> N100 conundrum
> Fix corrupt Office
> Turn back time
Which N100 board?
I’m looking to upgrade my J4125-ITX NAS server, and have settled on Intel’s newest chip—the N100 processor, which benchmarks tell me represents a huge leap forward over the previous board, even though the J4125 chip has served me well. I see that in addition to ASRock’s N100-based board (the N100DC-ITX), Asus has released its own board, the Prime N100I-D D4.
I can see two obvious differences between the boards: the N100DC-ITX has two onboard SATA connectors to the N100I-D D4’s one, but the Asus board works with a standard power supply like the one currently in my J4125-ITX build, while ASRock’s board has its own built-in power supply with 19V jack, into which I would need to plug in a compatible laptop adapter. Which would you recommend?
—Michael James
Yes, the N100 is a stellar chip, delivering the equivalent performance of a 65-watt i5-7400 or i3-9100 in a 6-watt chip. Sadly, as you’ve identified, thereports, as well as power supply choices. Ultimately, your choice may boil down to availability, as the Asus Prime N100I-D D4 is almost impossible to source from the US—we were able to track down a couple of listings on eBay that shipped from Europe (Germany and Italy respectively) for around $180, but at time of writing there was no inventory from any US-based sellers. On the other hand, the ASRock N100DC-ITX can be found for $129.99 on newegg ().
