity of inner warmth generated, this technique doesn’t have an inner PSU, opting as a substitute for an exterior 12V wall socket PSU.
That’s tremendous, since I’d have anticipated an exterior provide, however what I’m much less thrilled by is the shortage of an influence button. In the event you shut this down, until you’ve configured wake-on-LAN, the one strategy to restart it’s to tug the PSU out after which jam it again into the socket.
The opposite apparent absence, onboard WiFi, is a deliberate omission reasonably than an oversight, I imagine. IceWhale positions the PCIe slot because the growth path for wi-fi, which retains the bottom board price down however means an extra buy for anybody who can not run Ethernet. And, to be sincere, WiFi looks like a poor use of the one slot, given what else it may be used for.
As I’ll get into in additional depth on this evaluate, the PCIe slot is named upon to do loads of heavy lifting, probably past the purpose of practicality.
(Picture credit score: Mark Pickavance)
There may be a lot deal with the PCIe slot as a result of the unit solely has two USB ports. In the event you intend to connect a keyboard, mouse and anything USB, you have to a hub. There may be solely Mini DisplayPort video output, so IceWhale sells an inexpensive adapter that converts it to HDMI. Which begs the query, why didn’t they only use Mini HDMI and embody a cable?
What you do get is twin 2.5GbE LAN ports, which could possibly be channel-bonded to ship and obtain as much as 5Gbps over the community. That works out to about 600 MB/s of switch, which is quicker than the interior eMMC, a SATA-connected SSD, or a tough drive. The one means that community bandwidth could possibly be saturated is for an NVMe to be hooked up utilizing the PCIe slot.
Nonetheless, the twin LAN configuration could possibly be extraordinarily helpful for these wanting a {hardware} Firewall or to run Pi-Gap for trapping net adverts earlier than they attain community customers.
In conclusion, that is an especially compact, silent-in-operation design that attracts comparatively little energy and can be utilized interactively or as an embedded answer.
Nonetheless, to attain these issues has concerned some sacrifices to the specification which will or is probably not the kind of trade-off that you’re proud of.
ZimaBoard 2: Options
- Intel N150
- Zero inner upgrades
- Storage selections
The Intel N150 is a Twin Lake processor constructed on a refined model of Intel’s low-power structure. 4 cores working at as much as 3.6GHz turbo, with a 6W base energy funds and 6MB of cache, characterize a clear generational leap over the unique ZimaBoard’s Apollo Lake silicon, which was already ageing when that product launched.
IceWhale’s declare of roughly 3 times the CPU efficiency is believable on paper, and the transfer to LPDDR5x at 4800MHz sharpens the reminiscence bandwidth image significantly.
These issues mentioned, the N150 is patently not a multi-VM workhorse. 4 cores and 4 threads impose an actual ceiling on something involving a number of concurrent digital machines, and those that push the board in that route will discover it hits its limits quickly beneath mixed GUI VM workloads. For single-VM use circumstances, mild virtualisation, Docker containers, Pi-hole, House Assistant, Plex, Jellyfin, and normal NAS duties, the processor is greater than enough.
However the N150 was by no means an awesome expertise for Home windows, and becoming that OS onto the 64GB of eMMC storage could possibly be difficult. Utilizing the M.2 addon board may present extra space for a bigger OS and apps, however with solely 4 cores at its disposal, it is a system to be pragmatic about reasonably than optimistic.
The place this technique is compromised, in comparison with a typical N150 Mini PC, is that it affords no inner upgrades in any respect. The reminiscence is soldered in place, and the eMMC storage can be mounted. Sure, you may boot from exterior storage hooked up through the PCIe slot or USB, however no matter reminiscence and storage are within the ZimaBoard 2 at buy is all it’ll ever have.
In my testing, I explored lots of the potential configurations this design permits. These included utilizing it with nothing hooked up, utilizing USB gadgets, and utilizing PCIe playing cards. As this {hardware} was reviewed alongside the ZimaCube 2, I used to be capable of borrow a PCIe to NVMe card meant for the Zima Dice, and put an NVMe drive on that, which labored tremendous.
(Picture credit score: Mark Pickavance)
I additionally hooked up a 20TB Seagate IronWolf Professional, which additionally functioned usually, and I used to be capable of format it in ZimaOS. The rationale I discussed this seemingly apparent success is that the IceWhale specs for this machine say that the utmost quantity of SATA storage is 36TB from two drives, which by definition can be 18TB.
