After checking out the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown of the Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake mini PC, we reviewed the Intel Core 3 304 computer with Windows 11 in detail. We’ve now had time to test the Beelink EQi mini PC running Ubuntu 26.04 with Linux 7.0/7.1 kernels.
We’ll report our experience with feature testing, benchmark results, 2.5GbE, 10GbE, and WiFi 6 networking evaluation, storage and USB/Thunderbolt tests, and more, including power consumption measurements.
Ubuntu 26.04 installation and system information
I’d usually resize the Windows partition to install Ubuntu alongside it in dual boot configuration. However, since the Beelink EQi mini PC also comes with two PCIe Gen4 x1/x2 sockets, I installed Ubuntu 26.04 on a 256GB NVMe (PCIe Gen3 x4) SSD fitted into the PCIe x2 socket and left the Windows 11 partition on the UFS storage alone. Despite the Intel Core 3 304 chip being a brand-new CPU, I had no issues during installation.
Going to the Settings -> About window shows we have an AZW EQi computer powered by an Intel Core 3 304 penta-core processor with Intel Graphics (WCL), 16 GB of memory, and a 895.9 GB total disk capacity (built-in UFS + 2x NVMe SSDs) with Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 64-bit and Linux 7.0.0-27 kernel. For reference, Beelink is a brand owned by Shenzhen AZW Technology Co., Ltd.
We can get more information with the inxi utility:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ sudo inxi -Fc0 System: Host: EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX Kernel: 7.0.0-27-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Console: pty pts/2 Distro: Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute Raccoon) Machine: Type: Mini-pc Mobo: AZW model: EQi serial: N/A Firmware: UEFI vendor: American Megatrends LLC. v: ELWL001 date: 06/26/2026 CPU: Info: 5-core model: Intel Core 3 304 bits: 64 type: MCP cache: L2: 7 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 400 min/max: 400/4500:3300 cores: 1: 400 2: 400 3: 400 4: 400 5: 400 Graphics: Device-1: Intel Wildcat Lake [Intel Graphics] driver: xe v: kernel Display: unspecified server: Xwayland v: 24.1.10 driver: gpu: xe tty: 80x24 resolution: 1920x1080 API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,surfaceless,device API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 26.0.3-1ubuntu1 note: console (EGL sourced) renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (WCL), llvmpipe (LLVM 21.1.8 256 bits) Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo x11: xdriinfo, xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr Audio: Device-1: Intel driver: snd_hda_intel API: ALSA v: k7.0.0-27-generic status: kernel-api Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8127 10GbE driver: r8169 IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: 78:55:36:0b:87:e7 Device-2: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter driver: mt7921e IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: 50:bb:b5:db:9e:56 Device-3: Intel Ethernet I226-V driver: igc IF: enp89s0 state: down mac: 78:55:36:0b:87:e8 Bluetooth: Device-1: IMC Networks Wireless_Device driver: btusb type: USB Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 state: up address: 50:BB:B5:DB:9E:57 bt-v: 5.4 Drives: Local Storage: total: 834.41 GiB used: 10.78 GiB (1.3%) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 model: PCIe SSD size: 119.24 GiB ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 model: PCIe SSD size: 238.47 GiB ID-3: /dev/sda model: YMUSAB4TF3D1C1 size: 476.69 GiB ID-4: /dev/sdb model: YMUSAB4TF3D1C1 size: 4 MiB ID-5: /dev/sdc model: YMUSAB4TF3D1C1 size: 4 MiB Partition: ID-1: / size: 230.58 GiB used: 10.78 GiB (4.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme1n1p5 ID-2: /boot/efi size: 1.05 GiB used: 6.3 MiB (0.6%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme1n1p4 Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swap.img Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A Info: Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 14.77 GiB used: 1.68 GiB (11.4%) Processes: 282 Uptime: 19m Init: systemd Shell: Sudo inxi: 3.3.40 |
The utility detects a penta-core Intel Core 3 304 CPU clocked from 400 MHz to 4500 MHz (P Cores) and 3300 MHz (E cores), 16 GB of RAM, the three storage devices, including the YMUSAB4TF3D1C1 UFS flash, Realtek RTL8127 10GbE controller, MediaTek MT7922 802.11ax WiFi 6 (and Bluetooth) network, and an Intel I226-V Ethernet controller. The 4500 MHz is a little odd, since the maximum Turbo frequency for the Intel Core 3 304 is 4300 MHz on Intel Ark, but more on that a little later.
Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake benchmarks on Ubuntu 26.04
Let’s start the benchmarks with the usual sbc-bench.sh script:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ sudo ./sbc-bench.sh -r Starting to examine hardware/software for review purposes... sbc-bench v0.9.72 Installing needed tools: apt-get -f -qq -y install gcc make build-essential powercap-utils curl git links mmc-utils smartmontools stress-ng, p7zip 16.02, tinymembench, ramlat, mhz, cpufetch, cpuminer. Done. Checking cpufreq OPP. Done. Executing tinymembench. Done. Executing RAM latency tester. Done. Executing OpenSSL benchmark. Done. Executing 7-zip benchmark. Done. Throttling test: heating up the device, 5 more minutes to wait. Done. Checking cpufreq OPP again. Done (13 minutes elapsed). Results validation: * Advertised vs. measured max CPU clockspeed: -4.8% before, -4.8% after -> https://tinyurl.com/32w9rr94 * No swapping * Background activity (%system) OK * Powercap detected. Details: "sudo powercap-info -p intel-rapl" -> https://tinyurl.com/4jh9nevj # AZW EQi / 3 304 Tested with sbc-bench v0.9.72 on Sun, 12 Jul 2026 21:05:48 +0700. ### General information: The CPU features 2 clusters of different core types: 3 304, Kernel: x86_64, Userland: amd64 CPU sysfs topology (clusters, cpufreq members, clockspeeds) cpufreq min max CPU cluster policy speed speed core type 0 0 0 400 4500 Performance 1 0 1 400 3300 Efficiency 2 0 2 400 3300 Efficiency 3 0 3 400 3300 Efficiency 4 0 4 400 3300 Efficiency 15129 KB available RAM ### Policies (performance vs. idle consumption): Status of performance related policies found below /sys: /sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy: default [performance] powersave powersupersave ### Clockspeeds (idle vs. heated up): Before at 40.0°C: cpu0 (Performance): OPP: 4500, Measured: 4285 (-4.8%) cpu1-cpu4 (Efficiency): OPP: 3300, Measured: 3279 After at 53.0°C: cpu0 (Performance): OPP: 4500, Measured: 4285 (-4.8%) cpu1-cpu4 (Efficiency): OPP: 3300, Measured: 3280 ### Performance baseline * cpu0 (Performance): memcpy: 21001.1 MB/s, memchr: 29774.0 MB/s, memset: 48200.1 MB/s * cpu1 (Efficiency): memcpy: 15501.7 MB/s, memchr: 20704.5 MB/s, memset: 23329.5 MB/s * cpu0 (Performance) 16M latency: 78.42 61.23 77.94 60.80 77.39 58.89 51.40 47.14 * cpu1 (Efficiency) 16M latency: 119.0 103.7 120.6 126.9 120.2 93.30 72.03 67.36 * cpu0 (Performance) 128M latency: 145.7 142.6 152.1 142.0 153.5 136.4 123.4 119.2 * cpu1 (Efficiency) 128M latency: 143.0 149.1 157.3 157.7 155.1 141.3 135.9 132.5 * 7-zip MIPS (3 consecutive runs): 17533, 15880, 15666 (16360 avg), single-threaded: 5180 * `aes-256-cbc 1272012.60k 1474158.89k 1511065.60k 1502972.59k 1517660.84k 1523187.71k (Performance)` * `aes-256-cbc 1005650.93k 1123062.95k 1179487.32k 1189576.36k 1190636.20k 1192427.52k (Efficiency)` ### PCIe and storage devices: * Intel Wildcat Lake [Intel Graphics] (Onboard - Video): driver in use: xe * Intel Device 4d31 (Onboard - Other): driver in use: xhci_hcd * Intel Device 4d33 (Onboard - Other): driver in use: thunderbolt * Intel Device 4d7d (Onboard - Other): driver in use: xhci_hcd * Intel Device 4d47 (Onboard - Other): driver in use: ufshcd * Intel Device 4d28 (Onboard - Sound): driver in use: snd_hda_intel * Realtek RTL8127 10GbE: Speed 16GT/s, Width x1, driver in use: r8169, * MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, driver in use: mt7921e, * Intel Ethernet I226-V: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, driver in use: igc, ASPM Disabled * 119.2GB "PCIe SSD" SSD as /dev/nvme0: Speed 8GT/s, Width x1 (downgraded), 0% worn out, drive temp: 30°C, ASPM Disabled * 238.5GB "PCIe SSD" SSD as /dev/nvme1: Speed 8GT/s, Width x2 (downgraded), 0% worn out, drive temp: 31°C, ASPM Disabled * 476.7GB YMTC YMUSAB4TF3D1C1 SPC-4 compliant UFS module: /dev/sda, Driver=ufshcd * Winbond W25Q256JW 32MB SPI NOR flash, drivers in use: spi-nor/intel-spi ### Challenging filesystems: The following partitions are NTFS: sda3,sda4,nvme0n1p2,nvme1n1p3 -> https://tinyurl.com/mv7wvzct ### Swap configuration: * /swap.img on /dev/nvme1n1p5: 4.0G (0K used) ### Software versions: * Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (resolute) * Compiler: /usr/bin/gcc (Ubuntu 15.2.0-16ubuntu1) 15.2.0 / x86_64-linux-gnu * OpenSSL 3.5.5, built on 27 Jan 2026 (Library: OpenSSL 3.5.5 27 Jan 2026) ### Kernel info: * `/proc/cmdline: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-7.0.0-27-generic root=UUID=4aa455a4-0c57-42a6-a489-54996388cfd7 ro quiet splash crashkernel=2G-4G:320M,4G-32G:512M,32G-64G:1024M,64G-128G:2048M,128G-:4096M` * Vulnerability Spec store bypass: Mitigation; Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl * Vulnerability Spectre v1: Mitigation; usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization * Kernel 7.0.0-27-generic / CONFIG_HZ=1000 Waiting for the device to cool down...................................... 41.0°C |
First off, sbc-bench.sh is a neat little utility since it detected the wrong reported CPU frequency (4500 MHz), and instead measured 4285 MHz on the P core, much closer to the advertised 4.3 GHz Turbo frequency.
