[Review] Asrock x300 as Home Server

It is about time to put everything together.

This year I got this compact ~2L box as my new personal computer (probably server at some point).

Why a server?

I went crazy and build it with 64GB RAM.

The idle consumptions of the x300 are decent (12/13w with 2 ssd’s) and max power drawn during the tests of 53W.

With a room air temperature of 21C, in idle the air was getting out of the computer at ~28C:

Those W are heating the air as it passes to ~+7C when in ~idle

ṁ_a = V \times ρ_a ṁ_w = ṁ_a \times h Q_a = ṁ_a \times c_a \times ΔT Q_w = ṁ_w \times c_w \times ΔT Q = Q_a + Q_w Q = (V \times ρ_a \times c_a \times ΔT) + ((V \times ρ_a \times h) \times c_w \times ΔT)

Q = V \times ρ_a \times ΔT \times (c_a + h \times c_w)

$$ Q = 0.0139 \times 1.2 \times 7 \times (1006 + 0.01 \times 1840) \approx 120 , \text{W} $$

Asrock x300 How to

Im using Ubuntu KDE Plasma with Kernel 6.8. Customized like so.

#xrandr --query #get the name, in this case, DisplayPort-1
cvt 1360 768 60
xrandr --newmode "1360x768_60.00" 85.25  1360 1424 1568 1776  768 771 778 795 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode DisplayPort-1 "1360x768_60.00"
xrandr --output DisplayPort-1 --mode "1360x768_60.00"

lscpu
#sudo lshw

#sudo apt install lm-sensors
#sensors

df -h | awk '$2 ~ /G/ && $2+0 > 3' #if you set logs, careful with the disk space (see drives >3GB)
df -h | awk 'NR==1 || $2 ~ /[GT]/'

lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT | awk 'NR==1 || $2 ~ /[GT]/'

ip addr show
hostname -I

#sudo apt-get install net-tools
#ifconfig
#ifconfig eth0 | grep -A 10 "<global>" #check mac, and transfered packages
ifconfig eth0 | grep "inet " | awk '{ print $2 }' #if ETH Connected - SEE THE LOCAL IP
#ifconfig tailscale0 | grep "inet " | awk '{ print $2 }' #for Tailscale

ping -c 4 192.168.0.1 #gateway
ping -c 4 192.168.0.117 #ping the orange pi which is connected to same device
ping 9.9.9.9 #ping quad9 dns server

sudo apt-get install dnsutils -y #dns resolution
nslookup github.com 
dig google.com

sudo apt-get install speedtest-cli
speedtest-cli #speedtest-cli --simple

sudo snap install fast
fast
#npm install --global fast-cli && fast

curl -sS https://ipinfo.io/json #the command to use
curl -sS http://ip-api.com/json/ #provides info about country, ISP, ...
curl -6 ifconfig.me #ipv6 info 

sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf

#nameserver 192.168.0.117 #to use the OPi5 locally
nameserver 9.9.9.9
nameserver 149.112.112.112

nslookup google.com #see that now you are using quad9 DNS

Server Power and Fan Management

As per this post

But I decided to manage everything via the BIOS.

So now the fan is at 30% up to 60 Celsius.

For Windows you can use FanControl or AMD Adrenaline Software.

You also have thinkfan for Thinkpads

#sudo apt-get -y install power-profiles-daemon
powerprofilesctl list
#powerprofilesctl set performance

Conclusions of Asrock X300

• https://github.com/masonr/yet-another-bench-script

The X300 supports 2.5-inch drives with a thickness of 7mm or 9.5mm (which normally go up to 2TB).

The energy consumption is reasonable, at ~15w with Linux, Windows goes ++66%:

What am I using it for right now?

Video Editing 101

I recently started to make some simple video edits.

Video editing with shell scripts was interesting.

But I needed to try Python video editing with moviePy.

And it can do crazy stuff.

Like having speech recognition and silencing the parts with human voices…

…so that only the music is playing at those moments.

