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NickyZai NUC Dedicated Server Review: Fantastic Support, Exotic Location, Decent CPU, Cost-effective
2 weeks ago, Nicky posted an offer thread regarding their Asia Affordable Dedicated NUC Hosting - Starting from $17.50/month.
I am always on the hunt for an impossible low-cost dedicated server in Asia with an integrated GPU (< $25/m). While it is possible to get a similar price dedicated server easily in Europe/US, this price in Asia (even without iGPU) is very difficult. Needless to say, I bought one to test hence the review
During the process, I made some mistakes which resulted in needing him to reboot the machine physically for me multiple times. Despite me bothering him so many times, he responded to most of my messages within 2 hours. Thanks @nickyzai for the great support so far!
Some of you might be wondering did he hosts this in his basement? No, this is a proper Tier-3 datacenter (CX2, Cyberjaya, Malaysia) that peered with all major local ISPs (AS131310).
Personally, I feel it could be great to use it as a Plex/Transcoding server or even make it a simple 720p Cloud Gaming machine with its iGPU. The performance is not going to be great but still noticeable when doing 3D/Video Encoding compare to pure CPU only in VPS.
My Specs:
- Intel NUC8i3BEH
- Intel i3-8109U (2 Cores/4 Threads)
- Integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655
- 8GB DDR4
- 240GB M.2 SATA SSD
- 20 x IPv4 NAT Ports + 1 x /64 IPv6
- Unmetered @ 100Mbps
- $17.50/month
Pros:
- Budget dedicated server with iGPU (Good for running Plex/Transcoding, Emulator, simple 720p Cloud Gaming)
- Exotic location (Asia)
- Fantastic support
- Decent Asia routing / latency
- Highly Customisable (Can contact them for quotes on different configurations such as huge HDD for Plex)
Cons:
- IPMI / remote console is request-basis (Not dedicated)
- 100Mbps only (Upgradable)
- Most parts of the IPv6 internet is still not routable (They are fixing this)
- NAT IPv4 only
Looking Glass: http://lg.nickyzai.com:8082/
Full Disclosure: I only used their service for ~12 days, if something changed I will update this thread. (Most likely when I reached 30 and 90 days of using it)
Benchmarks / Network Test
dnstools.ws
| Location | Latency |
| ----------------- | ------- |
| Perth, Australia | 224.8ms |
| Sydney, Australia | 103.6ms |
| Austria | 163ms |
| Belgium | 218.8ms |
| Bulgaria | 193.8ms |
| Canada | 253.4ms |
| Estonia | 174ms |
| Finland | 174ms |
| France | 144ms |
| Germany | 203ms |
| Italy | 145ms |
| Japan | 82ms |
| London | 238ms |
| Luxembourg | 212.2ms |
| Norway | 175.2ms |
| Netherlands | 159.4ms |
| New Zealand | 126ms |
| Poland | 193ms |
| Romania | 186.8ms |
| Russia | 174ms |
| Singapore | 8.9ms |
| South Africa | 228ms |
| Spain | 151.6ms |
| Sweden | 222.6ms |
| Taiwan | 67.6ms |
| Las Vegas, USA | 192.2ms |
| New York, USA | 218.4ms |
ping.pe
YABS
# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #
# Yet-Another-Bench-Script #
# v2021-06-05 #
# https://github.com/masonr/yet-another-bench-script #
# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #
Mon 09 Aug 2021 11:25:16 PM +08
Basic System Information:
---------------------------------
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8109U CPU @ 3.00GHz
CPU cores : 4 @ 3600.479 MHz
AES-NI : ✔ Enabled
VM-x/AMD-V : ✔ Enabled
RAM : 7.6 GiB
Swap : 977.0 MiB
Disk : 78.8 GiB
fio Disk Speed Tests (Mixed R/W 50/50):
---------------------------------
Block Size | 4k (IOPS) | 64k (IOPS)
------ | --- ---- | ---- ----
Read | 83.15 MB/s (20.7k) | 103.96 MB/s (1.6k)
Write | 83.37 MB/s (20.8k) | 104.51 MB/s (1.6k)
Total | 166.53 MB/s (41.6k) | 208.48 MB/s (3.2k)
| |
Block Size | 512k (IOPS) | 1m (IOPS)
------ | --- ---- | ---- ----