The 7-zip multi-core benchmark shows a decreasing performance starting with 17,533 MIPS in the first run, and dropped to 15,880 and 15, 666 MIPS in the second and third runs for an average of 16,360 MIPS. This usually points to thermal throttling, but if we check out the full log, we’ll notice it’s not necessarily the case, and power limits look to be the main culprits:
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System health while running 7-zip multi core benchmark: Time big.LITTLE load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Temp 20:59:10: 3899/3300MHz 1.00 6% 0% 5% 0% 0% 0% 83.0°C 20:59:20: 4237/3300MHz 1.39 74% 0% 74% 0% 0% 0% 83.0°C 20:59:31: 4086/3300MHz 1.72 72% 1% 71% 0% 0% 0% 85.0°C 20:59:41: 3500/2700MHz 2.15 75% 0% 74% 0% 0% 0% 69.0°C 20:59:51: 3628/2800MHz 2.43 71% 0% 71% 0% 0% 0% 62.0°C 21:00:01: 3998/3100MHz 2.51 75% 1% 74% 0% 0% 0% 79.0°C 21:00:11: 3600/2800MHz 2.90 76% 0% 75% 0% 0% 0% 70.0°C 21:00:21: 3800/2900MHz 3.00 71% 0% 71% 0% 0% 0% 74.0°C 21:00:31: 3441/2700MHz 2.91 78% 2% 75% 0% 0% 0% 66.0°C System health while running cpuminer: Time big.LITTLE load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Temp 21:00:37: 3489/2700MHz 3.39 9% 0% 8% 0% 0% 0% 64.0°C 21:01:18: 3500/2700MHz 4.29 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 64.0°C 21:01:58: 3470/2700MHz 4.64 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 64.0°C 21:02:39: 3462/2700MHz 4.81 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 64.0°C 21:03:20: 3480/2700MHz 4.91 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 64.0°C 21:04:01: 3500/2700MHz 4.95 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 65.0°C 21:04:42: 3488/2700MHz 5.02 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 65.0°C 21:05:23: 3466/2700MHz 5.01 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 65.0°C |
This is especially evident for the cpuminer benchmark, since at 64-65°C, we are far from the T-junction temperature (100°C).