AI Stuff

• Generating Content - like so
  • Already working for interesting sites, like this
• Better CVs for all with OpenAI API
  • MailerLite API to check emails, makes it easy to place a small wall to streamlit
    • If you choose doble opt-in, they will verify the email
  • But we could also use FormBricks as a wall
    • You can get feedback on the users needs before/after trying the app
    • If you connect the form with GSheets and make python read it, you have a simple way to compare emails for access
    • Forms can be embed on email, on website (as iframe or pop up) and…with a simple link.
  • Or…a real paywall, with StripeAPI
    • It allow to have pricing tables, to embed on your website with a async scrypt that you can copy paste
    • Stripe API is crazy cool - YOu can get info about sessions, customers (which product/ subscription have they bought, if its on trial, active…)
  • Keeping the prompts tidy & consistent
  • And Streamlit can be customized in cool ways with option menu and bootstrap icons
  • And improvement the way I build my docker-compose with API keys
  • Oh, and even gitlab CI/CD testing!
    • You can see their status at the jobs tab
  • Better sqlite logs to see who actually uses it

sqlite3 ./login_log.db
#.tables

SELECT * FROM login_logs;
SELECT * FROM job_offers ORDER BY timestamp DESC LIMIT 5;
#.quit

python3 query_pracuj_sqlite_v3b.py

• Better vacation planning

Web Stuff

• https://jalcocert.github.io/JAlcocerT/portfolio-websites/

What happened with the Bmax B4?

I decided to give it to a friend.

Reason being that I wanted an upgrade in computing power from my previous Desktop with a 2200G.

Benchmarks 101

Its always a good start to get ready for SelfHosting.

For Quick Benchmarks, just do:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JAlcocerT/Linux/main/Z_Linux_Installations_101/Benchmark101.sh
chmod +x Benchmark101.sh
./Benchmark101.sh

#cat /proc/cpuinfo
#uname -a
#nproc
sudo apt install sysbench -y
sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 --num-threads=4 run

sudo apt-get install p7zip-full
7z b -mmt
7z b -mmt4
7z b

7zr b -mmt1

git clone https://github.com/JAlcocerT/Py_Trip_Planner/
cd Py_Trip_Planner

sudo bash -c 'time docker pull python:3.8' #let's remove the time of downloading the Python base image from the equation, it was ~1 min!

#docker build -t pytripplanner .
sudo bash -c 'time docker build --no-cache -t pytripplanner .'
#sudo bash -c 'time podman build -t pytripplanner .'

apt install cargo
#cargo install --git https://github.com/astral-sh/rye rye
time cargo install --git https://github.com/astral-sh/rye rye

sudo apt-get install stress-ng

sudo stress --cpu  8 --timeout 120

ip addr show
hostname -I

#sudo apt-get install net-tools
#ifconfig

ping -c 4 192.168.0.1 #gateway
ping -c 4 192.168.0.117 #ping the orange pi which is connected to same device
ping 9.9.9.9 #ping quad9 dns server

sudo apt-get install dnsutils -y #dns resolution
nslookup github.com 
dig google.com

sudo apt-get install speedtest-cli
speedtest-cli #speedtest-cli --simple

#sudo apt install snapd -y
sudo snap install fast
fast

curl -sS https://ipinfo.io/json #the command to use
curl -sS http://ip-api.com/json/ #provides info about country, ISP, ...
curl -6 ifconfig.me #ipv6 info 

Hardware Table Comparison

Hardware / Computing Power / Volume / Energy Consumption

Here’s a consolidated version of the data from all the tables into a single table. The columns are organized to combine all the relevant information:

Hetzner CX22 Cloud Server ~2.35 eur +23% VAT ~3$/month

Explanation:

• Device: The name of the device.
• CPU: The CPU specifications of the device.
• Price: The price of the device in USD.
• Sysbench (4 threads) (events): The results from the sysbench CPU test for 4 threads, in events.
• Tot (4 threads) 7 zip (events): The results from the 7zip benchmark for 4 threads (compression and decompression speeds).
• Docker Build (s): The time it takes to build the Docker image (in seconds).
• Build Astral (Time): The time it takes to install or build the Astral dependency manager.
• Docker Build (s/Price): The ratio of Docker build time in seconds to the price of the device.
• CPU Benchmark (4 threads) (events/Price): The ratio of the CPU benchmark events to the price of the device.
• Tot (4 threads) 7 zip (events/Price): The ratio of 7zip benchmark events to the price of the device.

