Computing/NAS/Hardware

Motherboard

A gamble to get sufficient SATA ports in a small form factor, so a CWWK Q670 NAS board supplied by the King Novy store on AliExpress.

This board, as shipped, has some problems - time will tell if they can be resolved by manufacturer or community BIOS updates.

Shipped BIOS, 2024-10-23

• Cannot drive RAM at 5600 MHz with a 14500 CPU. Manufacturer claims it does, but it doesn't; shows as 4800 MHz. Not crucial for a home NAS/small lab server, since the price difference between 4800 and 5600 DDR5 is negligible.

There is a Reddit thread where /u/Yonji1 is doing good work to unlock features of the BIOS. https://old.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/1gmf67u/cwwk_q670_8bay_new_model_white/ly7u31g/

BIOS update process

• Format a USB stick to FAT32
• Unpack the ISO
• Copy the contents to the stick
• Boot the machine, press F7 when it beeps
• Select USB: UEFI
• Let it update the BIOS; a few minutes of erasing and programming

On reboot it will take on the order of a minute at a black screen to start up and show the AMI BIOS logo.