Features:
(*) It connects to 2 USB 3.0 ports on the front panel of the casing.
I nearly bought it on the spot. But... if I buy this, my brand new J5040 m/b would be kept as backup, which would be a waste of money.
Also, N150 is just a soup'ed up N100, overclocked with no new features, so its architecture is from 2023. The real replacement for N100 is said to be released in 2026 or 2027.
I can wait, I'm in no hurry since I have two working m/b — famous last words. :lol:
If my N3150 m/b spoils, you can bet I'll order this right away.
Amazingly, it arrived in 5 days after placing the order. It reached the warehouse on the second day and was shipped out on the same day.
It measures 12.5 x 11.5 x 6.5 cm, which is bigger than my original PSU (12.5 x 10 x 6.5 cm). The user installable cables take up another 1 to 2 cm. 3 cm may not seem much, but my case is very tight in space.
Right out of box:
Other than that, it's fine. I really want the white one, though...
Did it work? At first, the server auto powered off too, but after trying a few times, it could stay powered up even with HDD attached.
The server is running fine now, but I'm not sure if it can power up reliably.
The new PSU is so quiet! Though, the old PSU, after cleaning the fan, is also pretty quiet.
I swapped the old PSU back and it was worse than before. It would power off in a minute or so even without the HDD. So the PSU was truly spoilt.
Aug 2010 – Apr 2025. Powered on 24/7 99% of its service life. RIP.
Trump plays a high-risk high-stake game by announcing tariff against the entire world!
Beyond the shock factor, it is a way to get other parties to come to the negotiation table quickly — with a weaker hand.
Provided they don't gang up. It is a possibility, but it is unlikely for different countries with varying interests to cooperate at such short notice.
Or retaliate. If you retaliate, it is a lose-lose situation for both sides.
China said it would not negotiate, so Trump responded with another round of tariff. And China followed. Now it is 104% and 84%.
Who will blink first?
As a country, USA does not necessarily lose to China in terms of co-dependency. But Trump would be under immerse pressure from all sides, including the stock market and his allies.
It's do-or-die for Trump. If he fails to pull this through, he will be impeached in 2026. China, on the other hand, just need ride it out. This is what they are betting on.
Viewed at a higher level, it is a battle of wits between a rising country and a falling country.
USA looks strong today, but its industries are hollowed out. Due to its loss of skilled labour and reliance on imports even for key technologies, USA can easily be held hostage by other countries today. Core technologies and key manufacturing must be kept in own country.
Also, this is an opportunity for other countries. USA is a huge consumer country. China giving up its US$400bil pie? Others can step in. So, USA does not particularly need China like China needs the US market. But it would be super disruptive in the short term.
Surely China can sell to others? But, can it find such a big market? And, what makes you think those countries won't impose tariff on the cheaper Chinese goods to protect their own industries?
Trump, of course, raises China's tariff to 145% for its 'lack of respect'. At the same time, he pauses tariff — all set at base 10% — for 90 days for other countries which did not retaliate — including EU. The reasoning was that EU approved new tariffs, but they had not taken effect. This is a weak excuse, meant to give EU a way out.
In just one sentence, Trump makes China look foolish. Previously, it was conceivable China could form trade deals with other countries. Now it is unlikely and China becomes isolated.
I believe Trump intended to do this all along, because it takes time to hammer a deal. Though he may have brought it forward due to stock market carnage.
This is such a classic Trump tactic. Trump is "do, not tell", because people don't take you seriously when you just "tell". But you want to play hardball? Trump will 奉陪到底. This is a message to other countries who like to play hardball as well.
Will China back down? It is unlikely. They will devalue their currency and introduce stimulus (using their reserves and borrowings) into their local economy and stock market.
You want face? You want to act tough? You want to be treated as an equal? You want to be acknowledged as a superpower? Your knees better not be weak.
I have been using the Asrock N3150-ITX m/b since Oct 2015.
When I considered upgrading to a new m/b a couple of years back, I found I had skipped a generation — Intel released N3150 in 2015 Q1, J5040 in 2019 Q4 and N100 in 2023 Q1.
