Is this the future of x86 Single Board Computers? - ZimaBlade

Introducing the ZimaBlade, an affordable, low power, single board computer that's great for a home servers, homelabs, tinkering, NAS, retro gaming, or even a dual boot desktop system like me. We'll take a look at how it compares to the ZimaBoard, the previous device from Ice Whale.

Disclosures:
- I was not paid
- Ice Whale provided ZimaBlades and accessories for testing
- I bought everything else with my own money

ZimaBlade Accessories:

Mentioned:

(Affiliate links may be included in this description. I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.)

00:00 - What is the ZimaBlade?
00:48 - Unbox Experience
01:19 - Hardware Specs
02:34 - PCI Express Slot
03:16 - First Boot Experience
04:46 - Build a NAS, or Not
05:18 - My Workbench Testing System
05:55 - Testing Power, CPU, and GPU on Windows
06:49 - Testing Power, CPU, and GPU on Linux
07:49 - Power
09:14 - LEDs
09:46 - Power Button
10:08 - PCB Color
10:31 - Printables?
10:56 - My Thoughts

Thank you for watching!

[JeffGeerling]

LEDs are often overlooked; just having one for "I'm on" and another for "I'm doing something" saves so much frustration. It should always be visible even in a case. Maybe you could just drill a hole in the power LED spot ;)

[AlbusRegis]

This device could be a great raspberry pi alternative for hosting something like a NUT server or as a remote management tool, given how expensive pies have become over time.
Also, the "Blade" part of the name and the placement of the pci slot make me think that in the future they may also release some kind of board to plug several of these into and make a cluster.

[johnjbateman]

Love the new office in your background. Looks super clean and techie!

[TechnoTim]

Differences:
ZimaBlade
* CPU Intel Celeron J3455 or Dual core
* 1 NIC, 1 Gbe
* RAM slot, DDR3 up to 16 GB
* 1 USB A 3.0 port
* 1 USB C port (data + power + display)
* Removable case
* Can be installed in a stand

ZimaBoard:
* CPU Intel Celeron N3350 or N3450
* 2 NIC, 1 Gbe
* RAM soldered, DDR4 2/4/8 GB
* 1 USB A 3.0 port
* No case, body is case
* Cannot be installed in a stand

[techaddressed]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought they look like a Walkman!

[PaoloDenti]

I am using, with the zimaboard, poe splitters 12V/2A (powered by a ubiquiti edgeswitch 24ports poe), they work perfect.
Thanks for the presentation, i just ordered the cluster of 3; with an nvme it is the perfect solution for a home lab k8s cluster, the 8gb was undersized (and i will run them with the poe splitter instead of those clumsy power adapters)

[astacc]

Good to hear that they intend to deal with that power supply issue. When I first found out about it I decided against buying it, will consider it later when fully released and hopefully with proper PD support

[Randoneering]

Hum. Maybe I'll go this route for pi replacements. Great vid as always. Audio quality is superb!

[TeaBagginsMcGee]

i have that same no name power adapter. I found it depended on the usb-c cable i used to get the blade to work. I broke down and got the recommended power adapter. My only regret was not buying the quad core version when it was in kickstarter.

[Genetixxxxxxxxx]

I really love the white mode dev board!

[MattCollingridge]

I'd love to see something like this with a socket. It would be great to use some of the old CPUs I have sitting around

[Soupie]

Another potential Cyberdeck brain!
Personally, I'd prefer a wider, flatter version - in order to better fit it under a keyboard.

[DigitalSpaceport]

White PCB FTW! Also would like to see a 2.5Gbit NIC on the new Zblades. Great video!

[markx]

Thanks Tim! It has now be zero days since my last tech purchase. ha

[conm]

All about that light mode pcb, dark mode everything else. Thanks Tim. Keep up the content buddy.

[hzr]

No I think the product name, "ZimaBlade" is a reference to the episode of Love Death and Robot "Zima Blue" in the first season.
We can also see the icons but in another order (love, robots, death instead of Love death robots) and in a different form.
The board itself is also a good reference to the character of the story (no spoil).

[wcg]

Another thing to note is that 16 GB DDR sodimm aren’t cheap (8 GB are, however). If want 16 GB, it makes sense to go with the package that includes both the owner supply and ram.

I also wonder if the USB C power problem is due to the cable not supporting 12V? All USB C cables are different and you have to order a “charge and sync” style cable. Even then, who knows?

[ChiMickE]

Very nice overview of the device. Thank you! I have a ZimaBoard already (used as a home server) and was wondering if it made sense to add a ZimaBlade to my collection or not. I had hoped that your video went into comparing the two, because of the title that you gave it, but other than that it's cheaper (and removable memory) I missed this comparison.

[valid_]

Looks cool. Would ideally make a great bare metal proxmox backup server with that NAS kit.

[andibiront]

I do like these boards, but as someone who has 72c/144t and 1TB in compute for his homelab, I never found a use for them. J3455 is old, 1 DDR3 SODIMM only. You can buy an N100 with 16GB RAM and 512GB NVMe for U$S145. Would it be too expensive to make a ZimaBlade with N300 with DDR4 or DDR5? I understand that N300 MSRP is U$S300, but N100 MSRP is U$S128 and there are complete systems with N100/16GB for ~125