BKHD-1264-NAS Intel N100 NAS Motherboard

The BKHD-1264-NAS is a mini-ITX (170×170mm) NAS motherboard built around the Intel N100 processor (Alder Lake-N). It provides 6 SATA ports, 4× Intel I226-V 2.5GbE NICs, one DDR5 SO-DIMM slot, and two M.2 NVMe slots. Manufactured by Shenzhen Beikong Industrial Control Co., Ltd. (深圳市倍控工控有限公司), branded as BKHD.

The "1264" in the model name most likely refers to the Intel FCBGA1264 ball grid array package used by Alder Lake-N processors (no BKHD source confirms this, but the correlation is strong).

This board is sold under several brand names. SZBOX, HKUXZR, and other Amazon/AliExpress sellers ship the same PCB — the BKHD model number often appears in the BIOS and manuals even on rebranded units. BKHD is the ODM (original design manufacturer), not a reseller.

Specifications

BKHD-1264-NAS Specifications
Component	Detail
CPU	Intel N100 (Alder Lake-N), 4 E-cores / 4 threads, 3.4 GHz boost, 6W TDP
CPU variants	N150 available on the 1264-NAS-17 revision
Memory	1× DDR5 SO-DIMM, 4800 MT/s. Officially 16 GB max; 32 GB confirmed working by multiple community users. 48 GB SO-DIMMs exist but N100 compatibility is unverified.
SATA	6× SATA III (6 Gb/s) — 2 native from N100 SoC + 4 via JMicron JMB585 bridge (PCIe Gen3 x2)
NVMe	1× M.2 2280 NVMe + 1× M.2 2280 NVMe/NGFF (switchable via jumper)
Networking	4× Intel I226-V 2.5GbE
Display	1× HDMI 2.0 + 1× DisplayPort
PCIe	1× PCIe 3.0 x1 (open-ended slot)
USB	2× USB 3.0 + 2× USB 2.0 (rear) + internal headers
Power	24-pin ATX + 4-pin CPU
BIOS	AMI Aptio V (version 2.22.1287 on units shipped late 2023)
Form factor	Mini-ITX (170 × 170 mm)
Manufacturer	BKHD / Shenzhen Beikong Industrial Control Co., Ltd.

SATA controller (JMB585)

The N100 SoC provides 2 native SATA ports. The remaining ports come from a JMicron JMB585 PCIe-to-SATA bridge chip (5-port controller, but board layout determines how many are physically accessible — community reports indicate 4 JMB585 ports are wired out, giving 6 total). The JMB585 is a PCIe Gen3 x2 device (not x1 — some sources confuse the chip spec with the physical slot on adapter cards). Theoretical aggregate bandwidth is ~2 GB/s across the JMB585 ports.

Measured performance (OpenMediaVault forum user testing with spinning drives):

3 drives simultaneous: ~136 MB/s write, ~145 MB/s read per drive
Single drive: ~360 MB/s write

Known issues:

ALPM must be disabled. Link Active Power Management is enabled by default and causes freezes/crashes with multiple drives. Set max_performance on all SCSI host link power management policies.
Crashes reported during parity checks with multiple 14 TB+ drives.
Controller lacks a heatsink despite mounting holes on the PCB.

Networking (Intel I226-V)

The 4× I226-V NICs are rated at 2.5 Gbps per port, 10 Gbps aggregate theoretical maximum. The I226-V has a known ASPM (Active State Power Management) bug that affects boards with this NIC broadly — including CWWK, BKHD, Topton, and even Intel's own NUC13/NUC14 products.

Symptoms: NICs go unresponsive without log entries. The trigger is waking from L1/L1.2 power states (idle-to-active transition), not sustained load. Both rev 04 and rev 06 silicon are affected — no "fixed" revision exists in public sources.

Required mitigations (apply all):

Disable ASPM in BIOS (all instances)
Kernel parameter: pcie_aspm=off
Disable Energy Efficient Ethernet: ethtool --set-eee ethN eee off
Optional: reflash NIC firmware via Intel VERSA package

The igc driver has supported I226-V since kernel 5.10 (device ID 8086:125c). Kernel 6.1+ is recommended as a platform minimum for full Alder Lake-N support.

