I’m satisfied with the delivery speed, which took just 11 days to the UK. The packaging was top-notch, with double-boxing and plenty of bubble wrap ensuring safe arrival. I’m happy with the overall service from AliExpress, and the Topton N100 NAS motherboard has proven to be well-priced for its features.
Here’s my unboxing and first impressions of this feature-packed motherboard, which includes Intel N100, 6 SATA3.0 ports, and dual 2.5G Ethernet ports.
Unboxing – Inner box
The motherboard came well-packaged with no visible damage. It was shipped in a dual box, ensuring protection during transit.
Unboxing – Contents
The motherboard was securely wrapped in bubble wrap, and to my relief, it includes an IO shield.
First Impression
I’m happy with how quickly the motherboard shipped and the overall packaging quality. Everything arrived in perfect condition.
Memory + SSD Installation
Installing the DDR5 memory and SSD was a breeze. Everything fit perfectly without any hassle.
Next Steps: Power Up and Testing
Stay tuned for the next part, where I’ll power up the board and run tests to see how well it performs!
Installation was seamless, with both Windows 11 and Proxmox running smoothly. I’m currently using Proxmox with a single Emby LXC container, and it has worked perfectly so far.
Service & Value Ratings:
Shipping & Packaging: 5/5
Cost / Value: 5/5
Ease of Installation: 5/5
Although I experienced a brief network outage on Day 3/4, everything resumed normally after rebooting the Proxmox node. The 10Gb NIC was slightly warm at 40°C, so I added a small Noctua fan over the heatsink for extra cooling.
Overall, I’m happy with this unique Intel N100 motherboard so far. The addition of the 10Gb NIC has proven to be a key selling point for future tasks.
The motherboard running Proxmox has remained stable and fully operational, now with over 8 days of uptime. Emby with GPU passthrough has been performing flawlessly without any issues. Overall, I’m still very happy with the motherboard’s performance. My test case isn’t particularly heavy on CPU or memory load, but it’s handling everything I’ve thrown at it so far with ease. No further networks issues I have replaced the copper 10gi SFP on my 10gi switch just encase.
To assess how the TopTon N100 NAS motherboard performs under different workloads, I began with idle temperature monitoring. This provides a baseline for thermal performance, helping to evaluate the cooling efficiency of the stock setup before diving into more demanding tests. Below, you’ll find the results from my initial idle temperature test, followed by performance benchmarks under load.
Idle Temperature
Wake-on-LAN (WOL) and Network Features
Wake By OnBoard LAN: This setting allows the system to wake from a low-power state when network activity is detected on the onboard LAN, enabling remote access or management.
Wake From Thunderbolt: This option lets the system power on from a low-power state via activity on a connected Thunderbolt device, providing convenient wake-up without needing to press the power button.
10gi Network Card
root@vm2:~# ethtool enp4s0 Settings for enp4s0: Supported ports: [ TP ] Supported link modes: 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Full 10000baseT/Full 2500baseT/Full 5000baseT/Full Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only Supports auto-negotiation: Yes Supported FEC modes: Not reported Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Full 10000baseT/Full 2500baseT/Full 5000baseT/Full Advertised pause frame use: No Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes Advertised FEC modes: Not reported Link partner advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full 10000baseT/Full 2500baseT/Full 5000baseT/Full Link partner advertised pause frame use: No Link partner advertised auto-negotiation: No Link partner advertised FEC modes: Not reported Speed: 10000Mb/s Duplex: Full Auto-negotiation: on Port: Twisted Pair PHYAD: 0 Transceiver: internal MDI-X: Unknown Supports Wake-on: pg Wake-on: g Current message level: 0x00000005 (5) drv link Link detected: yes
Network Speed Test with 10G Ethernet
IOMMU Groups Breakdown
IOMMU Group 0 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N [UHD Graphics] [8086:46d1]
IOMMU Group 1 00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:461c]
IOMMU Group 2 00:0d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N Thunderbolt 4 USB Controller [8086:464e]
IOMMU Group 3 00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH USB 3.2 xHCI Host Controller [8086:54ed]
IOMMU Group 3 00:14.2 RAM memory [0500]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH Shared SRAM [8086:54ef]
IOMMU Group 4 00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH HECI Controller [8086:54e0]
IOMMU Group 5 00:17.0 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N SATA AHCI Controller [8086:54d3]
IOMMU Group 6 00:1a.0 SD Host controller [0805]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:54c4]
IOMMU Group 7 00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:54ba]
IOMMU Group 8 00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:54bb]
IOMMU Group 9 00:1c.6 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:54be]
IOMMU Group 10 00:1d.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCI Express Root Port [8086:54b0]
IOMMU Group 11 00:1d.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCI Express Root Port [8086:54b2]
IOMMU Group 12 00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH eSPI Controller [8086:5481]
IOMMU Group 12 00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH High Definition Audio Controller [8086:54c8]
IOMMU Group 12 00:1f.4 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N SMBus [8086:54a3]
IOMMU Group 12 00:1f.5 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N SPI (flash) Controller [8086:54a4]
IOMMU Group 13 01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Seagate Technology PLC FireCuda 520 SSD [1bb1:5016] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 14 02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V [8086:125c] (rev 04)
IOMMU Group 15 03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V [8086:125c] (rev 04)
IOMMU Group 16 04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Aquantia Corp. AQC113C NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet Controller [Marvell Scalable mGig] [1d6a:14c0] (rev 03)
IOMMU Group 17 05:00.0 SATA controller [0106]: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB58x AHCI SATA controller [197b:0585]
