guys be careful with weird placed HDMI ports! sometimes they are used for a completly different purpose and even may carry some voltage which would destroy the monitor!
I started my homelab with a 4th gen version of this computer that I picked up for $75, ready to plug in. A simple Debian system running Plex, with a bunch of external USB hard drives attached. That sparked multiple rounds of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)...
Unfortunately, this particular pizza oven of a case can't adequately deal with an i5-8500 (75W TDP, and what I have) without hacking in more cooling, so I shudder a bit to think how often it throttles and spools up the jet engine with anything faster.
@@mal2ksc The i5-8500 is the actually same chip as i7-8700 but with SMT (hyper-threading) disabled. It has the same wattage as the i7-8700 which is 65watts. Therefore the system shown in video should handle i5-8500 with out any problem.
Thanks for appreciating the power draw figures; electrons aren't as expensive as they were in Europe a few years ago but still maybe double what we're used to...I've seen Americans be proud of "low power" systems that draw almost 200 watts...that's about £60/$70 a month, too much for a tinkerbox that you have to leave on all the time because you gave a few friends Plex access years ago. Thankfully my system draws about 25w at idle running a 4th gen i5...I want to upgrade it but, honestly, it does everything it needs to absolutely fine.
@@MexxiUK I used to be a computer repair guy in my early working life and stuff like that always sticks out to you. Same with if something weird is going on with the wiring, cpu clamps etc. That being said I still have my original pc from one of my old jobs with a i7 2600 in it and it requires me to pull out the mobo power cable to just boot it. Feels like I’m jumpstarting a car or something
Another option you can try when the PC doesn't turn on is discharging the capacitors. Without the PC being plugged into the wall, press and hold the power button for 20-40 seconds. This can also be performed on laptops.
The labeling is clear there! CLR_CMOS is the left one, then the chip between the pin headers is U90 and the right header is ME_DIS which is the Management Engine Disable!
I recently discovered through the M75q gen 2, another Lenovo SFF, that these motherboards are actually mATX and can be made to work with standard ATX power supplies through the use of a 24 pin to Lenovo adapter. The only thing different from mATX is the front I/O portion (USB ports, power switch), which sticks out a little outside of the mATX 244 x 244 mm standard. The mounting holes are in the same spot as standard mATX. You can observe this at 23:45 As the M75q gen 2 supports ECC memory after a BIOS update (when paired with a Ryzen CPU or Ryzen Pro APU, which these often come with), I think it could be a very interesting option as a homeserver when bought used.
Also the power button is right next to those ports but it is NOT attached to the motherboard but instead is mounted to the case -- so it's easily replaceable when you do a transplant.
Got a similar one: Lenovo ThinkCentre 720s SFF ~ i5 9400 for around $100 (UK). Added in 3 4TB SSDs and a 12TB HDD. Amazing server - I currently have a bunch of services + NAS running on it. Great video. PS: yes, the m.2 plastic contraption + power cables were a pain, but all worth it in the end.
I love seeing computers repurposed and saved (in this case by a weird repair) from the trash. That case probably has lots of like left in it! As for proprietary things in a small form factor like that the worst by far imo is the power supply. I can live with other bits but the power supply has to be replaced with one exactly like it which really stinks.
It's a normal ATX12V power supply. You may have a hard time finding one that fits nicely (might be easiest to go even smaller), but finding one that _works_ is not a problem at all. In this case they went with an off-the-shelf standard, just one that still hasn't caught on in general. The connector might be non-standard, but that's not a huge issue if you can cannibalize the connector from the dead PS (or from a 24-to-10 pin adapter).
Nice to see an i7 8700 on the channel! My homelab is based on a Dell optiplex with an i7 8700, 32gb ram. Runs a bunch of LXC containers and VMs and only draws around 20w.
I just bought the i5-8500 version for $120, with 16 GB of DDR4 and a 250 GB SSD. Not a bad starter kit, if you can get around the horrible thermals of the case. All I really had to do was pop in an NVMe drive and clone the OS over to it -- aside from the necessary cooling hacks to keep the CPU fan from ever coming on because it is so incredibly loud.
If I had to guess what that onboard HDMI port is for, I'd wager it's probably for an FRU from Lenovo consisting of a GPU with no external outputs which plugs into the internal port and reroutes it to the motherboards port instead. A very convoluted solution to prevent end users connecting their display to the iGPU instead of the dedicated one.
another good thorough one - think about getting sata splitters, good notes on proprietary nature, i have found these lenovos are quite a bit more pricey than older hp gear - hp still has some proprietary issues itself but generally not terrible - these 6/7/8th gen boxes are basically refurb sweetspot right now in my view - after these people probably just want to jump to am4
The 8th gen box is also a cheap way to meet the minimum spec for Windows 11. That's why I bought one. As a side benefit, the 8th gen runs a little bit less toasty than the 7th gen, but I still had to hack an intake fan onto the side to keep the CPU cooler from spooling up. The Lenovo BIOS fan curves have zero chill, they're full 747-taking-off or nothing.