Memory compatibility

Confirmed working:

Silicon Power DDR5-4800 32 GB (SP032GBSVU480F02)
Samsung DDR5-5600 16 GB SO-DIMM

Known problematic:

Crucial DDR5-4800 CL40 16 GB (CT16G48C40S5) — reported failure on OMV forum (user reverted to different module)
Corsair Vengeance CMSX16GX5M1A4800C40 (16 GB) — 3-beep error, boot failure
Corsair Vengeance generally — fails memtest86 after 1–2 passes on some units

RAM IC manufacturer matters more than brand. SK Hynix and Samsung ICs are the safest choices. Even DDR5-5600 modules will run at 4800 MT/s — the board locks speed regardless of module rating. Despite the official 16 GB limit, 32 GB and 48 GB modules work — the N100's memory controller accepts larger SO-DIMMs than Intel's spec sheet suggests.

ECC: Intel N100 does not support ECC. Intel ARK explicitly lists ECC as "No." ECC SO-DIMMs may physically fit but ECC bits are ignored. Use filesystem-level checksums (ZFS, btrfs, md integrity) as mitigation.

BIOS

Known BIOS versions

Version	Approx. date	Notes
GF1264NP124LV11R003	2023	Early version; reported unstable on -6L variant
GF1264NP124LV11R007	Nov 2023	Available on Internet Archive; for the 4L mini-PC variant
Ver 1.1 (AMI 2.22.1287)	Dec 2023	NAS variant, shipped on late-2023 units
AMI 2.22.1289+	Unknown	Exposes additional power profile settings

Where to get BIOS updates

BKHD official: bkipc.com/en/new/BIOS-Update.html — download links have been reported broken; contact info@bkipc.com or the AliExpress seller directly.
Internet Archive: Factory AMI BIOS for the 1264NP-4L variant. Note: this is the mini-PC variant, not the NAS variant. Verify board model match before flashing.
Community mods (ServeTheHome forums): Modified BIOS ROMs for v1.5 boards that expose hidden settings (memory config, power profiles). Thread 42624.

BIOS quirks

Hidden settings: Memory configuration, overclocking, and power management menus exist in the AMI Aptio firmware but are suppressed. Users have exposed them with AMIBCP.
No POST beep control: Stock BIOS cannot silence startup beeps.
RAM speed locked: DDR5-5600 modules run at 4800 MT/s. OCSafeMode defaults force conservative timings.
RTC battery: System clock may show 2021 on first boot — RTC battery may be dead or disconnected from shipping.
BIOS hangs: Pre-update firmware may reboot if left in BIOS setup for extended periods.
First boot delay: 1–2 minute memory self-test on first power-on is normal AMI behavior.

A user on the -6L variant reported that a BIOS update from the vendor resolved all crashes and lockups — the single strongest data point that BIOS updates improve reliability on these boards.

Fan control

Status: broken in stock BIOS. Manufacturer has acknowledged the issue.

Fans run at maximum speed constantly despite the board having PWM-capable headers. The BIOS "Smart Fan Mode" settings exist but are ineffective. During POST/BIOS screens, fans do reduce speed — confirming the hardware supports PWM but runtime firmware does not regulate it.

Manufacturer statement: "PWM is not working on this motherboard yet and will eventually be handled in the future."

Workarounds:

CPU fan header: Smart fan control reportedly works on the CPU fan header only. Connect chassis fans to it.
External controller: ATtiny85-based PWM controller with temperature thresholds.
Low-noise fans at full speed: Noctua or similar fans may be acceptable even at full RPM.
Linux userspace fancontrol is not viable — the board does not expose a PWM interface to hwmon.

Linux production deployment

Kernel parameters

intel_idle.max_cstates=2          # Precautionary — prevents potential deep C-state resets (confirmed necessary on older Bay Trail/Braswell; unconfirmed but low-risk on N100)
pcie_aspm=off                     # Required — prevents I226-V NIC drops
nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=0  # Prevents NVMe power-state stalls

Watchdog

Hardware watchdog supported via iTCO_wdt. Load modules: i2c_i801, i2c_smbus, iTCO_wdt. Default 30-second heartbeat. The ACPI WDAT-based wdat_wdt driver may be a more reliable alternative on some units — test on actual hardware before relying on it for headless recovery.

