Thanks for this article! A few weeks ago I started thinking about building an all-SSD little NAS, and found this device on AliExpress. After checking the reviews I found that some were quite positive, but there's been a lot of complaints about really bad thermals from reviewers and end users alike. But there really aren't any alternatives in this price class and size that don't have the same overheating issue, and I really really wanted to avoid spinning drives and fit into a rather small (but open to air) space.
But thanks to your post, I now believe the thermals can be reasonably managed, so I finally pulled the trigger on the G9.
I ended up cutting an hdd-sized single-piece copper heatsink to fit in the SSD bay, with thermal pads on SSDs, with some of the cut bits propping it up against the bay cover to increase pressure on the drives.
I also decided to put the NAS up on two small boxes to increase the distance from the shelf and provide more space for air intake - ideally I'll assemble a small rack some day and the NAS will be mounted via printed bracket with unobstructed airflow at the bottom, but that's a project for another day. Current setup is janky as hell, but it's been working fine for nearly 3 months now.
My SSD Composite temps are between 40 and 50C, depending on ambient temps (which vary from 20 to 30C, as I don't have air conditioning), which isn't bad. If I check individual sensors I see that Sensor 1 on all my SSDs is about 20C higher than the Composite, but most people say it's the Composite result that matters, so I don't know.
One more thing - for now I only have 3x2TB SSDs installed. I planned to add one more later, but now I'm kinda on the fence since the current storage capacity is enough for me now, and the fourth drive can stretch the thermal and power management.
I don't actually comment on this kind of posts but I'm very happy with you sharing your outcomes about testing with the Gmktec G9 as I was struggling to make the system stable and your last change, set the CPU performance to 75% was the key for me.
I tried a few things with less success (with my setup being TrueNAS Scale with 4x4TB NVMEs):
* Force ZFS to leave 2GB of free RAM instead of sucking all for ZFS cache
* Set all power options in bios to energy save
* Force the PCIe of the NVMEs to Gen 1 instead of Gen 3 (1.8GB/s to 400MB/s)
* Removing one of the 2 LAN cables (as I am running a bound ethernet interface)
* Set a USB fan directly aiming to the NVMEs without the plastic lid so it get better temps
I was able to down the temps to a more stable 45-50ºC range but the system was still rebooting. This makes me think the issue is more related with a weird power management problem with the mobo itself (not mine but as I can see with mosts) than a heat issue, but I didn't new I could stretch the CPU power in Linux using that command, and that made the system run stable with a very intensive read-write stress test for hours. Thank you very much!
Glad it helped! I recently got an e-mail from GMKtec saying they've upgraded cooling on this model. I'm not planning to buy it right now, but maybe someone will test it.
I have one arriving today. I'll let you know if it's changed at all (it is Amazon stock, so obviously no idea how long it's been in the warehouse). I am getting my tame metalworker to fabricate a replacement cover for the SSD's in metal, come what may.
Thanks for this article! A few weeks ago I started thinking about building an all-SSD little NAS, and found this device on AliExpress. After checking the reviews I found that some were quite positive, but there's been a lot of complaints about really bad thermals from reviewers and end users alike. But there really aren't any alternatives in this price class and size that don't have the same overheating issue, and I really really wanted to avoid spinning drives and fit into a rather small (but open to air) space.
But thanks to your post, I now believe the thermals can be reasonably managed, so I finally pulled the trigger on the G9.
There's a really nice cooler for sale on Etsy. Dropped my nvme temps about 20c.
Do you have a link?
I ended up cutting an hdd-sized single-piece copper heatsink to fit in the SSD bay, with thermal pads on SSDs, with some of the cut bits propping it up against the bay cover to increase pressure on the drives.
I also decided to put the NAS up on two small boxes to increase the distance from the shelf and provide more space for air intake - ideally I'll assemble a small rack some day and the NAS will be mounted via printed bracket with unobstructed airflow at the bottom, but that's a project for another day. Current setup is janky as hell, but it's been working fine for nearly 3 months now.
My SSD Composite temps are between 40 and 50C, depending on ambient temps (which vary from 20 to 30C, as I don't have air conditioning), which isn't bad. If I check individual sensors I see that Sensor 1 on all my SSDs is about 20C higher than the Composite, but most people say it's the Composite result that matters, so I don't know.
One more thing - for now I only have 3x2TB SSDs installed. I planned to add one more later, but now I'm kinda on the fence since the current storage capacity is enough for me now, and the fourth drive can stretch the thermal and power management.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1883393096/gmktec-nucbox-g9-g9-plus-ultimate
thanks! I saw a few similar projects on Printables, but so far I've been too lazy to choose one and source the components
I don't actually comment on this kind of posts but I'm very happy with you sharing your outcomes about testing with the Gmktec G9 as I was struggling to make the system stable and your last change, set the CPU performance to 75% was the key for me.
I tried a few things with less success (with my setup being TrueNAS Scale with 4x4TB NVMEs):
* Force ZFS to leave 2GB of free RAM instead of sucking all for ZFS cache
* Set all power options in bios to energy save
* Force the PCIe of the NVMEs to Gen 1 instead of Gen 3 (1.8GB/s to 400MB/s)
* Removing one of the 2 LAN cables (as I am running a bound ethernet interface)
* Set a USB fan directly aiming to the NVMEs without the plastic lid so it get better temps
I was able to down the temps to a more stable 45-50ºC range but the system was still rebooting. This makes me think the issue is more related with a weird power management problem with the mobo itself (not mine but as I can see with mosts) than a heat issue, but I didn't new I could stretch the CPU power in Linux using that command, and that made the system run stable with a very intensive read-write stress test for hours. Thank you very much!
Glad it helped! I recently got an e-mail from GMKtec saying they've upgraded cooling on this model. I'm not planning to buy it right now, but maybe someone will test it.
Little tangible improvement. There's a really nice cooler for sale on Etsy. Dropped my nvme temps about 20c.
I have one arriving today. I'll let you know if it's changed at all (it is Amazon stock, so obviously no idea how long it's been in the warehouse). I am getting my tame metalworker to fabricate a replacement cover for the SSD's in metal, come what may.
Have you tried changing the Power Adapter to a 20v USB-C PD? Current adapter is 19V non-PD USB-C.
Really useful. thanks!
Really useful. thanks!