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Comment by bubblethink | Hacker News Reader

As others have pointed out, the value prop of these boards is running thin. STH covers a bunch of similar products, and this is a tough sell at $165. You can find many similar jasper lake router boards with 4x 2.5 Gbe in a similar price range, but they'll come in a proper case with a power supply.

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Topton isn't shipping though. Latest order we made was 2months ago and it was promptly marked as "shipped" but not actually shipped. Customer support just says "please wait dear" and nothing else.

Those products you mention will also never reveive any BIOS or firmware updates (including critical security). Speaking from experience with units from 18/19.

Hardkernel with their community engagement is a different story.

I do see the value prop here. Just wished this board supported being driven from 12V but I guess you cant get everything eh

I have both the H2 and H2+, and it runs fine off 12V. I have tested the system down to 11V, and possibly lower.

The 12V or higher is required only for the 12V rail used power 3.5” SATA drives directly from the board.

>Those products you mention will also never reveive any BIOS or firmware updates (including critical security)

I sort of agree with this, but the bios story is pretty bad everywhere. The good thing about the generic topton type boards is that one can, in principle, run coreboot on them. The protectli ones are similar in spirit. I think there is/was some effort to crowdfund coreboot development for one of these.

Edit: Also, the word on the forums is that topton is just a reseller. CWWK is the odm/oem. You can try ordering from them on aliexpress.

Can you provide some references (to production products)? I couldn't find any STH brand.

Just look for the small router/switch looking pics with 4 or 6 ports on the front: https://www.servethehome.com/category/networking/

They review half a dozen of them or so. Most with the N4000, N5000, and N6000 under $200.

Specifically, here's their review of a couple of N5105 based ones (which are probably the most sensible choice for most applications). [1][2] TLDR: KingNovy and Topton from AliExpress are pretty good and going barebones is a better deal.

  1: https://www.servethehome.com/two-fanless-intel-celeron-n5105-4x-2-5gbe-options-reviewed/
  2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUuaAPG0PxU

I don't really understand why that means the Odroid-H3 is a "tough sell", though. It's quite a bit cheaper than both of the boards mentioned in that review, even after you add a case and power supply.

I've found several 4-port N5105 systems (which are barebones, so BYO DDR4 and NVMe at about $100 add'l for 2x8GB and 512GB) for around $145 [1] shipped on Aliexpress. I also found a Core i3-1115G4 based one for $195 shipped [2], which I've personally decided to order. The i3-1115G4 is nearly twice as fast as the N5105 [3] and this is the first I've seen something with it available for less than $300. The iGPU is excellent for the price point too [4].

So comparing the N5105 system linked vs the Odroid-H3+, you save about $40 AND get a case with enough thermal mass to passively cool it AND two more 2.5Gbe ports.

  1: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004225099067.html
  2: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004514115494.html
  3: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3877vs4412/Intel-i3-1115G4-vs-Intel-Celeron-N5105
  4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox06ZbPhhQA

But the Odroid-H3+ has a significantly more powerful N6005 processor. A better comparison would be to the lower-end Odroid-H3, which has an N5105 and is only $129.

From the country I live in, this:

  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004225099067.html

is sold at approximately 175 USD.

Since Aliexpress, based on what I read, ships from China, the Hardkernel shop is a valid comparison; in the Hardkernel website:

  https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h3/

the H3 is sold at 129 USD.

129$ + case - 2 ethernet, and 175$, are in the same ballpark.

Note that the H* don't need any extra cooling. The heatsink provided is enough (I've wasted money on a fan that ended up never spinning).

STH = Serve The Home

STH is a review website and YouTube channel that reviews a lot of prosumer and enterprise grade equipment.

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