Whereas I don’t have the drives to check this assertion, I believe that it will work with 24TB, 28TB, 30TB, 32TB and even 34TB SATA drives. For these curious, the SATA interface, along side 64-bit GPT (GUID Partition Desk) partitioning, has a most theoretical capability of 9.4 Zettabytes ((9.4 instances 10^9) TB). So going from 18TB to 36TB isn’t a lot of a leap.
Extra of a problem than simply shopping for larger laborious drives is that, in fixed use, these drives will get sizzling, and even with the aluminium cradle, there isn’t a fan cooling to stop overheating. It’s considerably ironic that it is a passively cooled laptop, however for those who use it in sure preparations, you’ll be pressured so as to add energetic cooling for subcomponents, not the system. As a part of the cradle equipment, you do get a tiny 25mm fan meant to assist cool the electronics on a PCIe card. However this wouldn’t virtually cool a tough drive or an NVMe.
Any video card must work with solely 4 PCIe lanes, have its personal cooling and if it wants energy past that supplied by the PCIe slot, its personal energy provide.
Until you might be searching for a modest GPU improve or to boost AI, the PCIe slot might be greatest used for gadgets aside from video playing cards.
ZimaBoard 2: Software program
(Picture credit score: Mark Pickavance)
- ZimaOS Plus
- Paid licensing tier
- TrueNAS authorized
ZimaOS comes pre-installed on the eMMC and boots on to an internet dashboard the second the board finds a community connection. IceWhale’s method is to make the first-run NAS expertise as near frictionless as doable, and it largely succeeds.
The dashboard gives entry to an app retailer with over 370 one-click-install purposes protecting media servers, backup instruments, containers, sensible residence integrations, and extra.
There’s a minimalist aesthetic that’s enticing, and homeowners are guided via the set up of drives and purposes neatly.
(Picture credit score: Mark Pickavance)
,The Zima Shopper companion app for Mac, PC, iOS, and Android handles distant entry and picks one of the best obtainable connection path robotically. For customers who need to go additional, the complete x86 platform means TrueNAS, Proxmox, Debian, pfSense, OpenWrt, and even Home windows are all legitimate choices with no compatibility caveats. The ZimaOS Plus licence prices $29 as a lifetime buy and unlocks limitless disk assist and limitless customers past the free tier.
I discussed this beforehand in my ZimaCube 2 evaluate, and I’d want that the $29 payment be bundled with the price of the {hardware} reasonably than homeowners discovering it once they attempt to add their second baby. Debian is free, so if you’re prepared to understand the technicalities of that OS you may exploit this {hardware} with out additional funding.
(Picture credit score: Mark Pickavance)
ZimaBoard 2: Efficiency
- Growth prospects are restricted
- Ambition versus actuality
The place I see this platform being most helpful is as a Proxmox backup server, or a {hardware} Firewall. You’ll be able to’t connect sufficient storage to make it that helpful as a NAS, for my part, though technically you may connect two very giant laborious drives and use them each if you’re prepared to forgo drive-failure resilience. The choice is to reflect the drives, chopping the capability in half.
It ought to be doable to connect an exterior RAID array through USB, however frankly if you’re investing in gear like that, then why not simply purchase a correct 4 or six bay NAS, just like the ZimaCube 2?
Networking tops out at 2.5GbE per port. For many residence NAS eventualities, that’s adequate, however anybody wanting larger throughput might want to occupy the PCIe slot with a 10GbE card, which trades away the slot’s different potential makes use of. Thermal behaviour beneath the passive chassis is value watching intently on take a look at, because the aluminium physique does all of the work, and a PCIe card set up will add warmth to an already closed thermal loop.
Including issues to this technique is a bit just like the whack-a-mole sport. Since you improve the networking to assist 10GbE, however the storage isn’t fast sufficient to saturate that. So you utilize the M.2 card and have NVMe drives that may provide the efficiency, however you might be again to a 2.5GbE LAN. A single Gen3 x4 slot isn’t sufficient to boost the storage and community, and there aren’t sufficient USB ports to make use of them as a workaround.
For most individuals, they’ll finally conclude they want a platform with extra PCIe lanes than the 9 that the N150 sports activities, as a result of as soon as the 4 are used within the slot, and the opposite 5 are allotted to the LAN ports and the USB, there’s nothing left.
