Best Minipc Forum

Hi all. I’ve been looking around after picking up a new-in-box AK1Plus N95 + 8/256 (from a Mercari seller, not official store). The specs on amazon and through other searching all show the proper N95 specs. But looking through this forum and using the PC, I see these PCs do not actually run at full speed and there are no information about RAM speed or that the installed SSD is SATA (slow) not PCIe NVME. Even though I’m happy with my purchase so far, I’d really like to know what I can and cannot do with this unit.

So, after digging through the BIOS, removing the cover to inspect the installed parts and researching their specs, and reading many posts on this forum, I’d like to request a proper spec sheet. The Intel N95 should be able to run at 3.4 GHz, support DDR4 or DDR5 at up to 4800 MHz, has a max of PCIe 3.0 9 lanes, etc. But I do not know what this custom motherboard’s limitations are (default and supported CPU speed, memory speed support, usable PCIe lanes, etc.). Can we get that info? (Official N95 specs: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en ... pecs-1-0-3)

I like to tinker. I’m a retired quality control engineer. So I like to tear things apart, see how they work, put them back together (old skool hacker), upgrade, etc. I started searching on this forum (I really wish I knew the forum existed before I purchased this unit!). I see from some forum posts, we could increase the power in the BIOS to get the N95 to run faster as spec by Intel but there are likely thermal limitations in design. I really wish this stuff had been documented in the official store so we know what we’re buying (I understand mini PCs will be limited, but there’s no official word what all those limitations are). Please consider updating your product info in the official store to list the actual speeds and limitations?

I’m glad to see a fairly active community here, with good support from Gabe and Barry specifically, and am looking forward to contributing. I hope someone can provide system board specs/limitations.

As another example -- The installed SODIMM is DDR4 2666 but in the BIOS was set to 2400. Placing the BIOS in AUTO for the RAM speed, it properly recognized 26666 (free 10% boost). But now I wonder why the BIOS was factory set to 2400?

Just for clarification, RAM speed is reported as MAX possible. Not what is in use. Just like a speedometer on a car might read a max speed of 110mph, while another cars speedometer might show 140 mph.

In the case of RAM, 2666 would only be the speed if you were pushing the PC, no differently than an accelerator on a car. The RAM doesn't run at 2666 all the time.

The real world speed is a mashup of the frequency and the cas latency (CL) because the first one essentially says how fast your memory can process things and the second one specifies how long the ram takes a break before working on the next task. So you could have two sticks of RAM at 2666, with different timings, where one is faster than the other. In other words, just looking at the speed of the RAM may be an over-simplification of assuming performance.

Also, the N95 only supports single channel RAM, which obviously limits its possible performance regardless.

Not saying you're doing anything wrong. Just adding to the discussion for depth of understanding.

carey934 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 02, 2024 11:32 pm Also, the N95 only supports single channel RAM, which obviously limits its possible performance regardless.

While the N95 is a great CPU with impressive performance for its low cost, that it's single channel is the one thing about it don't like. Granted, it's not like an N95 based PC is meant to be a power house anyway, but with dual channel they'd be that much better. Still, the three minis I have with the N95 perform pretty well.