Intel Core i3 N305 Mini PC Performance Beelink EQ12 Pro Review

We test the new Intel Core i3 N305 Alder Lake-N processor and find the astonishing breakthrough performance of the 8x E-core design that laps previous generations. This is a huge upgrade to the Intel Celeron J4125 and Intel N5105/ N6005 processors.

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Where to Find The Unit We Purchased
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Timestamps
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00:00 Introduction
01:20 External Hardware Overview
04:33 Internal Hardware Overview
06:35 Performance
10:18 Power and Noise
14:00 Key Lesson: N305 Desktop Performance
15:43 Key Lesson: Crazy Support and Windows 11 Pro Re-install
17:49 Wrap-up

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Other STH Content Mentioned in this Video
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HP Project TinyMiniMicro Units

[danielsmith]

Given the networking focus of STH, I'm kinda disappointed that halfway through the video you've failed to mention what type of 2.5G ethernet it is. Likewise, it's completely absent from the STH website review. For many people (myself included) having a Realtek NIC is a total deal breaker. Fortunately, according to the Aliexpress page, it's using an Intel i-225 NIC.

[SilnC]

Here's an idea for an addition to the TinyMiniMicro-Series: the Framework Laptop in the CoolerMaster case. It has great performance, sub-1liter, you can configure the port selection with swappable modules (3 monitors or 3x 2.5Gbit NICs), user replacable RAM (Ryzen may actually support ECC modules for up to 64GB) and SSD. I think for those interested in the TinyMiniMicro series the framework-system is an interesting and viable alternative with unique features. The YouTube channel Elevated System had a great video on how the framework motherboard can be used in different configurations outside the laptop.

[Ilost]

N305 models are quite a bit more expensive than the N100s. It seems that at that 300+ price point an older 11th/12th gen intel or Ryzen options start to compete when it comes to raw performance. This is still dominant when it comes to power efficiency and idle though. The whole new N series is great, but seems to gimped by single channel DDR5 which I suspect they will unlock in later gens for free performance. I guess Intel didn't see a point in going dual channel and out competing themselves in this space, when this gen's improvement was already drastic enough. Still a shame that the N300 and N305 didn't have dual channel at the very least as they have a noticeably higher MSRP. Excited to see how an N100 performs if you're able to get your hands on one. Thanks for the review as always Patrick.

[slerched]

I ended up going with a GEEKOM Mini IT12.
Intel 12th gen i7, 32 GB RAM, and a 1 TB NVME.
RAM is only DDR4.
Based on what I ended up deciding to use it for, I wish I had gone with a high end AMD model instead, as the 1070ish equivalent GPU capability would be nice to have.
Live and learn.

[Practical-IT]

Sounds like this would make a phenomenal pfSense or OPNSense firewall box.

[stalbaum]

The sweet spot for this is proxmox running your router OS at 2.5gbps and some dockers like pihole and ipfs or whatnot. It should do those things together, very well.

[denverag]

8 Let me start this by saying that if this is the core i3-N305, it had better not be priced like a core i3-1215/1315 system because Intel set the CSP to the same $309 for both processors. If it is, very few people should buy this, as users for this processor would be very niche where they need this many cores, at this TDP, and they cant just take the better processor, and limit it to the same TDP.
Not to say beelink and others should cut margin, but that either consumers should not buy this overpriced hardware until Intel offers a reasonable price reduction to reflect the shortcomings compared to the i3-1215u/1315u
The N305 is the fully unlocked Atom N100, with the only apparent difference being 2 fully unlocked core complexes(8 E cores)
Now my only problem with the i3-N305 is price, well, i dont like it carrying the i3 name when it is a dedicated atom die with atom spec, atom ram limitations, and atom PCIe but that can be overlooked if the price fit.

