MAGNUS EN1080 10 Year Anniversary Edition (ZBOX-EN1080)

Details

THE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION MAGNUS EN1080 is ZOTAC‘s second generation of water cooling Mini PC. It ascends gaming to the Virtual Reality with an Intel 6th Generation Skylake Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1080 graphics - the first Mini PC to equip NVIDIA‘s new generation flagship graphics. The unique SPECTRA lighting system gives the system a glow of its own, and users can customize the lighting with the SPECTRA utility.

• Resources
  • MAGNUS EN1080 10 Year Anniversary Edition (ZBOX-EN1080) -- Product Page
  • Windows Drivers: https://www.zotac.com/se/files/download/by_product?p_nid=607475&driver_type=All&os=All
  • Linux Drivers: https://webclone.zotac.com/eu/files/download/by_product?p_nid=607474&driver_type=All&os=All
  • Generic Driver Page (find the section titled "ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 ArcticStorm Thermaltake 10 週年版" )
    Windows version says: "FireStorm_V2.0.0.014TT for GTX 1080 ArcticStorm Thermaltake 10 Year Anniversary Edition"
  • How I finally fixed my 4k video stuttering problem, a warning to everyone trying or eventually going to try getting a 4k movie PC up and running

• Chipsets:
  • NCT5532 ???

• BIOS
  • Latest version as of 2023-05-23 10:12:49 EDT (Tuesday): Version 2K180904 ( 2018-09-04 ??? )
    https://www.zotac.com/download/mediadrivers/mb/bios/pb336EN1080.zip
    • MD5...: 052342935d95a96c55551dbc33e0db6f
    • SHA1..: 33e9afdb98233abedfc09201dc4cc06db1a4780e
    • SHA256: e9042d0029b69692d628b94d139a7d02679b200c3e9ffd2f3c7694c85c201a81
  • Files in archive:

    .
    ├── AfuEfix64.efi
    ├── B336P114.bin
    ├── EFI
    │   └── BOOT
    │       ├── BootIa32.efi
    │       └── Bootx64.efi
    ├── flash.nsh
    ├── fparts.txt
    ├── Fpt.efi
    ├── Note.txt
    ├── pb336EN1080.zip
    └── Readme.txt
    
    2 directories, 10 files
    

• PCI Devices:
  • 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v6/7th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 05)
  • 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 630 (rev 04)
  • 00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/v6 / E3-1500 v5 / 6th/7th/8th Gen Core Processor Gaussian Mixture Model
  • 00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 31)
  • 00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Thermal Subsystem (rev 31)
  • 00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 31)
  • 00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Q170/Q150/B150/H170/H110/Z170/CM236 Chipset SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] (rev 31)
  • 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
  • 00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f1)
  • 00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #7 (rev f1)
  • 00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #8 (rev f1)
  • 00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1)
  • 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation B150 Chipset LPC/eSPI Controller (rev 31)
  • 00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Power Management Controller (rev 31)
  • 00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family HD Audio Controller (rev 31)
  • 00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family SMBus (rev 31)
  • 01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 07)
  • 02:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1142 USB 3.1 Host Controller
  • 03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3165 (rev 81)
  • 04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 07)
  • 05:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM961/PM961

• USB Devices:
  • Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
  • Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
  • Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
  • Bus 001 Device 004: ID 2047:0305 Texas Instruments Zotac
  • Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:0153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 3-in-1 (SD/SDHC/SDXC) Card Reader
  • Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0a2a Intel Corp.
  • Bus 001 Device 005: ID 2047:0200 Texas Instruments MSP430 USB HID Bootstrap Loader
  • Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