I just bought (and am currently using) an 8th gen version of this with 16 GB of RAM for $120! I should have known it was too good to be true, and that there's a reason these are being pulled after just five years of corporate service: their propensity to spool up like a jet engine when they get too hot -- and there's no proper fix for it. The case is very clever and actually a pleasure to work on, but the thermals are the worst I've ever seen. I cut a hole in the side to accommodate a 120 mm fan and tapped into the +5V line for the DVD burner to power it. (I originally used an internal USB header, but those keep delivering standby power and I wanted the fan to turn off when I put the PC to sleep.) The tach line is going to fan header AUX2 so it can be monitored. It's ugly, but it works without adding a whole lot of noise, and it should even be good enough for a video card to be added although I'll probably have to run the 120 mm fan a bit faster at that time. Lenovo really needs to redesign their pizza oven. Do we really need an optical drive anymore? Do we really need space for a 3.5" hard drive? Omit those and it should be possible to get some fans in there.
The internal HDMI is for the second or third monitor output from the IGD. I have an older m92 with an internal Display Port for the third monitor, along with a Display Port and VGA on the IO panel on the rear
I'm shocked that a PC that new has jumpers that can keep it from booting. I'm old... and I can remember dealing with Motherboard jumpers in the 486 era. OMG I hated it. Bad vision plus huge hands = jumper hell. I really wish the industry would come up with some SFF and USFF case and part standards.
I've lived through jumper hell too, jumpers for clock speed, multiplier, voltage, com port parameters, you name it, literal seas of jumpers on some things, no auto detect on hard drives either!! Keeping the manual safe and every brain cell possible fully engaged was very important. It's almost too easy now.
@@Tekwyzard I replaced the Cyrix CPU with a used Pentium on a pre-built ABS Systems computer (they still around now selling Newegg prebuilds) in the late 90s that was a great deal other than that Cyrix CPU (and with the Cyrix CPU I could not install a GPU because "cpu not recognized" by driver install program!!! omg that era sucked!!!)... but then the mobo manual did not have a jumper setting for that exact CPU.. probably because the Pentium CPU I got came out /after/ the motherboard was released. I guessed and it worked. Lol.
I was wondering why my server was taking longer to boot...then realize the MCOS battery was sitting on my desk next to it. I installed a GPU and forgot to put the battery back in. 😂
Great overview of this machine. I have a couple of the i5 versions of these systems that were saved from going to recycling. I still have to test the systems myself and see what I can do with them. I do like the systems I have also have the RS-232 DE-9 connector on them. Makes for using on older systems or terminal based projects.
That is a really cute machine! I’m running an old Inspiron 530s as my file/Plex server and this machine far has better expandability in a similar form factor. Sure, the 530s can take two 3.5” drives, but at this point SSDs are dominant. Please keep it up with these great random topics :)
I have an 8700 system that was at one point running 3 Minecraft servers concurrently with two of them modded along with a whole servarr stack. It's a very capable CPU
You've been clearing CMOS with the battery in this entire time? The correct procedure for any mobo is to take the battery out. The purpose of the battery is to keep the CMOS memory energized... The purpose of the jumper is to discharge that energy.... If you leave the battery in, you're just draining the CMOS battery when you attempt to clear the CMOS with the jumper.
10:09 it says the same in the manual and on the board, it's from left to right "clr_cmos header" , "ic named U90" and "me_dis header" . It's done like that kinda often because of the space issue, HP even has this text part sometimes like 3-5cm from the components.
Thanks for the belated "goober" disclaimer. I was honestly irritated by that point as to why you would make a video when you clearly didn't know what you were doing. I hope it worked out.
8:55 not enough thermal compound. People have tested this and found the best application is either a 5-point application, an X, or spreading it evenly. But that little bit you put isn't quite enough for optimal heat transfer. That being said, it'll probably only make about a 2 degree C difference.
Hey @hardwarehaven what is a decently cheap prebuilt/old workstation that can be used as a decent minecraft server using crafty that can handle a couple mods? The reason I’m asking is because I’m a 13 year old with not much money
Because no network can go as fast as RAM lol. No home network can even approach NVME SSD speeds. And the speed test is likely done in the RAM anyway without the OS having to be installed on the RAM.
There are also 2050, 2060, and 3060 half height cards still out there if he doesn't have the cash for a 4060. I'm looking toward the 3060 myself, the 4060 is just too much more money.
@@mal2ksc i can only find a 3050 LP and a 4060 LP in the RTX range, from where the 3050 LP doesnt require a supplemental 6 or 8 pin power connection and the 4060 requires one 8 pin. otherwise there is a GTX 1050TI LP or a GTX 1650 LP which funny enough both dont require a supplemental 6 or 8 pin power connection. those are the nvidia low profile options that are not the biggest crap the world has ever seen. we all know the 3050 is dog crap so probably for the biggest bang for the buck and external power free is the 1650 LP your best bet for something like this. for the best performance and power in editing and the newest edition nvenc support the 4060 is your best bet. the gtx 1050TI LP is for the budget people among us. its still a great GPU but for a low price. pair that with a 3rd gen i7 or 4th gen i5 and you got yourself a budget pc that is not gonna give up on you in about 2 weeks when trying a bit more than home assistant.
In this case, it's really easy to get to the coin cell. Unless you intend to mount the PC in a place you don't want to move it ever again, it's a couple minute fix when it dies, so I just let it be. The ones in my drawer can drain on their own for a couple years and be in slightly better shape when they are needed.
Kudos for making a video about something (troubleshooting electronic equipment / PC's) that you clearly know absolutely nothing about. Seriously - it takes a lot of courage to do that. EDIT Just got to the part of the video where you admit you don't know what you are doing. Mad respect for that!