Detailed PCIe Device Information
lspci -v
root@vm2:~# lspci -v 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 461c DeviceName: Onboard - Other Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IOMMU group 1 Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 Kernel driver in use: igen6_edac Kernel modules: igen6_edac
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N [UHD Graphics] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) DeviceName: Onboard - Video Subsystem: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N [UHD Graphics] Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 168, IOMMU group 0 Memory at 60e7000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M] Memory at 4000000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] I/O ports at 8000 [size=64] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [virtual] [disabled] [size=128K] Capabilities: [40] Vendor Specific Information: Len=0c Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00 Capabilities: [ac] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit- Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [100] Process Address Space ID (PASID) Capabilities: [200] Address Translation Service (ATS) Capabilities: [300] Page Request Interface (PRI) Capabilities: [320] Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) Kernel driver in use: i915 Kernel modules: i915, xe
00:0d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N Thunderbolt 4 USB Controller (prog-if 30 [XHCI]) DeviceName: Onboard - Other Subsystem: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N Thunderbolt 4 USB Controller Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 157, IOMMU group 2 Memory at 60e8110000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K] Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=8/8 Maskable- 64bit+ Capabilities: [90] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 Capabilities: [b0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=00 Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd Kernel modules: xhci_pci
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH USB 3.2 xHCI Host Controller (prog-if 30 [XHCI]) DeviceName: Onboard - Other Subsystem: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH USB 3.2 xHCI Host Controller Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 162, IOMMU group 3 Memory at 60e8100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K] Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=8/8 Maskable- 64bit+ Capabilities: [90] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 Capabilities: [b0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=00 Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd Kernel modules: xhci_pci
00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH Shared SRAM DeviceName: Onboard - Other Subsystem: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH Shared SRAM Flags: fast devsel, IOMMU group 3 Memory at 60e8124000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=16K] Memory at 60e812b000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=4K] Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH HECI Controller DeviceName: Onboard - Other Subsystem: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N PCH HECI Controller Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 167, IOMMU group 4 Memory at 60e812a000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [8c] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+ Capabilities: [a4] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 Kernel driver in use: mei_me Kernel modules: mei_me
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N SATA AHCI Controller (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0]) DeviceName: Onboard - SATA Subsystem: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-N SATA AHCI Controller Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 127, IOMMU group 5 Memory at 83600000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K] Memory at 83603000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] I/O ports at 8090 [size=8] I/O ports at 8080 [size=4] I/O ports at 8060 [size=32] Memory at 83602000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K] Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit- Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [a8] SATA HBA v1.0 Kernel driver in use: ahci Kernel modules: ahci
00:1a.0 SD Host controller: Intel Corporation Device 54c4 (prog-if 01) DeviceName: Onboard - Other Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16, IOMMU group 6 Memory at 60e8129000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K] Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [90] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci Kernel modules: sdhci_pci
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04) Subsystem: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19, IOMMU group 14 Memory at 82300000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M] Memory at 82400000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Expansion ROM at 82200000 [disabled] [size=1M] Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+ Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=5 Masked- Capabilities: [a0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00 Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 00-e2-59-ff-ff-01-88-09 Capabilities: [1c0] Latency Tolerance Reporting Capabilities: [1f0] Precision Time Measurement Capabilities: [1e0] L1 PM Substates Kernel driver in use: igc Kernel modules: igc
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04) Subsystem: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18, IOMMU group 15 Memory at 81900000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M] Memory at 81a00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Expansion ROM at 81800000 [disabled] [size=1M] Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+ Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=5 Masked- Capabilities: [a0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00 Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 00-e2-59-ff-ff-01-88-0a Capabilities: [1c0] Latency Tolerance Reporting Capabilities: [1f0] Precision Time Measurement Capabilities: [1e0] L1 PM Substates Kernel driver in use: igc Kernel modules: igc
