Setting up Workbench PC + Upgrades (Lenovo ThinkCentre M900 Tiny) 

Exactly!! I have the Exactly same m900 tiny with a i5 6500t running windows 11 right now that I bought as a barebones for £30 and it even activated itself due to having the windows 10 license in bios. No bypassing or ISO editing required. i just popped in a regular windows 11 usb and it installed perfectly. Its An absolute incredible machine for the price perfect as a media box and can stream games from PC in bedroom to living room so I'm using my 1080ti sitting on my sofa

I orderered Fujitsu Q956 few days ago for like 130$, RAM and SSDs are cheap so I plan to upgrade it to 32GB and 512 to 1TB nvme (samsung or wd blue). What partitioning scheme do you recommend and what are mistakes to avoid? I guess I'll use 512GB for windows, 2x40GB for Linux (OpenSuseLeap + experiments), rest for /home and /docker-data?

Awesome! Do you happen to know if it's relatively easy to install/run Linux OS on this pc?

@@aaroncatolico7550 I unfortunately do not know

​@chrishynes1503 also, not sure if he mentioned it in the video, but what is the SSD storage capacity on this Lenovo ThinkCenter?

@@aaroncatolico7550 I think it was 512gb

Update. Installed the Correction P3 1TB NVME. Works a charm. Now that it actually is upgraded to W11 Pro, I plan to add the full 32GB ram (also Crucial) in the near future. Budget constraints dictate I need at least another year for this machine to be my daily driver.

Thanks, yes that shouldn't be an issue at all.

I plan on making a video about Ventoy later on. It got delayed due to life/job.

BIOS first, them ME firmware. Drivers I never mess with, during OS install you install the ones directly from the manufacturer as I have done. Generally speaking, if they work, leave them alone. For this unit I used the driver directly from Intel for the Integrated Intel Graphics, instead of Lenovo. Rest of the drivers came from Lenovo.

@@TheN3tw0rq Awesome, thank you so much :) Keep up the great work!

I just picked one up with the i7 as well.. trying to run a USB C docking station to switch between my other laptop and this one and but since the M900 doesn’t have USB C, having trouble getting 2 monitors to work…even with using the USB A to USB C adapter 😢

​@TheN3tw0rq just wanted to let you know that you can install windows 11 on it but you have to burn the regular win11 iso from Microsofts to a USB and boot from it for it to install, you can't do it through windows 10

​@@TheN3tw0rqI got the same m900 i5 6500t and windows 11 installed perfectly fine from a USB when I got mine last month

I have M910Q and i want install i3 9100. Could you tell me how can i do it please :((

​​​@@lilsaints92I responded but I'm not sure if it went through because I included a link. Long story short, it requires modifications to the BIOS and the new CPU itself (or taping some pins, at least). Google, "modify lenovo m900 for coffee lake" and the first three results should help you out (I know you don't have an M900 but it's effectively the same). You'll also need to then worry about the extra heat generated if you run any sustained loads. That means sourcing the 65w heatsink (can only get from China via reshippers, very hard to find), cutting an opening into the case to add a fan, 3D printing a new case top with either a fan hole or at least airflow slits, or running with the case top removed.

Yep

What CPU are you using? How did you install Windows 11? Rufus, Ventoy? Both slipstream in the registry tweaks when booting the iso.

Depends if you want it internal or external as internal there's nothing that will fit since it has no full sized pcie slot so you will need to adapt from mini pcie/m.2 to full sized pcie x16 which alone won't fit inside but externally with an adapter if it's only passively powered through just the x16 slot then you need something lower powered like a gtx 1030 or gtx 1650 BUT with no 6 pin pcie power as you are limited to the 75w maximum tdp the pcie x16 slot can provide, unless you will externally power it with a second power supply then you could stick in anything like rtx 4090 but realistically the cpu will be bottlenecking it at that point just build in a tower the 2 power supply's are unnecessary Tldr your options are extremely limited as practically if you want to add a gpu it has to be external and 75w max like gtx 1030 or 1650 without external powerotherwise just use a full sized desktop

If you want something you can buy and have work for at least five years without you doing anything to it I would probably get something with slightly better specs.

