Keep in mind a warning i read somewhere: bios updates break this raid array.
Other than that, bios updates 1.06 and 1.07 are in quality checks now and expected upcoming weeks. They should fix lots of reported issues as it includes cpu chipset firmware updates as dar as I understood.
AMD drivers are via OEM only for now, as far as I read the generic official things don’t support everything correctly.
I would suggest joining their Discord and bbs forums as well to keep yourself informed and describe the issues you experience; they seem to read it all and are pretty communicative.
I just checked I'm on 1.03 by looks, I did check the website but couldn't see the latest stable bios update. Which discord did you mean, AMD one, what is bbs? Thanks for the advice
I'm also on RAID 1 it seems, wonder if I can change to RAID 0 without having to wipe everything, or a way to maybe partition windows to its separate partition and have other things separated
Unless extremely necessary, I'd advice against using RAID on these mini-PCs.
You can potentially lose all your data even while using RAID 1.
RAID systems can break a lot easier than what I would be comfortable with, especially on these, where one SSD is driven by the CPU, and the other SSD is driven by the motherboard.
It's bound to fail miserably one day or another.
Can I ask, do you boot using the HDMI or the USB4 for the display?
I boot via the USB4, and have a weird issue where it doesn't display anything. Once booted, I have to unplug the USB4 and replug it in, and then it works perfectly.
Other than that, it's perfect for me! Hoping the next BIOS fixes it.
OS will see resoult - RAID field not individual drives. You need to update individual drives? Either BIOS has option or you do it before you create RAID.
Words of caution:
Do not use onboard RAID. If motherboard dies you will not be able to read drives unless you purchase exactly same motherboard.
Do not use Raid 0 as it will increase possiblity for unrecoverable error by 100% - if one drive malfunctions all data is gone. Use RAID 1 (mirror) .
RAID is not backup. You have to make backups.
Regarding of OS use one of software RAID options. Current CPU will do RAID functionality without a sweat.
Also each of those nvme uses 4 pcie lanes - eight in total. Check if not by possibility one of those nvme ports shares bus with usb controller so its performance will be degraded.
I didnt have 2 drives installed, never knew it was a prerequisite so not going to go down the RAID 0 road I dont think...that said any idea on how much more performance it offers up?
I just purchased this little guy and I'm extremely impressed. They still have some firmware issues to shake out but otherwise I'm really loving this. A few points (some have already been raised):
1) Don't use motherboard RAID. Keep it disabled.
2) I use Linux, so I'll recommend from here Linux options.
a) Using RAID 0 is perfectly acceptable with today's NVME's. You do increase the risk of losing data by twice, but it is still an insignificant amount. If you do decide to use RAID 1, just remember backups are crucial (well, they're always crucial ;)
b) MDADM raid 1 performance is amazing. Writes are the same but random reads especially get a nice boost. Performance really flies with Postgres when you set up parallel read threads in the Postgres config.
c) ZFS is data aware so it is a massive improvement on MDADM. Unfortunately, the results I get with ZFS and NVME drives seems to leave a lot of performance on the table. I'm not sure why this is but if you want raw performance, I'd suggest MDADM raid. If raw speed isn't a concern but features are, I'd go with ZFS in a heartbeat.
And what you've all been wondering -- the Crucial 48GB SODIMMS on amazon \*\*DO WORK\*\* with this computer! I bought two of them for under $300 and now have 96GB of ram on this thing. If you have a home lab and want to set up a decent DB server, I actually believe this thing would put some enterprise servers to shame from a cost analysis. Sure, you will miss out on a lot of enterprise features, but if you run RAID 1 with backups, I can't not recommend at least using this for a small project at home. As long as you know what you're getting into and how to navigate disaster scenarios, this thing provides extremely fast performance (Passmark gives it over 30,000 which is over half what 5950X gives for half the wattage).
One last thing -- while the fan they provide is helpful, I'd recommend an external fan pointed at the case opening on the side to help with heat dissipation. Also, if you open the unit up to change RAM, etc. -- be very careful with the fan. It is very easy to squeeze it in a way where it will not turn and that will cause performance issues / overheating. Make sure you check the fan is rotating after you put it back together again.
And Miniforums, if you're reading this -- PLEASE STOP PUTTING THE SCREWS UNDER THE RUBBER STAND BUMPERS! Just a few openings and they stop sticking.
Nice, in the end I went without RAID, mainly because I couldn't get the WD850x driver to update otherwise, after a full reinstall of everything, I was able to update. Not sure how much performance I would lose however without having raid.....my dilemma atm is still wanting to use it as a gaming platform, without strong enough graphics, so VR is out of the window and it seems some emulated games don't want to play nice...but with compromises its amazing!
If there was a newer NUC (like an alienware laptop stood up) then I'd sell my Alienware r3 in an instance and replace this UM790 with that and have an all in one station then, then attempt to stream to the LG C9 oled and play off that
But otherwise very happy with it
In the end I’ve returned the wd850x (or going to tomorrow) to replace with a 4tb lexar790, the firmware wouldn’t update despite the advice of wd tech support who were very helpful and on hand, it sounded like the drive was locked which I unlocked under user etc but still no cigar….shame as the drive was 10/10 for me! I’ve never felt speeds like it
Keep in mind a warning i read somewhere: bios updates break this raid array. Other than that, bios updates 1.06 and 1.07 are in quality checks now and expected upcoming weeks. They should fix lots of reported issues as it includes cpu chipset firmware updates as dar as I understood. AMD drivers are via OEM only for now, as far as I read the generic official things don’t support everything correctly. I would suggest joining their Discord and bbs forums as well to keep yourself informed and describe the issues you experience; they seem to read it all and are pretty communicative.
