Intel’s Alder Lake-N series of processors are budget-friendly and energy-efficient chips created for basic PC setups. In contrast to the previous generation of Intel’s Jasper Lake Celeron and Pentium processors, the latest N95 and N100 chips provide an approximate 20% enhancement in overall performance. This improvement establishes them as reliable options for compact home and office PCs. My recent experience with the new Beelink MINI S12 and Beelink MINI S12 Pro was truly impressive, observing their capability to handle a substantial range of computing tasks.
CONFIGURATION OF BEELINK S12 PRO (INTEL N100)
MiniPC has come without SSD & RAM installed, so the additional parts were added later.
- CPU: Intel 12th Gen Processor Alder Lake-N100 (4C/4T, 6M Cache, 0.8GHz to 3.4GHz)
- GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 750MHz
- RAM: Crucial 16GB SO-DIMM 3200 Mhz DDR4 (CT16G4SFRA32A)
- DISK: 500GB M.2 PCIe X1 2280 SSD (Kioxia EXCERIA 500 GB m.2 NVMe 2280)
- Internal slot: SO-DIMM DDR4 Slot x1, M.2 PCIe X1 2280 SSD Slot x1, 2.5″ SATA III HDD/SSD Slot x1
- Connectivity: Intel AX201 WiFi 6(802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.2, 1000M LAN
- Interface: 4*USB3.2 Gen2, 2*HDMI, 1*RJ45 1000M, 1*3.5mm Audio Jack(HP&MIC), 1*DC Jack, 1*CLR CMOS Reset
- Power: Input 100-240V 50/60Hz Output 12V/3A DC 5.5*2.5mm
- Package Included: 1 x Beelink Mini S12 Pro Mini PC,1 x VESA mount, 2 x HDMI cables(100CM & 20CM), 1 x Power adapter, 1 x User Manual
- Other Functions: Wake ON Lan, Auto Power ON
A full review can be found on the Roberto Jorge Tech Youtube Channel
INSTALLED OS
Beelink S12 Pro is running Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS headless without any GUI installed.
INITIAL POWER CONSUMPTION FOR S12 PRO
POWERSAVE TUNING FOR DEBIAN BASED DISTROS
Please set a powersave governor for all the CPU cores by executing following commands:
Ubuntu> sudo -i
Ubuntu# sudo apt install indicator-cpufreq cpufrequtils pm-utils power-profiles-daemon
Ubuntu# sudo pm-powersave true
Ubuntu# sudo cpupower frequency-set -g powersave
Ubuntu# sudo nano /etc/default/cpufrequtils
(add lines with nano editor)
GOVERNOR="powersave"
MAX_SPEED=”1Ghz”
(CTRL+X and yes to save change)
Ubuntu# sudo systemctl disable ondemand
Ubuntu# sudo update-rc.d ondemand disable
Ubuntu# cpufreq-info | grep limits
Ubuntu# sudo cpufreq-set -u 700
Ubuntu# rebootAfter reboot, please check if the following settings were saved
Ubuntu# cat cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
Ubuntu# cpufreq-info
Ubuntu# cpufreq-info | grep limitsThe “powersave” governor should be used on the device:
OPTIONALLY: Install CPUFREQ extension to watch the governor, if you have installed a lightweight XFCE to connect to machine via VNC https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1082/cpufreq/
Sources for the Linux powersave hints:
- https://devicetests.com/change-power-modes-ubuntu-performance-battery-life
- https://moisescardona.me/changing-the-cpu-governor-to-performance-in-linux/
- https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/01/easily-set-cpu-governor-performance.html?m=1
- https://itsfoss.com/cpufreq-ubuntu/
Powersave in BIOS
In this section we will define the settings that would decrease performance slightly, but would help us to save on power consumption.
Device is using American Megatrends BIOS.
Default Beelink S12 BIOS settings are presented under this video (please don’t mind N95 processor there)
Source: AndroidPC.es
Please set the following values under BIOS to have more powersaving: profile
Advanced > Power & Performance > CPU Power Management Control
- Boot performance=Max Battery
- Turbo Mode: Disabled
- View/Configure Turbo Options:
Power Limit 1 Override=Enabled
Power Limit 1=6000
Power Limit 2 Override=Enabled
Power Limit 2=12000
- Platform PL1=Enable
- Platform PL1 Power=5000
Advanced > Power & Performance > GT Power Management Control
- RC6 (render standby)=Disabled
- Maximum GT Frequency=550Mhz
- Disable Turbo GT Frequency=Disabled
Boot
- Setup Prompt Timeout=3
- Fast Boot=Disabled
- Boot Mode=UEFI
Chipset > PCH-IO Configuration
- State after G3=S0 state (Auto Power ON settings if the power is lost during normal operation)
Power consumption after optimization
After these changes the idle power draw for the device went down to:
- 5,7 Watt idle!
- 10 Watt idle with 2x USB SSD disk attached
This power consumption is comparable to small Raspberry Pi 4.
WIFI CARD ISSUES AND HOW TO DISABLE IT:
Intel AX201 wifi card is supported from 6.4.10 kernel.
If using MINI PC as Proxmox/Ubuntu server via Ethernet connection, it is advised to terminate WIFI connection completely since it causes signal interference if used on Linux based distros.
Since, WIFI card is soldered onto motherboard, it is advised to unplug it’s external antenna’s to lower the signal transmitted.
Moreover, since BIOS has no option to disable the WIFI card to be powered, you may disable it from Linux kernel level.
Ubuntu# modprobe iwlwifi disable_11ax=true
Ubuntu# nano /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
options iwlwifi disable_11ax=true
CTRL+X, Save YES
Ubuntu# update-initramfs -k all -u
Ubuntu# nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
blacklist iwlwifi
CTRL+X, Save YES
Ubuntu# sudo wget https://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/sources/linux-firmware/intel/ibt-0040-1050.sfi
Ubuntu# sudo wget https://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/sources/linux-firmware/intel/ibt-0040-1050.ddc
Ubuntu# cp ibt* /lib/firmware/intel/ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS
The S12 Pro is connected via Tasmota Plug to power source which has the power plan scheduled
The PC starts at 10:00 and is being cut off from power at 23:10.
In order to avoid filesystem corruption during power cut off for the containers, the device is being shutdown gracefully by the crontab command 10 minutes before power is lost:
Ubuntu# crontab -e
(add the last line by adjusting the hour)
59 22 * * * /sbin/shutdown -h now
The following setup saves the power during night when the services are not needed to be run.