The following tier of Intel {hardware} has 20 lanes that blend Gen 4, offering the equal of 40 lanes of Gen3, or greater than 4 instances as a lot bandwidth. For this reason IceWhale used that within the ZimaCube 2, a system that prices greater than double what the ZimaBoard 2 prices.
To summarise my considering on the efficiency of the ZimaBoard 2, any system that runs with passive cooling isn’t going to be massively highly effective. There may be an previous quote attributed to Dr Samuel Johnson, the primary writer of a dictionary, “Sir, a girl’s preaching is sort of a canine’s strolling on his hinder legs. It isn’t executed properly; however you might be shocked to seek out it executed in any respect.”
If we are able to ignore the Physician’s misogyny and see the parallels with this {hardware}, that it might run a VM or Docker containers is wonderful, however don’t count on miracles when it does.
Realistically, one VM is all I’d use, and I’d restrict it to some Docker containers. As a result of, as environment friendly Linux platforms could be, what’s beneath the hood of the ZimaBoard 2 isn’t going to interrupt any efficiency information any time quickly.
That is the trade-off for the scale of the ZimaBoard 2 and its passive cooling operation.
I restricted my efficiency testing of the ZimaBoard 2 to copying giant information to and from the NAS, utilizing a 20GB video file because the blunt instrument of my assault. I’d initially meant to make use of SSH and an on-client CLI to do extra intensive testing, however resulting from some points, ultimately, I merely copied information throughout the community and regionally on the NAS.
(Picture credit score: Mark Pickavance)
The ZimaOS shopper on the PC connects storage to particular digital drives, and so I used to be capable of take a look at the eMMC inbuilt storage, the 20TB Seagate IronWolf Professional and the 1TB Kioxia Exceria Plus G3 that I’d linked through the PCIe slot.
All transfers used a single 2.5GbE LAN connection, and so they all managed 280MB/s when the transfers had been initiated. Nonetheless, it turned obvious that when writing a file, a lot of the information was heading into the 16GB of RAM to be written to the storage system later. This was most obvious on the eMMC, because it was so sluggish that the system ran out of reminiscence for cache at about 17GB, the place it dropped dramatically to round 60MB/s.
Equally, the laborious drive blipped in the midst of its write, caught between what the system had reminiscence cached and its personal inner cache. The very best expertise, unsurprisingly, was on the NVMe drive that might write the entire 20GB file at 280MB/s with out lacking a beat. I estimate that the NVMe drive is able to between 2000 and 3000Mb/s on a PCIe Gen 3×4 slot, however you may’t connect a 10GbE to ship a few of that over the community, because you solely have one slot.
I may have discovered one other NVMe drive and tried shifting information between them, though this is able to have reduce the efficiency in half, since one can be studying and the opposite writing.
A couple of customers within the ZimaOS group have famous that for those who use the GUI file supervisor that, transfers look like capped at 600MB/s, however CLI operations aren’t. I can’t verify this, and it could have been subsequently patched.
As with many NAS, the ZimaBoard 2 can discover itself hamstrung attempting to specific inner efficiency to outdoors companies. And, these are limitations homeowners might want to settle for.
ZimaBoard 2: Closing verdict
(Picture credit score: Mark Pickavance)
The ZimaBoard 2 is a severe improve on the unique in each space that counted in opposition to it: sooner processor, sooner reminiscence, sooner networking, and a greater PCIe slot.
At $279 for the bottom mannequin, it sits in a aggressive value bracket, however the mixture of x86 compatibility, twin 2.5GbE, passive cooling, and a real PCIe growth path is troublesome to copy at this dimension and value level. The soldered reminiscence and exterior drive association are compromises value understanding about earlier than shopping for, and the four-core processor imposes actual limits on multi-VM ambitions.
For homelab builders, NAS fans, router experimenters, and anybody who needs a genuinely hackable low-power server that may run nearly any OS with out argument, nonetheless, the ZimaBoard 2 makes a compelling case for itself.
Must you purchase a ZimaBoard 2?
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Worth
A lot of options, solidly constructed however not low cost
3.5 / 5
Design
Extremely compact and passively cooled
3.5 / 5
Options
Restricted USB, nevertheless it has a PCIe 3.0 4x slot
4 / 5
Software program
Workable NAS OS, or use TrueNAS
4 / 5
Efficiency
Tough to saturate the LAN utilizing SATA and one PCIe slot
3.5 / 5
General
Extremely versatile, however silence comes with a price
4 / 5
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
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IceWhale ZimaBoard 2: Worth Comparability
