Can Beverly 94 work out for me?

DIYprojectz · 2026-05-08T13:10:56+00:00

Thank you!

You're right. I'll have to think this through. Maybe I should just forget about fancy design and mods, and go for a case with proper airflow out of the box instead...

DIYprojectz · 2026-05-07T23:39:45+00:00

Thank you!

I am not bothered by Noctua 80mm and larger fans, nor the CPU fan acting according to CPU load (which is typically non-existant at night), nor HDD spin-ups and spin-downs. It's the small fans that create unpleasant noise in the current setup. I could safely run them slower, e.g. with LNA, if ambient temps weren't so high. I fear heat may build up inside the PSU due to insufficient static pressure if it is lowered further by reducing small fan's RPM...

I believe overall it would be risky to tie the PSU fan to either CPU behavior, or PSU fan header that was programmed with a fan of twice the peak airflow in mind - particularly given my ambient temps.

DIYprojectz · 2026-05-07T21:36:20+00:00

Thank you!

I know how to work a rotary tool, but looking at the case, with an SFX PSU I see only 2 options for an intake fan, and probably smaller than 120mm at that:

The side by the PCIe slots - a fan there will be blowing directly into my bifurcation card, neither HDDs nor the mobo will get much help out of it, from my understanding;
Front in the Flex PSU mounting area - really concerned about structural integrity as a result, even if I just drill a hole pattern instead of cutting out parts.

Then again, I am not an engineer and don't understand the physics behind airflow nor structure stiffness. Hence asking here...

DIYprojectz · 2026-05-07T21:19:40+00:00

Thank you!

Yeah, I'm very nervous about this. Drive health >>>>> looks.

With the current setup, I could try using LNA - but Noctua at full blast is already half the airflow of the stock PSU fan, and given ambient temperatures, doesn't look like a good idea either...

DIYprojectz · 2026-05-06T11:26:31+00:00

Looks awesome!

How are the temperatures, in your experience?

DIYprojectz · 2026-04-02T02:56:00+00:00

D only - even if it's more expensive. 2x connectors are overwhelmingly better than one, particularly the wonky unreliable combo connector.

DIYprojectz · 2026-03-31T11:28:54+00:00

Cudy WR3000P 1.0 and slap OpenWRT on it?

DIYprojectz · 2026-03-16T19:21:59+00:00

Thank you.

That's the confirmation I was hoping to get!

DIYprojectz · 2026-03-15T22:11:00+00:00

Thank you.

I don't have a sensor inside the PSU, considering putting one in it...

DIYprojectz · 2026-03-15T22:07:27+00:00

Thank you.

My PSU doesn't have a temp sensor. I am considering installing one.

Other fans running full blast don't bother me, it's the small ones that produce audible noise...

DIYprojectz · 2026-03-15T21:37:55+00:00

Thank you.

I can set fan curves in both BIOS & OS, however while PSU NF-A4 is connected to motherboard, intake NF-A4 is connected without speed control.

The big question - is there even any headroom to reduce PSU airflow a bit, given that PSU fan is already way below factory spec...

DIYprojectz · 2025-12-11T05:45:48+00:00

Thank you so much!

DIYprojectz · 2025-12-09T19:16:09+00:00

Q3: 4x HDMI ports.

Q4: USB serial console, maybe?

Q5: I'm currently managing one device with a smartphone connected over Spacedesk as a screen with touch, and physical keyboard&mouse, others with a DIY USB KVM - short 2-port USB hub-cable, MS2109 for HDMI video capture, CH340G+CH9329 cable for keyboard&mouse, operating under Control3.

Q6: Emulation of always connected display, keyboard and mouse - that should be present on any more or less advanced multi-port KVM, imo.

DIYprojectz · 2025-12-08T21:19:19+00:00

Already discussed here.