Read | 112.03 MB/s (218) | 115.23 MB/s (112)
Write | 117.98 MB/s (230) | 122.91 MB/s (120)
Total | 230.02 MB/s (448) | 238.14 MB/s (232)
iperf3 Network Speed Tests (IPv4):
---------------------------------
Provider | Location (Link) | Send Speed | Recv Speed
| | |
Clouvider | London, UK (10G) | 87.2 Mbits/sec | 79.6 Mbits/sec
Online.net | Paris, FR (10G) | 83.7 Mbits/sec | 28.1 Mbits/sec
WorldStream | The Netherlands (10G) | 84.8 Mbits/sec | 71.3 Mbits/sec
Biznet | Jakarta, Indonesia (1G) | 92.7 Mbits/sec | 96.6 Mbits/sec
Clouvider | NYC, NY, US (10G) | 80.6 Mbits/sec | 42.9 Mbits/sec
Velocity Online | Tallahassee, FL, US (10G) | busy | 17.9 Mbits/sec
Clouvider | Los Angeles, CA, US (10G) | 38.5 Mbits/sec | 50.3 Mbits/sec
Iveloz Telecom | Sao Paulo, BR (2G) | busy | 7.35 Mbits/sec
Monster.bench
## Global Speedtest.net
Location Upload Download Ping
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nearby 93.20 Mbit/s 96.30 Mbit/s 10.517 ms
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
USA, New York (Optimum) 38.34 Mbit/s 13.62 Mbit/s 219.692 ms
USA, Chicago (Windstream) 48.07 Mbit/s 10.10 Mbit/s 201.535 ms
USA, Dallas (Frontier) 56.33 Mbit/s 12.72 Mbit/s 213.270 ms
USA, Miami (Sprint) 17.30 Mbit/s 13.09 Mbit/s 248.642 ms
USA, Los Angeles (Windstream) 33.74 Mbit/s 8.93 Mbit/s 235.908 ms
UK, London (toob Ltd) 59.68 Mbit/s 21.48 Mbit/s 160.669 ms
France, Lyon (SFR) 37.95 Mbit/s 15.50 Mbit/s 166.447 ms
Germany, Berlin (DNS:NET) 55.34 Mbit/s 18.62 Mbit/s 187.037 ms
Spain, Madrid (MasMovil) 44.96 Mbit/s 16.28 Mbit/s 186.775 ms
Italy, Rome (Unidata) 57.23 Mbit/s 33.75 Mbit/s 168.561 ms
Russia, Moscow (Rostelecom) 35.66 Mbit/s 13.14 Mbit/s 208.792 ms
Israel, Haifa (013Netvision) 52.64 Mbit/s 15.12 Mbit/s 227.756 ms
India, New Delhi (Weebo) 87.20 Mbit/s 62.91 Mbit/s 75.196 ms
Singapore (FirstMedia) 91.36 Mbit/s 76.62 Mbit/s 15.171 ms
Japan, Tsukuba (SoftEther) 86.10 Mbit/s 60.72 Mbit/s 80.844 ms
Australia, Sydney (Optus) 65.90 Mbit/s 48.56 Mbit/s 101.141 ms
RSA, Randburg (Cool Ideas) 20.93 Mbit/s 25.37 Mbit/s 227.533 ms
Brazil, Sao Paulo (Criare) 14.97 Mbit/s 7.46 Mbit/s 329.143 ms
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Asia Speedtest.net
Location Upload Download Ping
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nearby 92.84 Mbit/s 93.68 Mbit/s 7.926 ms
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
India, New Delhi (Weebo) 82.41 Mbit/s 58.25 Mbit/s 74.428 ms
India, Mumbai (SevenStar) 81.80 Mbit/s 61.92 Mbit/s 65.530 ms
India, Bengaluru (I-ON) 84.18 Mbit/s 60.89 Mbit/s 48.449 ms
Sri Lanka, Colombo (Telecom PLC) 37.84 Mbit/s 46.57 Mbit/s 76.792 ms
Pakistan, Islamabad (Telenor) 60.34 Mbit/s 37.63 Mbit/s 112.515 ms
Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar (Mobicom) 62.86 Mbit/s 36.75 Mbit/s 122.529 ms
Bangladesh, Dhaka (Skytel) 92.30 Mbit/s 65.80 Mbit/s 55.415 ms
Bhutan, Thimphu (Bhutan Telecom) 82.48 Mbit/s 48.45 Mbit/s 81.621 ms
Myanmar, Mandalay (Ooredoo) 79.30 Mbit/s 49.16 Mbit/s 91.252 ms
Laos, Vientaine (Mangkone) 70.87 Mbit/s 57.78 Mbit/s 72.207 ms
Thailand, Bangkok (CAT Telecom) 83.09 Mbit/s 44.23 Mbit/s 64.600 ms
Cambodia, Phnom Penh (Smart) 8.45 Mbit/s 65.79 Mbit/s 50.022 ms
Vietnam, Hanoi (Viettel) 97.78 Mbit/s 63.65 Mbit/s 61.256 ms
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (Extreme) 87.45 Mbit/s 89.62 Mbit/s 1.409 ms
Singapore (PT FirstMedia) 9.07 Mbit/s 73.23 Mbit/s 51.699 ms
Indonesia, Jakarta (Desnet) 90.40 Mbit/s 92.52 Mbit/s 21.172 ms
Philippines, Manila (Globe Tel) 39.80 Mbit/s 25.53 Mbit/s 53.107 ms
Hong Kong (fdcservers) 88.70 Mbit/s 75.80 Mbit/s 44.296 ms
Taiwan, Taipei (TAIFO) 31.16 Mbit/s 66.25 Mbit/s 64.172 ms
Japan, Tsukuba (SoftEther) 77.43 Mbit/s 46.79 Mbit/s 81.267 ms
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments
no geekbench?
