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Tear-down and review of a Beelink AP34 Mini-PC


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Neat!  I'm contemplating a new Roon Server box... either going to get a used Mac Mini or build a fanless PC based on something like this, so this is very timely.  I'd be curious how well Win10 + Roon Server runs on an N3450-based system... especially with just 4gb of RAM. If you feel so inclined, please kick the tires and see how it fares. =^)

The box I'm contemplating (if I go the DIY route) is a ZOTAC ZBOX CI327 NANO. Passively cooled, has a 2.5" bay, card reader, dual-NICs (for bridging a wired connection to something like a *Rendu)... most of the cheese. Wouldn't mind to see it have an M.2 key and (stretch goal) Optane support, but hey... can't win 'em all.  There's a step-up model which has an I3, and then there's also the NUCs, which are not passively cooled (big tradeoff) but do have the M.2.

Choices, choices...

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I used 1.2mm copper shim  and Arctic Silver Thermal paste for the CPU on each side of the shim. So this should 

 

51T0BdRAD3L._SL1000_.jpg

 

I used Thermal Conductive Silicone:

41iM1cGHCUL.jpg

 

Assembled back together and running Prime95 to stress test the system for 24 hours. 

 

I don't know if the copper/thermal paste/aluminum will present a long term issue since they aren't electrically connected and the thermal paste is a barrier regardless. 

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Will you be using the onboard audio chip or adding an external sound card?  I'm new to this so not sure how all that works or if it matters much.

 

I'm thinking of doing the MSI Cubi N-049US.  It seems to check all of my boxes:  $330 w/Win10 Pro, fanless, 32GB SSD, 500GB HDD, enough CPU and Ram.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073SX9J2C/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

But there's no M.2 or Optane option...following Imitche's Optane thread with interest.

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For simply doing audio the BeeLink is a better value. I've hand on with the MSI Cubi and both are good boxes. 

 

The Cubi does 2.5" with included bottom that you swap out with with what it ships with.  SATA III, the BeeLink M.2 and has double the eMMC storage of the CUBI and includes 4GB RAM. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I went with the MSI.  It does run fairly warm but ntb.  A little bit faster processor than the BeeLink.  For $330 it comes Win10 Pro (alone $190 on Amazon), inline LPS, 4GB Ram.  I run it headless, wireless, remote desktop, Jriver from a laptop or Gizmo app.

 

I've started a playlist running and disabled the wireless/bluetooth driver with no noticeable SQ difference so I guess RF interference isn't an issue.  The only thing plugged into it is the included LPS and USB out.  Pretty simple.

 

How did you make out with your BeeLink?

 

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