Skip to content

Hardware Purchasing Guidance

Several considerations should be made when shopping for new hardware:

  • A service contract with Advanced-Exchange and a 24-hours or less On-Site SLA is preferred
  • Drives need to be m.2, nvme, or sata SSD. No eMMC or flash.
  • Memory should be DDR4 or DDR5, not flash or DDR3
  • Dual-drives in RAID1 is preferred
  • CPU should be able to provide at least 4 physical cores, hyper-threading is optional
  • Wifi/Bluetooth are not desired for security reasons. A 4g/5g dongle is a valid substitute.
  • Device should support HDMI or Displayport. VGA is neither required nor desired.
  • Avoid Intel CPU generations older than Rocketlake, prefer Alderlake. (See the intel Code-Name chart at the bottom of this document)
  • Avoid AMD CPUs not in the Zen2, Zen3, or Zen4 family. Especially avoid bulldozer.
  • Favor products that are produced by partner who has a proven ability to supply devices in volume
  • Avoid purchasing crowd-funded, limited-supply, or enthusiast devices due to supply issues.

Candidate Device Table

Brand Model Price CPU Cores Threads CPU Year RAM HDD Size HDD Type RAID1 Service
Dell Optiplex 3000TC €516.32 Celeron N5105 4c 4t Q1 2021 8GB DDR4 256GB m.2 NVMe Mixed Possible Yes
Intel NUC10i5FNHCA €499.00 i5 10210U 4c 8t Q3 2019 8GB DDR4 120GB m.2 NVMe Not Possible Warranty
Chuwi LarkBox X €370.00 Ryzen 7 3750H 4c 8t Q1 2019 8GB DDR4 256GB m.2 NVMe NVMe Possible No
BMAX MaxMini B3 Plus €250.00 Celeron N5095 4c 4t Q1 2021 8GB DDR4 256GB m.2 SATA SATA Possible No
ASRock J5040-ITX €235.00+ Pentium J5040 4c 4t Q4 2019 8GB DDR4 250GB SATA SATA No

1. Optiplex 3000TC

A safe enterprise choice. Dell has robust support channels and supply chains, so getting replacements and support is usually easy. Dell will offer advance RMA on devices for clients that are able to perform satisfactory triage/troubleshooting on their own. They will also provide annual demo units of their next generation products so testing can be done before upgrades happen.

Specs:

  • Intel Celeron CPU N5105 4c/4t
  • 1 x 8 GB, DDR4
  • M.2 256 GB PCIe NVMe Class 35 Solid State Drive
  • No extra drive slot for raid
  • ProSupport and 4 Hour Onsite Service (7x24), 12 Month(s)
  • Price from Dell €516.32 - Store Link

2. Chuwi LarkBox X

This device represents the most powerful hardware of the list, but it comes at the expense of having no support and an unverified supply chain.

Specs:

  • AMD Ryzen 7 3750H 4c/8t
  • 8GB DDR4
  • 256GB M.2 SSD
  • Extra M.2 2280 port for NVME RAID1
  • No support, probably not great supply chain
  • Base price ~€370.00 - Store Link

Drive Upgrades:

  • Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 (~60.00 each)
  • Upgraded Price ~€490.00

3. BMAX MaxMini B3 Plus(2022)

BMAX also does not have any support, however their products are available from more vendors. The hardware is much less powerful than the Chuwi, and on-par with the Dell. The price shows the difference in having a support chain versus not.

Specs:

  • Intel Celeron N5095 4c/4t
  • 8GB DDR4 Memory
  • 256GB M.2 2242 SATA SSD
  • Extra drive slot for raid (SATA though, so slower)
  • No support
  • Price from various retailers ~€219.00-250.00 - Store Link

4. Asrock J5040-ITX

A DIY solution to use with custom cases

Specs:

  • Intel Pentium J5040 4c/4t (onboard)
  • Bare-bones Price from megekko.nl of €160.00
  • Manufacturer Link

Required Additions:

  • G.Skill Ripjaws 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-2133 SODIMM CL15 Memory (€35.00)
  • 2x Crucial MX500 250 GB SATA 6.0 Gb/s (€42.00 each)
  • Upgraded Price ~€235.00, no case or power supply. choose your own.

5. Intel NUC NUC10i5FNHCA

The Intel NUC devices are generally considered reliable and performant and a bit more pricey than others. This discounted, older-gen model represents a good value for an 8-thread device.

Specs:

  • Intel core i5 10210U 4c/8t (2019)
  • 8gb DDR4 RAM
  • 120GB Nvme SSD
  • 499.00 from bol.com - Store Link

Intel CPU Codename Reference

Codename Genertion Year Description
Raptor Lake 13th 2022 Not available yet
Alder Lake 12th 2021 First generation to combine E and P cores in Big/Little design
Rocket Lake 11th 2021 Last generation of cpus without E cores
Ice Lake 10th 2020 2nd generation microarchitecture based on the 10 nm node
Cascade Lake 9th Xeons only 2019 Successor to Intel Skylake, 14 nanometer
Amber Lake 8th and 10th 2018 Intel Core mobile low power 8th and 10th generation CPUs.
Cannon Lake 8th 2017 Die shrink of Skylake to 10 nm
Coffee Lake 8th 2017 2nd generation of 14 nm process refinement
Kaby Lake 7th 2016 Successor to the Skylake microarchitecture, using the same 14 nm process.
Skylake 6th,7th & 9th 2015 Successor to the Haswell microarchitecture.
Bay Trail N and J 2014 Intel Atom Processor E3800 Product Family and Intel Celeron Processor N2807/N2930/J1900
Broadwell 5th and 6th 2014 Die shrink of Haswell from 22 nm to 14 nm
Haswell 4th 2013 Successor to the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture, using the same 22 nm process
IvyBridge 3rd 2012 Die shrink of Sandy Bridge from 32 nm to 22 nm, with minor architectural improvements and faster graphics.
Sandybridge 2nd 2011 Successor to the Nehalem microarchitecture. Manufactured on the same 32 nm process as Westmere.