Zotac Zbox Nano CI321

Curious how the Zotac is working for you? 

Apologize if I missed it, but what is your Internet connection speeds?

I'm considering a CI323, it has the Celeron N3150 quad core cpu.  And would pair it with 4Gb (2x2 kit) RAM and a 120Gb SSD. 

My Internet connection is 50mbps down X 10mbps up, but we are lucky enough to have our neighorhood slated for fiber.  I suspect this spec is in no way sufficient

for a gigabit fiber.  It's cheap enough I could pull the trigger on it, learn with it, and if we go fiber next year look at an upgrade.

But I'm curious what the top end would be on such a spec'd Zotac.

Thanks for any insight.

my internet-line is 50Mbit down / 2 Mbit up.. the CI321 is enough for it. no problem running double av scanning, web proxy, ips and one ipsec vpn..

think the ci323 is the better choice for it.. quite cheap and better cpu.. but 4GB RAM is to low.. spend it min 8 GB RAM..

if you want to spend more money to fit need for fiber look at the new zotac box CI 545... but dont know if sophos installer will work with it and if the internal nics will be recognized...

CI323 is a good choice to start with i can recommend...

I have the CI323 running at home for 7 months now.

Rock solid, and when I take my cable speed modem to the max (75Mbit down, 7,5 Mbit up) it is around 20-30% CPU with all switched on (IPS etc)

I have 4 GB RAM and 32 GB SSD. More than enough for a home use scenario.

Havent had any issues with the Realtek drivers so far. I am wondering if someone has the WIFI card running as access point. I removed the WIFI card, as I have a different solution. However for guest access it would be nice.

Hi Edmund,

I ave just got a CI323 (4Gb RAM, 60Gb SSD), and keep on having issues when it installs, kernel panic, and then it freezes. I have tried all sorts, but thinking it may be a BIOS issue, do you know which BIOS version you have installed?

or how the BIOS was configured?

I have also tried installing the XG firewall, but it states that the firmwarew couldn't be loaded post install...but this i feel is related to this same issue.....

regs

Jason

Hi Jason,

I also have been running the CI321 Nano for many a month now and it's been great, when I get home, I will try and extract how my BIOS is configured but it may not apply to your CI323.

Emile

Hi jason,

Also have ci321.. runs smooth and no problems.. try install latest bios on ci323 and test install again..

You have 2 DIMMs, or only 1?

It is known that kernel panic happens under Linux (which UTM is) when using 2 DIMMs on the CI323

So try it with only 1 DIMM in the first slot. I use only 1 DIMM and it runs perfectly smooth in my CI323.

Hi Edmund,

i have found that a simple (d'oh) BIOS upgrade did it... lol

to the latest at the time, 2K160913 was the one that worked for me.... thanks

Hi Jason,

please mark my answer above (install latest bios) as answer so others can find solution easy... thnx.

I would like to add a suggestion that they upgrade their boxes to 8gb because the box will start swapping when the user count increases or a number of threads try to view videos etc. Also 4gb works for a minimal installation with not much in the way of features enabled.

fully agree.. 8GB is a must have here...see my signature ;-)

No issues here since my last post.

8Gb I agree is nice to have.  However I have a 8gb KIT (4gb x 2), and haven't had any issues related to having 2 DIMMs as far as I can tell.

The first thing I did however before I even tried to install Sophos was upgrade to the latest BIOS.  So I'm inclined to say the BIOS is most likely the cause of the issue.  Plus...think of how many Linux servers and desktops there are out there with more then one DIMM...I personally have built more then I can count.

So try the BIOS upgrade first is my thought.

No issues here since my last post.

8Gb I agree is nice to have.  However I have a 8gb KIT (4gb x 2), and haven't had any issues related to having 2 DIMMs as far as I can tell.

The first thing I did however before I even tried to install Sophos was upgrade to the latest BIOS.  So I'm inclined to say the BIOS is most likely the cause of the issue.  Plus...think of how many Linux servers and desktops there are out there with more then one DIMM...I personally have built more then I can count.

So try the BIOS upgrade first is my thought.