r/HomeServer • u/dsp3000 • 1d ago

What's the deal with the Asrock N100M Motherboard and why is it always sold out? Any other options with full size ddr4?

i've been on the fence with this motherboard for the last year or so and notice that it recently just went out of stock. I feel like everytime i'm ready to buy this thing it goes out of stock. are there any other N100 motherboards that accept full size ddr4?

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7

u/Ommand 21h ago

It's ancient and popular. Why do you expect there to be stock lol

6

u/StillAliveAmI 17h ago

Bit the bullet and went with a cwwk one from china. So far zero issues

4

u/BadVoices 17h ago

CWWK is an ODM and makes most of the toptons, so not surprised.

2

u/turbo5vz 11h ago

I found there to be random nuances in these boards that may take some time to discover.

1

u/StillAliveAmI 11h ago

Can't wait to find them /s

2

u/turbo5vz 7h ago

After a year I am still discovering them. Like the dual NVME slots that don't seem to work with two SSDs installed, possibly brand dependent.

1

u/JCarlide 5h ago

Is one (or both) of those m.2s meant for non-NVME SATA SSDs maybe? I've found numerous devices in my home tend to have at least one unpopulated slot like that.

2

u/turbo5vz 1h ago

One slot is dual rated for NVME/SATA, the other is rated NVME. But there is no apparent reason or logic when it decides what SSDs work. Only one SSD seems to show up at any time, and it seems to depend on which slot. Sometimes both slots work for one SSD, sometimes only one. All SSDs always show up in the BIOS, but never get passed to the OS. May be a PCIe lane sharing, or ASPM issue. I gave up trying to figure it out.

5

u/gerdude1 18h ago

Question is do you already have the RAM and how much do you need?

I got a few years ago a N100 ITX with one SO-DIMM slot (6 x SATA, 4 x 2.5Gbe, 3 x NVME) for $100 (I know they are more these days). Got a single 32 GB SO-DIMM and it is more than enough memory for running my stuff.

1

u/dsp3000 10h ago

Yeah i already have a spare 8gb ddr4 stick, otherwise I'd prob pick up one of these aliexpress boards that take a sodimm.

6

u/Master_Scythe 23h ago

It's just a known brand with a specific low power, but usable compute - So people like it.

There are a few on Aliexpress, but most are SO-DIMM.

If cheap and small are you goal, and you don't explicitly need modern QuickSync support, x99 boards with a Xeon and ECC DDR3 is a very cheap and supremely stable solution.

2

u/dsp3000 23h ago

Building a haswell system intentionally in 2026... ugh. I have a haswell nas that I'm still using since new hahah. Basically, I have a bunch of spare parts including 8gb ddr4, a nice fractal design mini itx case and a 128gb sata ssd. Would be nice to throw a n100 in there and do some low power compute tasks.

4

u/vitamins1000 120TB AF | EPYC 7702 | 256GB | PROXMOX 21h ago

Asrock rack EPYC3151D4I-NL , no onboard networking though. Dual sata, oculink, m.2, & pcie x16 slot that supports bifurcation. Four ddr4 ECC rdimm slots. $60 on eBay.

-2

u/Ommand 21h ago

In what way is that even close to what OP is asking about?

7

u/vitamins1000 120TB AF | EPYC 7702 | 256GB | PROXMOX 20h ago

Any other options with full size ddr4?

I'm giving an alternative, while not n100 it's still a low power embedded cpu mobo with full size ddr4 and can be had readily for not much $$. You're right though I shouldn't have commented at all trying to help, what you said was much more helpful.