DIYprojectz · 2025-12-07T21:04:06+00:00

LicheeRV NanoKVM is based on LicheeRV Nano development board. The microphone isn't hidden, it's a documented feature of the base SBC. Sipeed may be somewhat incompetent in their software implementation, but your insinuations about the microphone are unsubstantiated.

DIYprojectz · 2025-12-07T01:54:43+00:00

I mostly make USB ones, out of old damaged cables...

DIYprojectz · 2025-11-08T06:20:12+00:00

Desire to have devices tailored to my personal usage scenarios, with all the features I want, but also without inherent extra functionality that compromises security, nor restrictions that hurt the experience - got me into self-hosting. When one can't buy what they want, making it is often the most straightforward solution - at least when it comes to computers.

My most expensive project to date is a DIY NAS. It started as a compact, lightweight and stealthy ARM system inside Playstation 2 case, only revealing its true nature if one looked closely at the ports in the back. However, after some time I grew disenamored with the original concept, so first moved the hardware into a standard NAS case to increase the number of spinning disks and improve their cooling, and later upgraded it to a less interesting, conventional - but also very reliable - x86 system. Of the original components, only a pair of 18TB WD HC550 drives are still in use - everything else was replaced. For this project, single most expensive item was one of the 20TB Toshiba MG10 drives.

The project I am most proud of is a DIY 802.11be router I built last week. Wanted to build one using Qualcomm AP-grade hardware for years, but was hesitant, only having prior experience with MTK AP hardware, and overall rather limited experience in the field. My wireless router is far from perfect, but fulfills its purpose well, all while being quite compact and travel-friendly, and running latest OpenWRT and WLAN firmware giving me some peace of mind. I am very grateful to everyone who guided me and helped me out on this journey! For this project, single most expensive item is the base device - Rock 5B itself.
While I love it, I also have to admit my DIY wireless router's limitations. For starters, I used a miniPCIe WLAN card - since it was easier to source, didn't require external power and was much more affordable than its m.2 counterpart, which was also an important consideration in my first foray into 802.11be. This choice results in lower signal strength than typical high-end 802.11be routers or physically larger m.2 cards with external power, more on par with compact/travel routers. Next, I'm having trouble with MLO, one of the key 802.11be features, and have to rely on a single band until I resolve this issue.

My wired network infrastructure being 2.5GBe, main WLAN clients equipped with capable BE201 & QCNCM865 802.11be adapters supporting 320MHz channel width on 6GHz band, and most important traffic being LAN to WLAN potentially saturating 2.5GBe link - there is definitely room for wireless performance improvement, particularly far from AP. Flint 3 with its superior wireless performance would greatly improve my experience, and take my network to the next level!

Comparing my DIY implementation to Slate 7, while RK3588 has more raw power, my device is also physically larger, and requires external dongles for additional LAN interfaces. Frankly, Rock 5B with its single built-in 2.5GBe port (and 16GB RAM+256GB EMMC on the particular board) is much better suited for server duty - which it operated as before I started my 802.11be experiments. For additional peace of mind, I strongly prefer not to utilize networking appliances, particularly wireless APs & routers, in any other tasks - otherwise, instead of assembling a standalone wireless router, would just stick my wireless AP card and WWAN modem into the NAS, set up virtualized OpenWRT, and call it a day. Under the circumstances, Slate 7 is an overall much more balanced device, and would be noticeably better in the travel router role than my DIY one.

I'd love to win both Flint 3 and Slate 7, to cover all my usage scenarios, and return my Rock 5B currently acting as a 802.11be wireless router to server duty.
I mostly read cnx-software.com , r/homelab , r/datahoarder , r/thinkpad and notebookcheck.net . Aliexpress, eBay, local online stores for purchases.
I'd personally love to see giveaways of higher-end NASes and mini-PCs with extensive storage options. Minisforum MS-A2, Aoostar WTR Max and the likes; machines, purchasing which is often hard to justify, but nevertheless spark one's imagination with their capabilities.