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Aquantia Corp. AQC113C NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet Controller [Marvell Scalable mGig] (rev 03) Subsystem: Aquantia Corp. AQC113C NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet Controller [Marvell Scalable mGig] Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16, IOMMU group 16 Memory at 80800000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K] Memory at 808a0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K] Memory at 80400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M] Expansion ROM at 80880000 [disabled] [size=128K] Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable+ 64bit+ Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00 Capabilities: [b0] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=32 Masked- Capabilities: [d0] Vital Product Data Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting Capabilities: [148] Virtual Channel Capabilities: [168] Device Serial Number 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 Capabilities: [178] Secondary PCI Express Capabilities: [198] Physical Layer 16.0 GT/s Capabilities: [1bc] Lane Margining at the Receiver Capabilities: [1d4] Latency Tolerance Reporting Capabilities: [1dc] L1 PM Substates Capabilities: [1ec] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0002 Rev=4 Len=100 Capabilities: [2ec] Data Link Feature Capabilities: [2f8] Precision Time Measurement Capabilities: [304] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0003 Rev=1 Len=054 Kernel driver in use: atlantic Kernel modules: atlantic
05:00.0 SATA controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB58x AHCI SATA controller (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0]) Subsystem: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB58x AHCI SATA controller Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 128, IOMMU group 17 I/O ports at 3200 [size=128] I/O ports at 3180 [size=128] I/O ports at 3100 [size=128] I/O ports at 3080 [size=128] I/O ports at 3000 [size=128] Memory at 80e10000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K] Expansion ROM at 80e00000 [disabled] [size=64K] Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=8/8 Maskable- 64bit+ Capabilities: [c0] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00 Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting Capabilities: [150] Device Serial Number 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 Capabilities: [160] Power Budgeting Capabilities: [1b8] Latency Tolerance Reporting Capabilities: [300] Secondary PCI Express Capabilities: [900] L1 PM Substates Kernel driver in use: ahci Kernel modules: ahci
dmidecode command
root@vm2:~# dmidecode -t baseboard
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs. SMBIOS 3.5.0 present.
Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes Base Board Information Manufacturer: Default string Product Name: Default string Version: Default string Serial Number: Default string Asset Tag: Default string Features: Board is a hosting board Board is replaceable Location In Chassis: Default string Chassis Handle: 0x0003 Type: Motherboard Contained Object Handles: 0
Handle 0x000E, DMI type 10, 6 bytes On Board Device Information Type: Unknown Status: Enabled Description: Device 1
Handle 0x0038, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Other Type: Other Status: Enabled Type Instance: 1 Bus Address: 0000:00:00.0
Handle 0x0039, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Video Type: Video Status: Enabled Type Instance: 1 Bus Address: 0000:00:02.0
Handle 0x003A, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Other Type: Other Status: Enabled Type Instance: 2 Bus Address: 0000:00:0d.0
Handle 0x003B, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Other Type: Other Status: Enabled Type Instance: 3 Bus Address: 0000:00:14.0
Handle 0x003C, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Other Type: Other Status: Enabled Type Instance: 4 Bus Address: 0000:00:14.2
Handle 0x003D, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Other Type: Other Status: Enabled Type Instance: 5 Bus Address: 0000:00:16.0
Handle 0x003E, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - SATA Type: SATA Controller Status: Enabled Type Instance: 1 Bus Address: 0000:00:17.0
Handle 0x003F, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Other Type: Other Status: Enabled Type Instance: 6 Bus Address: 0000:00:1a.0
Handle 0x0040, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Other Type: Other Status: Enabled Type Instance: 7 Bus Address: 0000:00:1f.0
Handle 0x0041, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Sound Type: Sound Status: Enabled Type Instance: 1 Bus Address: 0000:00:1f.3
Handle 0x0042, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Other Type: Other Status: Enabled Type Instance: 8 Bus Address: 0000:00:1f.4
Handle 0x0043, DMI type 41, 11 bytes Onboard Device Reference Designation: Onboard - Other Type: Other Status: Enabled Type Instance: 9 Bus Address: 0000:00:1f.5
After unboxing the Topton N100 NAS motherboard, it’s time to explore what’s available in its BIOS. I’ll walk you through all the main settings and provide an overview of the various tabs, from Main to Save & Exit. Whether you’re curious about what options are available or planning to use this board for a NAS, firewall, or custom build, this guide will give you a better understanding of the BIOS and its features.
Main Tab
The Main tab offers an overview of the system, showing the basic specs like CPU, RAM, and storage devices connected to the motherboard.
Topton N100 NAS motherboard BIOS Main Tab
Advanced Tab
The Advanced tab provides control over power management, CPU configurations, and system options that are crucial for optimizing your motherboard.
Topton N100 NAS motherboard BIOS Advanced Tab
Chipset Tab
In the Chipset tab, you can adjust settings for the Intel N100 chipset, including memory configuration and integrated peripherals.
Topton N100 NAS motherboard BIOS Chipset Tab
Security Tab
Here, you’ll configure BIOS passwords and security features, which are important for ensuring the integrity of your system.
Topton N100 NAS motherboard BIOS Security Tab
Boot Tab
Control your boot order, enabling or disabling boot devices, and set up your boot priority for efficient startup.
Topton N100 NAS motherboard BIOS Boot Tab
Save & Exit Tab
Once you’ve adjusted all your settings, this is where you save your changes and exit the BIOS. I’ll guide you through how to ensure your configurations are properly saved.