IOMMU

Clean IOMMU group separation on Alder Lake-N. iGPU in its own group, NICs typically separate. ACS override available if needed: pcie_acs_override=downstream,multifunction.

No IPMI/BMC

This board has no out-of-band management. Use watchdog timer + auto-power-restore (BIOS setting) + external KVM (such as NanoKVM) for remote access.

PXE boot

I226-V NICs support PXE. No specific reliability issues reported.

Power consumption

Measured by Pulsed Media (2 units, 6× drives each): ~175 W at full load (all drives writing, CPU maxed out).

Community-reported figures below are from various online sources with unknown drive counts and configurations. Treat as rough estimates only.

State	Community-reported (unverified)	Notes
Board only, idle (no drives)	6–15 W	Varies with NIC count, RAM
All drives spun down	~23 W	Drive count not specified
Drives spun up, idle	~44 W	Reported with 4 drives
Active I/O (production)	~60–80 W	Drive count/type not specified
Peak	~90 W	Drive count/type not specified
Full load (6× HDDs writing + CPU max)	~175 W	Pulsed Media measured, 2 units tested

Per component (community estimates): N100 idle 3–5 W, load 15–25 W. Each spinning HDD adds 6–8 W. Disabling ASPM adds ~2–3 W. Limiting C-states adds ~1–2 W. HDDs dominate total system draw.

Community reports of 7–8 W idle on Proxmox with extensive power-saving (modified BIOS 2.22.1289+), but this requires ASPM enabled — which conflicts with I226-V NIC stability.

Thermal

CPU idle: ~32°C. Under load: ~60–65°C. Intel Tjunction is 105°C — the N100 will not thermal throttle with any reasonable cooling solution.

Some boards ship with a conservative PL1 = 6 W. Setting PL1 = 15 W and PL2 = 25 W in BIOS unlocks full performance. Note: the 25 W PL2 is a vendor-configured BIOS setting, not an Intel processor specification (Intel ARK lists TDP as 6 W only).

Known design flaws

PWM fan control non-functional (manufacturer acknowledged)
M.2 slots limited to PCIe x1
Second M.2 slot unreliable on some units
No serial console header
PCIe x1 expansion slot only
Single SO-DIMM slot (no dual-channel memory)
Minimal vendor documentation; BIOS download links frequently broken
Missing heatsink on JMB585 SATA controller

Production deployment checklist

Flash latest available BIOS (contact seller or check community sources)
Verify RAM uses Samsung or SK Hynix ICs
Disable ASPM in BIOS (all instances)
Set kernel parameters: intel_idle.max_cstates=2 pcie_aspm=off nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=0
Disable EEE: ethtool --set-eee ethN eee off
Disable ALPM: echo max_performance > /sys/class/scsi_host/hostN/link_power_management_policy
Set power-on-AC-restore to "On" in BIOS
Configure iTCO watchdog (or wdat_wdt)
Set BIOS power limits: PL1 = 15 W, PL2 = 25 W
Connect fans to CPU fan header (only working smart-fan port)
Set NTP immediately (RTC clock may be wrong out of box)
Monitor JMB585 during first md rebuild

Manufacturer

BKHD is a brand of Shenzhen Beikong Industrial Control Co., Ltd. (深圳市倍控工控有限公司), based in Longhua District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The company claims 13 years of industrial control technology experience and claims to operate its own SMT production lines. They advertise full-process ODM services — other brands (SZBOX, HKUXZR) sell BKHD-designed boards under their own names.

BKHD is a separate company from CWWK (ChangWang, 创旺), another Shenzhen NAS motherboard manufacturer. CWWK's independent manufacturing was confirmed by a NASCompares factory visit in 2025; BKHD's independent manufacturing is claimed but not independently verified. The convergent specifications across brands (N100 + JMB585 + I226-V + DDR5 SO-DIMM + mini-ITX) reflect the shared Intel reference platform, not shared PCB designs.

Website: bkipc.com | Store: bkminipc.com | Contact: info@bkipc.com