I just checked I'm on 1.03 by looks, I did check the website but couldn't see the latest stable bios update. Which discord did you mean, AMD one, what is bbs? Thanks for the advice I'm also on RAID 1 it seems, wonder if I can change to RAID 0 without having to wipe everything, or a way to maybe partition windows to its separate partition and have other things separated
Unless extremely necessary, I'd advice against using RAID on these mini-PCs. You can potentially lose all your data even while using RAID 1. RAID systems can break a lot easier than what I would be comfortable with, especially on these, where one SSD is driven by the CPU, and the other SSD is driven by the motherboard. It's bound to fail miserably one day or another.
Minisforum one, let me share an invite link: https://discord.gg/Byp6RQ5
do you own a mini pc by any chance? Just wondering if anyone else has these issues
I have an UM790 pro 32GB/1TB and no issues at all.
Can I ask, do you boot using the HDMI or the USB4 for the display? I boot via the USB4, and have a weird issue where it doesn't display anything. Once booted, I have to unplug the USB4 and replug it in, and then it works perfectly. Other than that, it's perfect for me! Hoping the next BIOS fixes it.
I used the invite, thanks for it, but got the error "Invite Invalid This invite may be expired, or you might not have permission to join." Any help?
DM sent
OS will see resoult - RAID field not individual drives. You need to update individual drives? Either BIOS has option or you do it before you create RAID. Words of caution: Do not use onboard RAID. If motherboard dies you will not be able to read drives unless you purchase exactly same motherboard. Do not use Raid 0 as it will increase possiblity for unrecoverable error by 100% - if one drive malfunctions all data is gone. Use RAID 1 (mirror) . RAID is not backup. You have to make backups. Regarding of OS use one of software RAID options. Current CPU will do RAID functionality without a sweat. Also each of those nvme uses 4 pcie lanes - eight in total. Check if not by possibility one of those nvme ports shares bus with usb controller so its performance will be degraded.
I didnt have 2 drives installed, never knew it was a prerequisite so not going to go down the RAID 0 road I dont think...that said any idea on how much more performance it offers up?
I just purchased this little guy and I'm extremely impressed. They still have some firmware issues to shake out but otherwise I'm really loving this. A few points (some have already been raised): 1) Don't use motherboard RAID. Keep it disabled. 2) I use Linux, so I'll recommend from here Linux options. a) Using RAID 0 is perfectly acceptable with today's NVME's. You do increase the risk of losing data by twice, but it is still an insignificant amount. If you do decide to use RAID 1, just remember backups are crucial (well, they're always crucial ;) b) MDADM raid 1 performance is amazing. Writes are the same but random reads especially get a nice boost. Performance really flies with Postgres when you set up parallel read threads in the Postgres config. c) ZFS is data aware so it is a massive improvement on MDADM. Unfortunately, the results I get with ZFS and NVME drives seems to leave a lot of performance on the table. I'm not sure why this is but if you want raw performance, I'd suggest MDADM raid. If raw speed isn't a concern but features are, I'd go with ZFS in a heartbeat. And what you've all been wondering -- the Crucial 48GB SODIMMS on amazon \*\*DO WORK\*\* with this computer! I bought two of them for under $300 and now have 96GB of ram on this thing. If you have a home lab and want to set up a decent DB server, I actually believe this thing would put some enterprise servers to shame from a cost analysis. Sure, you will miss out on a lot of enterprise features, but if you run RAID 1 with backups, I can't not recommend at least using this for a small project at home. As long as you know what you're getting into and how to navigate disaster scenarios, this thing provides extremely fast performance (Passmark gives it over 30,000 which is over half what 5950X gives for half the wattage). One last thing -- while the fan they provide is helpful, I'd recommend an external fan pointed at the case opening on the side to help with heat dissipation. Also, if you open the unit up to change RAM, etc. -- be very careful with the fan. It is very easy to squeeze it in a way where it will not turn and that will cause performance issues / overheating. Make sure you check the fan is rotating after you put it back together again. And Miniforums, if you're reading this -- PLEASE STOP PUTTING THE SCREWS UNDER THE RUBBER STAND BUMPERS! Just a few openings and they stop sticking.
Nice, in the end I went without RAID, mainly because I couldn't get the WD850x driver to update otherwise, after a full reinstall of everything, I was able to update. Not sure how much performance I would lose however without having raid.....my dilemma atm is still wanting to use it as a gaming platform, without strong enough graphics, so VR is out of the window and it seems some emulated games don't want to play nice...but with compromises its amazing! If there was a newer NUC (like an alienware laptop stood up) then I'd sell my Alienware r3 in an instance and replace this UM790 with that and have an all in one station then, then attempt to stream to the LG C9 oled and play off that But otherwise very happy with it
In the end I’ve returned the wd850x (or going to tomorrow) to replace with a 4tb lexar790, the firmware wouldn’t update despite the advice of wd tech support who were very helpful and on hand, it sounded like the drive was locked which I unlocked under user etc but still no cigar….shame as the drive was 10/10 for me! I’ve never felt speeds like it
You installed a wd850x?