Kinda pointless since the CPU is fully dedicated (hence the dedicated server), but let me run one for you
@FAT32
Nice find!
Btw, in case you are interested i can point you to a download of my benchmark (linux amd64) and I can provide a network target file too. Just PM me if you are interested (I'm also willing to do it myself but I guess you wouldn't feel well giving me access).
Running @jsg self-developed binary for testing
Note: Performance might not be exactly bare-metal as I am running in a LXC container (well, for security purpose of running an unknown script)
Wow, that seems to be a very nice box! That's almost what I would expect from a Ryzen with a quite decent NVMe. Really nice!
Guys, anyone in Asia-Pacific looking for a nice dedi deal: absolutely have a look at http://nickyzai.com for those dedis @FAT32 recommended!
That disk is a WD Blue 250GB M.2 SATA, if you go for i5 and above you get NVMe
@nickyzai do you provide colocation for something like a raspberry Pi 4?
Thanks for the review bro @FAT32 Hope you like the NUC.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Yea, we can discuss about it if you wanted to colo your RPi4.
NAT IPv4 only is a major problem and a no go. Why there is no normal IP?
Have you seen the prices on ipv4.global?
Of course, but it is not a reason to offer nat . Nat servers is toys without real world usage option. Nickyzai website is half backed, order links are lorem ipsums. Is it really safe to order?
In Exotic location like Malaysia, some datacenters charge $5-10/m for just 1 additional IPv4. Last I heard from Nicky he is trying to negotiate for cheaper IPv4 but we will see.
We (LET mods/OGs) did some background check on LET new providers and NickyZai seems legit and have good records of past hosting experience on private game servers. He also have proper business registered and is not hiding behind anything.
You can check and order from https://billing.nickyzai.com instead
Edit: However, it is best to do your own due diligence while purchasing any services online
Saw their offer after it was posted but I have high storage requirements. If it were around 450GB SSD or NVMe
Can always ask @nickyzai for upgrades - I asked him and would say their price for upgrade is reasonable
Nice. Currently discussing with another provider but I will keep an eye on them. In their next offer, I might grab one. Hope they increase storage space without increasing prices
We are still trying our best to get more IPv4 that can be offered to LET community. It is because of the bundled deals with the DC operator one the special use case with low power devices in DC racks.
I am open for discussion for any customization, mix and match, but I can't promise you on the price itself.
Legit! Been using 2 servers from him and very approachable.
Lol
M.2 is the form factor and SATA is the standard. There's also M.2 NVMe which is what is being used for their i5+ range.
In case you have doubts, check their official website
https://shop.westerndigital.com/en-us/products/internal-drives/wd-blue-sata-m-2-ssd
No, sorry, I was laughing at the nonsensical disk numbers from the non-yabs bench. But I'll leave it at that.
If you understood how it works you would not laugh.
Explanation (again): Usually the OS running on the VM caches. Beneath that the OS on the node caches too. Plus there often is a cache on the Raid controller.
Result: a SSD is not limited to ca. 550 MB (Sata 6 Gb); the device itself is but not what an OS read or write call delivers. I've seen quite a few SSDs with values seeming to come from a NVMe. Also unlike many scripts (which you seem to like) my benchmark software does not "measure" a read/write mix.
Just sanity check your number. Copy a 4GB ISO from one place on the SSD to another and time it. Is it closer to 120MB/s or 800MB/s?
we might know someone.