• LM Sensors drivers known to work:
  • coretemp
  • nct6775

    coretemp-isa-0000
    Adapter: ISA adapter
    Package id 0:  +37.0°C  (high = +80.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
    Core 0:        +36.0°C  (high = +80.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
    Core 1:        +36.0°C  (high = +80.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
    Core 2:        +38.0°C  (high = +80.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
    Core 3:        +35.0°C  (high = +80.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
    
    acpitz-acpi-0
    Adapter: ACPI interface
    temp1:        +27.8°C  (crit = +119.0°C)
    temp2:        +29.8°C  (crit = +119.0°C)
    
    iwlwifi_1-virtual-0
    Adapter: Virtual device
    temp1:            N/A  
    
    pch_skylake-virtual-0
    Adapter: Virtual device
    temp1:        +48.0°C

• Processor
  • Intel Core i7-6700 (quad-core 3.4 GHz, up to 4.0 GHz)
• Graphics
  • Discrete: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 630 (rev 04)
  • PCI: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1080 w/ 8GB GDDR5x
  • Video Output:
    • 2 x DisplayPort 1.3
    • 3 x HDMI 2.0
  • Max 4 displays at a time
• Storage
  • 2.5“ SATA 6.0Gbps HDD/SSD bay
  • M.2 PCIE x4 / SATA SSD slot (22/42,22/60,22/80)
  • 3-in-1 SD/SDHC/SDXC SD Card Reader

For some reason, I had the following Linux kernel parameters set ( among others ) on this device for Ubuntu 16.04. I presume that some of this was necessary at one point:

...
splash fbcon=font:TER6x12 pcie_aspm=off i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 nouveau.modeset=0 snd_hda_intel.audio=1 vt.handoff=1
...

ChatGPT says...

Regarding i915.preliminary_hw_support=1:

The Linux boot parameter i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 was used to enable early support for upcoming Intel graphics hardware in the i915 driver before the hardware was officially supported. This was often necessary for new graphics hardware that was not yet fully supported in the Linux kernel.

However, this boot parameter has been deprecated and removed in recent versions of the Linux kernel, and is no longer necessary or functional. As of kernel version 4.3, preliminary hardware support was enabled by default in the i915 driver, and as of kernel version 4.15, this boot parameter was completely removed.

This means that if you're using a modern version of the Linux kernel, you do not need to use this boot parameter, and it will have no effect if you do. Your Intel HD Graphics 630 should be fully supported by the i915 driver without needing any special boot parameters.

If you're having trouble with your graphics, you should ensure that your Linux kernel and your Mesa drivers are up-to-date, as these provide the most recent support for Intel graphics hardware.

Regarding pcie_aspm=off:

The Linux boot parameter pcie_aspm=off is used to disable Active State Power Management (ASPM) for PCI Express (PCIe) devices.

ASPM is a power management protocol that allows an operating system to save power by setting PCIe devices to low power states when they're not in use. There are two ASPM states: L0s, which reduces power when there's no data to transmit, and L1, which reduces power further when the device is idle.

However, ASPM can sometimes cause issues, including instability or reduced performance, especially on systems with older or non-compliant hardware. If you're experiencing such issues, you might use pcie_aspm=off to disable ASPM and see if that resolves the problem.

Keep in mind that disabling ASPM can potentially increase power consumption, so it's generally recommended to leave it enabled if you're not experiencing any issues.

Regarding nouveau.modeset=0:

The Linux boot parameter nouveau.modeset=0 is used to disable kernel mode-setting for the Nouveau driver, which is the open source graphics driver for Nvidia graphics cards.

Kernel mode-setting (KMS) is a method for setting resolution and depth in the framebuffer for graphics cards. It allows native resolution in the framebuffer and can provide a nice graphical boot sequence.

However, there can be occasions where you may want to disable KMS. For example, you might want to install proprietary Nvidia drivers instead of using the open-source Nouveau drivers. The proprietary drivers often offer better performance or compatibility, but cannot be used at the same time as Nouveau. In such cases, disabling Nouveau with nouveau.modeset=0 prevents it from loading at boot time, which allows the proprietary drivers to load instead.

After you have installed the proprietary drivers, you might want to blacklist the Nouveau drivers to prevent them from loading in the future. This is typically done by adding a line to a file in /etc/modprobe.d/ (e.g., /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf) that reads blacklist nouveau.

Remember to be careful when modifying these settings, as they can affect the boot process and display of your system. Always make sure you have a way to undo your changes, such as by making a backup of any configuration files you modify.