@@ApothercyCold why? The last machines we purchased are just now bring problematic due to feature creep and software bloat. Why might I need "better specifications"?

nope

I had the Dell version of this micro pc and learned that they require you use a Dell-branded power supply for full processor performance. It would still boot and work with a third-party 65w power supply, but the processor was reduced to a max clock of like 1ghz or something ridiculous. It’s possible that Lenovo does something similar for its computers with external PSUs. Is the 90w a Lenovo PSU?

Nope, docking stations are for laptops and the thinkcentre doesn't have the slots for it.

What do you mean? These units come with an on-board 1Gbps Intel NIC. It's onboard ethernet on the motherboard.

OS install and Windows Updates is what took the longest.

Nope the 6700T is the best CPU the board can take. The BIOS would have to be updated to support the newer gen CPU, which it doesn't.

@@TheN3tw0rq thank you for the fast reply, I can't wait to get my hands on one of these little devices and tinker around !

@@TheN3tw0rq hello, i finally got my hands on one and the seller replaced an i5 with an i7 6700 non t, it gets quite hot when benchmarking with aircrack-ng, should i undervolt it ?

@@cr1ng372 Hello, same situation here. I bought a refurbished one from Amazon with an i7-6700 and it was running quite hot. I fixed that by disabling Turbo Boost in the BIOS. It runs much cooler and the performance is only about 5-7% lower. Even with turbo deactivated, I get better benchmarks numbers than the 6700t

@@francoislherault2694 will do it, merci beaucoup !

The M900 comes with a 6500T. Yes, you could easily swap in a normal 6500, or 6700. You can even use the next generation and go for a 7th gen CPU. If you're going to upgrade it, might as well get a gen 7. I only used a 6700 because I had it lying around.

​@ApothercyCold Hi! When you say you used a 6700, do you mean an i7 6700 as opposed to the i7 6700T, or do you mean you used ann i5 6700 opposed to a i5 6700T? If so how do you find the exta power consumption? Do you need to take any extra cooling into consideration? Thank you for your help

@@billhutchinson6318 There is no i5 6700. 6700 is always an i7 - it means "gen 6, i7" just like "9900" means "gen 9, i9" etc. It came with a 6500T and I swapped to a normal 6700, non-T. I did switch to a 90w power adapter for it, I got an aftermarket one on Amazon and it's been perfectly fine. You would probably be okay with upgrading to a 65w adapter as long as you're not going to be pushing maximum performance non-stop, but the 90w is like one dollar more so I got it. Outside of changing the power cable I attempted to find the 65w heatsink, but they're very difficult to find. The stock heatsink works perfectly fine, but you will see temps spike to 90+ if you hit the CPU hard for a period of time. The issue is more that the airflow sucks in the stock case - you can solve this by either removing the top of the case, which immediately drops the temps to around 40, or by adding a fan. You can simply cut an opening into the top and mount one, or I'm 3D printing a new cover for it with a fan shroud built in. I also spliced into the stock fan connection, so my new fan runs from the motherboard like the original one. I've had no issues. If you're just going to a 6500 - ie, the system comes with a 6500T and you want to swap to a normal, non-T 6500, you should be totally fine. It does have a 65w TDP so I would still upgrade the power supply if you can, but keep in mind that's 65w at maximum load, not all the time. It should also generate less heat than the 6700, so you may not need the additional fan. You could even just cut a few small slots into the case above the factory heatsink fan to increase airflow; the problems mainly come from the fact that the fan has a hard time pulling fresh air in. Even adding a small opening makes a huge difference. Swapping the CPU is a breeze, so just go for it. Even if it overheats, you're not going to break anything, it'll just thermal throttle and eventually power down. Swapping the CPU is as simple as sliding the case top off, removing the heatsink/fan assembly (just a few screws), popping out the old CPU and putting in the new one. It's practically like Legos at this point. Just make sure you apply thermal paste to the CPU every time - never use old paste, always wipe the CPU clean and apply fresh. You can find videos on RU-vid on applying thermal paste, it is very easy and a tube is only a few bucks. It's five minutes to swap it, and five minutes to swap it back if you don't like it. I say just go for it. Worse case is you swap the old chip back in. If you can tell me what you plan to use it for I can give you more definitive information. It's hard to give you accurate data because your mileage will very depending on your goal, like whether want to browse the web, host a Plex server, run Proxmox, or set up a gaming emulator box can drastically change what you do or don't need

Yes