The i3-1215 is a far better value at the same price because you get 3 core complexes, with 2 of those being P cores and 1 E cores, making for a 2+4 total, you get 2 channels of DDR5, which can in theory support the future 64GB sodimms, or up to 256GB of RAM if you had 4 slots at up to 5200MT/s(though probably max 32GB at that speed) though Intel may put a firmware limit of 64GB, we wont know without testing, you get 20 PCIe lanes with most of them being gen 4, along with 64 Xe graphics cores
Atom/i3-N305 is literally less than 1/2 the SOC for the exact same price, yes i'd personally go for 8 E cores over 2 P cores given the choice, but the i3 comes with 2P cores plus 4 E cores, the N305 is also limited to no more than 16GB of single channel DDR5 at 4800, which will have an effect on the iGPU which is 1/2 that of the i3-1215/1315.
Oh and instead of 20 PCIe lanes of mostly 4.0, you get only 9 lanes of 3.0

Now the main thing that will affect most people are the lack of P cores, 1/2 the GPU power limited by single channel RAM, and a supposed hard firmware limit of 16GB.

This processor would be fine with a CSP of $129, but not $309

[JohnCarter]

I had to contact Beelink support once to do exactly the same thing and ran into the same issue. Ultimately what they sent DID work and got me back up and running, but I definitely agree it feels a little sketchy.

[skaltura]

Key Lesson Learned: HP Prodesk/Elitedesk Minis are INSANELY GOOD! Especially value for their money

[TheChadXperience]

3-4 of these could make a pretty decent HA cluster for your Proxmox environment. Although, I think their price is just a little too high even for what these are. I think, around $300 would make more sense. $350 is just a little bit of a stretch. Remember, you have to buy NVMe SSDs for them, and that is another $50 ea. Plus, you'd might as well increase the RAM. I feel like I'd want to wait for a better deal, personally. I like that it has dual NICs, so you can use one as OoB management. The power consumption is going to be tripple, tho.

[kingphiltheill]

The N305 is just as fast as the good old 4790K. And my old 4790k still is used by my son for gaming. Amazing.

[Pressbutan]

I got one of these! It's pretty okay but the power supply and lack of PCI-E lanes really is a bummer. If people are considering this, try and find an i3-1220P instead. They're about the same price (about $75 more) and have way way more for the money. I don't regret this little EQ12 Pro, I traded from a Dell Opti 5080 Tiny 10600T, and it's been mostly great. It really is let down by the crummy power supply, make sure to get a 12v/5A adapter. Also, for some reason, inside the shell are vent screens - these choke the system out like crazy. Feel free to peel them off if you aren't in a super dusty environment.

[Unrealbr]

N305s were a no go here in Brazil, bought the N100 and I am happy with it.
Now to learn how to setup a proper NAS w/ shares and a VM for vuze (yes, I still use Vuze and love it)

[ReQuiem_]

FYI, I've been able to successfully run a single Crucial 48GB SODIMM in both my N100 EQ12, and my N305 EQ12 Pro. So while losing dual channel sucks, gaining DDR5 speeds and 48GB over DDR4 32/64GB, isn't a bad tradeoff.

[joshhardin]

This would be fantastic for a router if they'd just give us dual 10g interfaces. I've been looking really hard recently for a powerful mini PC like this with dual 10g to be a pfsense router for my 5gb fiber internet. My ont has 10g base-t but none of the small router boxes I've looked at have 10g ports. Very frustrating times.

[Eden-rgul]

Thanks for the awesome video! Can you pass the NICs through to VMs (as you tested with some other mini PCs)?

Also, if only the power usage was a little lower, you could power this thing of POE+!

[gregoryfricker]

Patrick, building out a pfsense router from the aliexpress fanless units. Would you think The N305 would beat out the Pentium gold 8505 with it's single P core and higher single threaded workflows. Biggest stressor on my system is running effective site to site VPN with tail scale and I'm betting the single core gets me more but I don't know how pfsense handles big little cores.

[MyersJOriginal]

It sucks that its single channel memory though. The potential graphics boost would be so nice with dual channel.

[gmtoomey]

I cant see myself building home desktops anymore with the way these MiniPCs are progressing. The only letdown is advanced graphics but they are certainly capable or playing most mid-tier games.

[JustSomeGuy]

Might be worth noting that SMB3 multi-channel works when you have modern Windows OS on both client and server side. While I believe that BSD and NIX based OSes that use Samba will not support this out of the box today. Last I heard was SMB3 multi-channel was added as experimental in 4.4.0 release many years ago and there are corner cases that it can cause data corruption due to race conditions. Even Microsoft has had a number of their own issues with it.