General information

[simone-it]

Hello,

I have a few questions about GK3 Pro, maybe someome or admin can answer.

1) Do you have any (high res) pic of the PCB top?
2) I saw on a pic that there's an USB C connector (PCB bottom). What is it for?
3) Do you have any real data about power consumption (i.e. cpu in idle, cpu 50%, cpu 100%)?
4) It seems that the fan could be noisy. I was wondering if someone tried to use a custom CNC machined heatsink.
5) I guess admin is in touch with R&D: do you have any plan for a new fanless system, maybe using N6005?

Thanks

[Gabe]

simone-it,

1. The following is a pic from my own GK3 Pro, though I don't know that it's good enough for you to be able to see what you're looking for. I may see if I can get a better snapshot later on this evening. If so, I'll be sure to post it.

100_0061.1.JPG (728.5 KiB) Viewed 9339 times

2. The USB-C looking connector is for when the board is used for a different model in an AK1 type case, and it's the connector for the detachable add on storage carriage that sits on the bottom. Though it resembles USB-C, it won't work as such, as the configuration is different.

3. Not sure about this one. I might take a look later this evening, seeing what the CPU wattage is at idle and then running a benchmark with CPU-Z to see what it kicks up to under load. I'll be sure to post about it if I do so. The 50% load is the only one I don't really know how to do.

4. The fan on mine is pretty quiet. It's not been distracting in any way when it kicks on, and I actually have to get my ear right next to it to hear if it's even on. The thermal design/setup with this unit is pretty good, so it stays fairly cool.

5. As you already assumed, the admin will have to answer this one.

[simone-it]

Thank you very much for your quick answer!

It seems that there is an unpopulated BGA between the fan and the M.2 SATA, it could be an eMMC and a 3 pin component on the top-left corner, maybe an IR sensor?

to simulate a 50% load (or anything between 1 to 100%) you can use this tool:

https://www.the-sz.com/products/cpugrabex/

can you measure output current of the power supply with a multimeter (low voltage side for safety), in case you have one and know how to do that?

Thanks again for your feedback

simone-it,

1. The following is a pic from my own GK3 Pro, though I don't know that it's good enough for you to be able to see what you're looking for. I may see if I can get a better snapshot later on this evening. If so, I'll be sure to post it.

100_0061.1.JPG

2. The USBCC looking connector is for when the board is used for a different model in an AK1 type case, and it's the connector for the detachable add on storage carriage that sits on the bottom. Though it resembles USB-C, it won't work as such, as the configuration is different.

3. Not sure about this one. I might take a look later this evening, seeing what the CPU wattage is at idle and then running a benchmark with CPU-Z to see what it kicks up to under load. I'll be sure to post about it if I do so. The 50% load is the only one I don't really know how to do.

4. The fan on mine is pretty quiet. It's not been distracting in any way when it kicks on, and I actually have to get my ear right next to it to hear if it's even on. The thermal design/setup with this unit is pretty good, so it stays fairly cool.

5. As you already assumed, the admin will have to answer this one.

[Gabe]

simone-it,

I don't know if this pic is necessarily any better, but it may show a little more, especially with the SATA adapter cable removed. I'm not really familiar with what the different things on the board are for, including the 3 pin component on the corner.

100_0083.1.jpg (925.36 KiB) Viewed 9307 times

For the following, the half load test used CPU Grab Ex, so I didn't need CPU Z for it. I had to fiddle with it a little to get it to actually do a 50% load, as setting it at 50% resulted in a load of around 40%, but it's definitely a useful program for this type of thing. And it was actually pure coincidence that I got all four cores right at 50% in the pic, as it was bouncing around from the upper 40s to low 50s, and all cores were almost never the same at the same time.

Near zero load...

Low Load.jpg (107.95 KiB) Viewed 9307 times

Half load...

Half Load.jpg (52.28 KiB) Viewed 9307 times

Full load...

Full Load.jpg (110.35 KiB) Viewed 9307 times

Unfortunately, I don't have a multimeter. Well, I have one, but the positive lead is broken, and I've never gotten around to replacing it, so it's not usable.

Edit: I should add that the reason the m.2 drive looks different in the pic in this reply is because the one from earlier was from shortly after I got the GK3 Pro, and it had the SATA drive it came with. Since then I've swapped some drives around, and the GK3 Pro got an upgrade in the form of the NVMe drive from my AMR5.

[Mayday]

Not sure if understood correctly but I have a usbc voltage tester. And that usbc on the bottom of the mobo puts out 5v. I haven't tried to connect anything to it other then that. So not sure the amperage. I'll check tomorrow if I get a chance.

[Gabe]

Not sure if understood correctly but I have a usbc voltage tester. And that usbc on the bottom of the mobo puts out 5v. I haven't tried to connect anything to it other then that. So not sure the amperage. I'll check tomorrow if I get a chance.

I believe simone-it was asking about the output current of the power supply, not the USB-C looking external drive carriage connector on the board.

Either way, I wouldn't try connecting any USB-C devices to it, as though it's looks like a USB-C connector, it's wired for that external drive bottom carriage used on some models, not USB-C devices.