Suitable replacement motherboard for helios64?

[yaleman 0]

I'm sick of having to play reset-it-until-it-boots-then-it-reboots-later game, anyone know a similar motherboard I can use in place of the helios64 with minimal extra messing around? I totally understand that the front and back panel will be a problem to set up, I just don't want to have to hack the main case part, and have support for the five SATA ports.

[Alexander Eiblinger 3]

Not sure if this is something you want to consider:
Using a Rasperry Pi 4 Compute Module ("CM4") it is possible to build a not too bad NAS
To use the CM4 you need a "IO Board" (e.g. https://www.berrybase.de/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-computer/compute-modules/raspberry-pi-compute-module-4-io-board).

The IO board has a PCIe port - and there you can plugin e.g. a 6bay SATA card. So in the end you get RP4 with as many SATA ports as you want / need. 
I have this running (but not in the enclosure of the Helios64) - performance is not that good as of the Helios64, but pretty close. It is running without any issues so far. 
The size of the system could fit into the Helios64 enclosure - some tinkering will be needed of course. 

[yaleman 0]

Yeah, I'll fall back to that kind of thing once I've exhausted the other options - I"m a little surprised that there aren't more Nano-ITX boards around

[ebin-dev 65]

Rock 5 B (Pico ITX - 8-core) is really powerful and power efficient (8nm lithography). I have preordered one.

[yaleman 0]

3 minutes ago, ebin-dev said:

Rock Pi 5 B (Pico ITX - 8-core) is really powerful and power efficient (8nm lithography). I have preordered one.

 

That doesn't look like it has any SATA ports...?

[Jin H. Jung 0]

1 hour ago, yaleman said:

 

That doesn't look like it has any SATA ports...?

You can use m.2 to sata. Or you may use rock pi 4 + penta sata hat

[mrjpaxton 2]

I'm really glad people are discussing this instead of blatantly tossing a perfectly good case with parts, leading to more e-waste.

 

I had almost forgot the case was Nano-ITX compatible.

 

The biggest challenges will be getting the fans, LEDs, the backup battery, and hardware buttons (power/reset) to work. The back with the I/O shield will also need to be replaced, or removed completely.

 

Otherwise, it sounds doable.

[yaleman 0]

18 minutes ago, mrjpaxton said:

I'm really glad people are discussing this instead of blatantly tossing a perfectly good case with parts, leading to more e-waste.

 

I had almost forgot the case was Nano-ITX compatible.

 

The biggest challenges will be getting the fans, LEDs, the backup battery, and hardware buttons (power/reset) to work. The back with the I/O shield will also need to be replaced, or removed completely.

 

Otherwise, it sounds doable.

 

Yeah, except the only options that seem to be available are some rando old intel aotec boards, so at this point I'm looking at a cheap matx AMD setup

[freed00m 1]

Ok, I will drop here one suitable yet ridiculously expensive replacement.

Overkill I know.

 

HoneyComb LX2 Workstation.

https://www.solid-run.com/arm-servers-networking-platforms/honeycomb-servers-workstation/#honeycomb-workstation

 

My friend got one and very satisfied and he is also underwhelmed Helios64 user.

 

I would get that one too, but I am cheap not gonna lie.

 

I talked with him and he likes the board, the u-boot runs quite OK (maybe upstreamed even) + he tried to compile u-boot for helios64 to boot something else than amrbian kernel without much success.

 

It has 4x SATA 3.0 even some 8xPCI-e with standalone 4xPCI-e for M2-slot.

 

But I think no UPS support + it is probably more power hungry than helios64.

Also I've seen power supplies so small and mountable without case shielding (made in china), maybe it could fit inside also.