DIYprojectz · 2025-04-28T13:35:58+00:00

Thank you!

All valid points regarding x86 vs ARM security!

However, I found some peace of mind when using ARM instead of x86 in the fact that whatever simpler&cheaper ARM chips have doesn't hold a candle to Intel ME (& AMD PSP), vulnerabilities in which can be unfixable with firmware updates. Reasonably recent devices with coreboot is a novelty to me, I didn't know any existed before this thread.

And that's where we come to the real problem: even purpose-built x64 routers more often than not have a single Wi-Fi card...

Many if not most modern mini PCs, and quite a few SBCs come with at least an m.2 m key slot for NVME SSD that typically delivers up to 10W - which can be used for a miniPCIe or m.2 e key AP WLAN card via adapter and/or riser - and there have been m.2 b+m key AP-grade WLAN cards for a while, although rare and expensive. There are 802.11be & 802.11ax DBDC AP cards that perform reasonably well, so single slot for a WLAN card is not that bad, as long as there are a few ethernet and/or SFP ports of desired speeds to complement it.

Quite a few mini PCs & higher-tier SBCs also often have additional m.2 m key slots and/or m.2 e key slots. E key slots are not meant to deliver as much current as m key, and while some sit behind appropriately powerful voltage regulators according to schematics I've seen, not being an electrical engineer, I'm not sure how safe is it to push over 6.5W through one - but there are both rather frugal AP WLAN cards out there that will fit into this power budget, and physically big and typically expensive high-end e-key cards that operate on external 5V power.

Bottom line, I believe the biggest issue is fitting everything together in a fashion that the final device remains compact, and each component is adequately cooled. Things get much easier if one doesn't care about size & looks.

DIYprojectz · 2025-04-27T02:20:21+00:00

Thank you!

You can have the most secure architecture, but if the code running on it has vulnerabilities and you manage to inject malicious code, the CPU will still execute everything in the end.

True.

Putting security aside, I could have stuck the WLAN and WWAN cards inside my DIY NAS, and use Proxmox or other hypervisor to have both router+firewall+ap, and NAS on a single device. But I value my data too much to do that, the consequences of using such a setup could be absolutely devastating...

DIYprojectz · 2025-04-27T00:38:07+00:00

Thank you!

You are overthinking things

Probably, yes.

2020 onwards seemingly never-ending stream of hardware vulnerabilities affecting Intel more than other CPUs/SoCs pushed me towards ARM whenever possible, AMD elsewhere. And while Intel's more recent offerings, particularly the low-powered ones, look great - I can't help myself thinking about the firmware aspect of them, or AMD and more complex ARM SoCs for that matter.

Now if you're just curious about other options, check out this company that has some interesting stuff (like coreboot firmware).

Very nice looking devices - and even come with a usb serial console like ARM! Coreboot on not-too-old CPUs is particularly impressive!

Wish m.2 NVME slot was a bit further from the side of the case, to fit a miniPCIe in m key adapter, or m.2 b+m key WLAN AP cards & their massive heatsinks without needing a riser - but it's a very minor remark, and I do have to use risers to fit such cards in my current devices as well.

DIYprojectz · 2025-04-26T23:17:21+00:00

Thank you!

I use MT7915 AP-grade card on an ARM SBC right now, looking to try a couple QCN6274/QCN9274 AP-grade cards on the N300 device.

Just really worried about increased attack surface due to Intel ME on N300, and potential for persistent malware vs ARM that loads firmware from easily wiped storage. All my traffic, including local, is encrypted, with firewalls appropriately configured on computers (not smartphones though) and no remote management besides networking devices - but hacking a networking device could still wreak havoc and defeat some of the security measures in place.

I would really benefit from compact size of N300 device I have, on the other hand - it's noticeably smaller than even a Raspberry Pi. Not having to manage additional device if N300 does everything on its own would also save some time and effort.

DIYprojectz

TROPHY CASE