# New build - fanless mini / supported hardware.



## Marcin Solski (Jul 20, 2016)

Dear all, 

I'm thinking of building fanless mini pc to use at home basically as NAS and firewall in the future. 

I've decided to get one of nice mini itx boards with integrated 3150 intel cpu (AsRock, Asus looks good to me) . 
The problem I have is supported hardware. How can I check if FreeBSD will run flawlessly? 

Bunch of specific questions... Is it enough to make sure board chipset is supported to be sure  SATA / USB / audio (I may want to use it in the future) is supported? How about feature-rich modern BIOS? Shall I pay attention to this at all to be able to boot (don't want to experiment with UEFI, unless it's recommended). If I read that Realtek 8111 is on the list of supported cards does it mean that all 8111 family is (i.e. 8111H)?

I'd also appreciate any hints you may have. 

Thanks 
Marcin


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## Lars Skogstad (Jul 20, 2016)

Think there is a compatible list on this site.

I built a mini router, intel miniboard 2500cc or something with i3 cpu. Works really good. Using a laptop charger as psu  went for pure intel, was guessing it was gonna be okay. And it was tada!


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## Marcin Solski (Jul 20, 2016)

Hello Lars,

There is a complete list, indeed but board manufacturer doesn't seem to share detailed information about what sata/usb is used.

I'm mostly worried about uefi bios and network card. Once I had issues with intel nic based on 217 chipset. Need something working out of the box.

M.


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## Lars Skogstad (Jul 22, 2016)

Hello again

Just wanted to let you know what motherboard I used: 

 Intel DQ77KB   -  http://www.intel.com/content/www/us...press-chipset/intel-desktop-board-dq77kb.html

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/su...ards/desktop/dq77kb/dq77kb_techprodspec08.pdf

I am running this flawless with pfsense (nanobsd) , 2x intel network.  , i3 cpu , laptop charger, flash drive. 
I got mine almost for free but price is changing.  At least I love it for its use. as a router. =) running 500/500mbit on it atm, had 1000/1000 internet earlier and it delievered quite high, not sure how high in mbit but it was really good.

- Lars


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## Lars Skogstad (Jul 22, 2016)

Intel® 82579LM Gigabit Ethernet Controller (red connector) and Intel® 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controller (black connector)  - you can check if its supported in the compatible list.


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## wblock@ (Jul 23, 2016)

i217V and 82574L in use here, they are great.


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## Phishfry (Jul 23, 2016)

I built some rigs with the DQ77KB myself. Nice board and on ebay they are only 50 bucks new.

I used the Silverstone PT13 case and it was tough to find a low profile heatsink to fit nice.

3240T and 3470T is what I used. I did build one with the 3770T.

Not quite fanless but not anemic either.

With the right case a heatpipe would suffice. Like the Akasa.


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## Phishfry (Jul 23, 2016)

The board is rather dated but it is a solid board.


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## wblock@ (Jul 23, 2016)

Phishfry said:


> I used the Silverstone PT13 case and it was tough to find a low profile heatsink to fit nice.


This is basically why bandsaws exist.


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## Phishfry (Jul 23, 2016)

I had to give special customers warnings. Anything next to this case will make it blow up. Top cannot support weight at all.

It was the smallest Thin-ITX case at the time. Literally not an extra 6mm around the board.


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## Lars Skogstad (Jul 24, 2016)

Yeah, I like the intel board. Seems very stable, no problems yet.

Im running it in a  Coolermaster 110  Cube casing a bit big. But running cool =)

Been running it stable for 1 year+ now.


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