This table combines the information across all your tests, and it should give you a comprehensive overview of the devices, their performance, and their costs.

Now, the large table includes:

• Sysbench performance (4 and 8 threads)
• 7zip performance (Tot 4 threads)
• Docker build times and temperatures
• Idle power consumption, max power usage, and yearly cost
• Release dates for devices
• CPU benchmark results (4 and 8 threads)
• Build time for Astral-SH

This provides a comprehensive view of all the devices’ performance and specifications in one table.

Desktop with VPS as VPN with Wireguard

Time to combine a Desktop, like the X300 + Hetzner to get a custom VPN connection with Wireguard.

Use the Hetzner Setup Script or the SelfHosting Script as described here

ssh root@serverip #or use a terminal via

#create the hashed PWD
docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/wg-easy/wg-easy wgpw 'YOUR_PASSWORD'

docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/wg-easy/wg-easy wgpw 'YOUR_PASSWORD' | sed 's/\$/\$\$/g'

</div>

version: "3.8"  # Specify Docker Compose version (optional)

services:
  wg-easy:
    image: ghcr.io/wg-easy/wg-easy
    container_name: wg-easy
    environment:
      LANG: en  # Set the language for the web UI
      WG_HOST: 188.245.198.60  # Replace with your actual server IP
      PASSWORD_HASH: thisishashed!  # Replace with your generated password hash
      PORT: 51821  # Web UI port
      WG_PORT: 51820  # WireGuard UDP port
    volumes:
      - "/home/your_user/.wg-easy:/etc/wireguard"  # Mount local configuration directory (replace with absolute path)
    ports:
      - "51820:51820/udp"  # Publish WireGuard UDP port
      - "51821:51821/tcp"  # Publish Web UI port
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN  # Grant network administration capabilities
      - SYS_MODULE  # Grant access to load kernel modules (potentially risky)
    sysctls:
      net.ipv4.conf.all.src_valid_mark: "1"  # Enable source address validation
      net.ipv4.ip_forward: "1"  # Enable IP forwarding
    restart: unless-stopped  # Restart container if it crashes

# Optional Networks (if needed)
# networks:
#   wg_network:
#     driver: bridge  # Define a bridge network (optional)

curl -sS https://ipinfo.io/json #the command to use
#  "org": "AS24940 Hetzner Online GmbH",

FAQ

services:
  windows:
    image: dockurr/windows
    container_name: windows
    devices:
      - /dev/kvm
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    ports:
      - "8006:8006" #UI
      - "3389:3389/tcp"
      - "3389:3389/udp"
    stop_grace_period: 2m
    restart: on-failure
    volumes:
      - ./data:/storage
    environment:
      RAM_SIZE: 8GB
      CPU_CORES: 3
      DISK_SIZE: 75GB
      VERSION: "win10"

For Windows I like to try these kind of PCs with: EA, Epic Games launcher, Steam and WoT, LoL…

The BMax B4 could handle Wot and LoL. And the x300

git add .
git commit -m "some good msg"
git push

Outro

Using HuggingFace for LLMs

• https://huggingface.co/spaces
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ua6065p-Cw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ua6065p-Cw

How I Edited this video

• Video was recorded with a Huawei P30 and Iphone 15Pro - Back in ~Apr2024
• I Have silenced it as learn with the DJI Workflow

What it is the x300 superseeding?

Up til now, I was very happy with my Ryzen 2200G, 16GB RAM DDR4.

The MB was a B450M S2H, that potentially can also accept this new 5600G and with NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 m.2 2280 (the first one I tried!)

And as per the tower, a Aerocool CS-105: microATX or miniITX with support for up to 320cm GPUs.

The Thermaltake Litepower 450W behaved properly with a RX580 back en the days (even allowed tinkering with crypto mining!)

And de volume? 187 mm x 361 mm x 355 mm = 23,960,885 mm³ or ~23.96L (x12 compared to the x300!)