For some reason, Asrock only released one SKU, N100DC-ITX with 2 SATA ports. I want 4 SATA ports.
When my server went down, I was not 100% certain the PSU was the culprit. It could be the motherboard, given its age. I decided to buy a 'new' motherboard just in case.
I settled on the trusty previous gen Asrock J5040. Surprisingly, there were some new old stock (NOS) on Amazon. I bought one for S$207 with 'free shipping'. I thought of buying older Asrock m/b such as J3455 or J4205 (both 2016 Q3), but J5040 was already old enough.
It uses DDR4, so I had to buy new DIMMs.
The official spec says max memory is 8 GB, 16 GB is supported unofficially and some 32 GB DIMMs work as well. Being able to boot up is not enough, it must pass MemTest86.
After I bought it, I did more research and found that Intel just released N150 (a refreshed N100) in Q1 2025. Nothing from Asrock yet, though it could be too early to tell.
Why do I keep mentioning Asrock? First, many of its ITX boards have 4 SATA ports. Second, its SATA ports support hot-plug. Asrock advertises it as a selling point. Other m/b may or may not support hot-plug.
I found a brandless N150 ITX m/b on TaoBao with 6 SATA ports! It costs around S$195 including a CPU fan — it is needed for N150.
N150 uses DDR5, so will need to buy new DIMM — again.
It would have been perfect, except the SATA controller is JMicron JMB585, which does not mention hot-plug support. Will need ASMedia ASM1166.
(Asrock N3150 and J5040 use ASMedia ASM1061.)
An alternative is to buy a board with just one SATA port and use a multi-SATA M.2 adapter.
Update: I found a N150 ITX m/b that uses ASM1166! It has 6 SATA ports. It costs 958 yuan (S$174.15) with a CPU fan.
If my N3150 m/b is working, I'll continue to use it in the short term, but will change to J5040 and keep it as backup.
If my N3150 m/b is not working, I'll use J5040 and either buy a spare J5040 or a suitable N150 m/b. If I buy a N150, I'll use it and keep J5040 as backup.
It makes sense to use the new m/b and keep the old one as backup. If the m/b spoils, fallback to the old m/b while sourcing for a replacement m/b. This is why I prefer not to buy a second J5040 as backup — it is already 6 years old today, what's more in projected 5 to 10 years.
My home server suddenly powered off by itself. It was still fine earlier in the morning, then I found that I could not access it. When I checked it, I found it was powered off.
I could not turn it on. Pressing the power button did nothing. Turning off the mains, then turning it on, the server had power. But it auto-powered off again in less than 5 seconds.
My first suspect was the PSU (Power Supply Unit). I had the feeling it was at its EOL (End-of-line).
One possibility was the PSU overheated. I knew it was super dusty.
I bought a compressed air can and opened up the PSU. Wow, was it dirty!
Before:
(This is actually pretty clean already. I knocked loose dirt out a year ago when my HDD died.)
After:
(Warning: do not touch anything inside the PSU, especially the capacitors.)
Unfortunately, it still did not work. The server would auto-power off by itself after 5s.
Interestingly, it could stay powered up if I removed the HDD.
Another possibility was the capacitors had blown or became marginal. If so, the PSU needed to be replaced.
I immediately placed an order on TaoBao for a new 300W PSU. It would take at least 5 days to arrive. The downtime was unimaginable. :-(
In the past, I would go down to SLS or SLT to buy a PSU. Now SLS is just a shell of its former glory.
I must talk about fate.
I actually ordered a 300W PSU in Feb this year on TaoBao. At that time, my PSU fan was whining — later silenced with WD-40 — and I was worried the PSU was near the end of its lifespan. It had been 14.5 years!
The PSU I wanted was a seldom-seen white model. Unfortunately, it was OOS. The seller asked me if I could take the more common black model instead. I decided to wait.
Now, I ordered the black model. Downtime waits for no one.
If the white model was available, or had I bought the black one then, this downtime could have been avoided.