The single-core 7-Zip benchmark started on the P Core and later moved to an E Core. It’s unclear whether it’s normal behavior from the script to test both types of core, or an issue, since the results only show one single-threaded score (5180 MIPS)
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System health while running 7-zip single core benchmark: Time big.LITTLE load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Temp 20:58:04: 4300/3300MHz 1.00 5% 0% 4% 0% 0% 0% 73.0°C 20:58:10: 4300/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 84.0°C 20:58:15: 4299/3287MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 86.0°C 20:58:20: 4300/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 85.0°C 20:58:25: 4300/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 68.0°C 20:58:30: 4245/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 86.0°C 20:58:35: 400/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 53.0°C 20:58:40: 400/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 55.0°C 20:58:45: 400/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 20:58:50: 1806/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 51.0°C 20:58:55: 400/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 57.0°C 20:59:00: 400/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 51.0°C 20:59:05: 400/3300MHz 1.00 20% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 49.0°C |
Let’s check the power limits:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ sudo powercap-info -p intel-rapl enabled: 1 Zone 0 name: package-0 enabled: 1 max_energy_range_uj: 262143328850 energy_uj: 11577669030 Constraint 0 name: long_term power_limit_uw: 15000000 time_window_us: 27983872 max_power_uw: 15000000 Constraint 1 name: short_term power_limit_uw: 35000000 time_window_us: 976 max_power_uw: 0 Constraint 2 name: peak_power power_limit_uw: 80000000 max_power_uw: 0 Zone 0:0 name: core enabled: 0 max_energy_range_uj: 262143328850 energy_uj: 7709845191 Constraint 0 name: long_term power_limit_uw: 0 time_window_us: 976 Zone 0:1 name: uncore enabled: 0 max_energy_range_uj: 262143328850 energy_uj: 2459649 Constraint 0 name: long_term power_limit_uw: 0 time_window_us: 976 Zone 0:2 name: dram enabled: 0 max_energy_range_uj: 262143328850 energy_uj: 3999526443 Constraint 0 name: long_term power_limit_uw: 0 time_window_us: 976 Zone 1 name: psys enabled: 1 max_energy_range_uj: 262143328850 energy_uj: 6515791 Constraint 0 name: long_term power_limit_uw: 15000000 time_window_us: 27983872 Constraint 1 name: short_term power_limit_uw: 35000000 time_window_us: 976 |
PL1 is set to 15W, PL2 to 35W, and PL4 to 80W, all of which match the values reported in Windows 11. As a side note, PL1 and PL2 can be adjusted in the BIOS if needed.
We’ll now check the single-core and multi-core performance of the Intel Core 3 304 processor with Geekbench 6.7.1.
The AZW EQi mini PC scored 2490 points in the single-core test and 6657 points in the multi-core benchmarks
Since the Intel Core 3 304 also features an Intel AI Boost NPU, I tried to run Geekbench AI 1.7.0. However, only the CPU backend was available. No GPU, no NPU:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~/GeekbenchAI-1.7.0-Linux$ ./banff --ai-list Geekbench AI 1.7.0 : https://www.geekbench.com/ai/ Geekbench AI requires an active internet connection and automatically uploads benchmark results to the Geekbench Browser. +-----------------+----+---------+----+-------------------------+----+ | Framework | ID | Backend | ID | Device | ID | +-----------------+----+---------+----+-------------------------+----+ | TensorFlow Lite | 1 | CPU | 1 | Intel(R) Core(TM) 3 304 | 0 | +-----------------+----+---------+----+-------------------------+----+ | ONNX | 3 | CPU | 1 | Intel(R) Core(TM) 3 304 | 0 | +-----------------+----+---------+----+-------------------------+----+ | OpenVINO | 4 | CPU | 1 | Intel(R) Core(TM) 3 304 | 0 | +-----------------+----+---------+----+-------------------------+----+ |
At this point, I also noticed Firefox would not load. The kernel reports the following:
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[45989.011262] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [45989.011269] xe 0000:00:02.0: [drm] DPLL 1: pll hw state mismatch [45989.011271] WARNING: drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_dpll_mgr.c:4945 at verify_single_dpll_state+0x2a6/0x6b0 [xe], CPU#2: KMS thread/3776 [45989.011477] Modules linked in: btrfs libblake2b xor raid6_pq ufs qnx4 hfsplus hfs minix msdos jfs nls_ucs2_utils xfs ccm rfcomm snd_seq_dummy snd_hrtimer qrtr cmac algif_hash algif_skcipher af_alg bnep snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi snd_hda_codec_hdmi snd_hda_codec_alc662 snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib snd_hda_codec_generic binfmt_misc snd_hda_intel snd_sof_pci_intel_ptl snd_sof_pci_intel_lnl snd_sof_pci_intel_mtl snd_sof_intel_hda_generic soundwire_intel snd_sof_intel_hda_sdw_bpt snd_sof_intel_hda_common snd_soc_hdac_hda snd_sof_intel_hda_mlink snd_sof_intel_hda soundwire_cadence snd_sof_pci snd_sof_xtensa_dsp snd_sof snd_sof_utils intel_rapl_msr snd_hda_ext_core intel_rapl_common snd_hda_codec intel_uncore_frequency intel_uncore_frequency_common snd_hda_core snd_intel_dspcfg snd_intel_sdw_acpi snd_soc_acpi_intel_match snd_soc_acpi_intel_sdca_quirks x86_pkg_temp_thermal soundwire_generic_allocation snd_soc_sdw_utils intel_powerclamp snd_soc_acpi snd_hwdep soundwire_bus snd_soc_sdca snd_soc_core snd_compress ac97_bus [45989.011525] snd_pcm_dmaengine coretemp snd_pcm nls_iso8859_1 snd_seq_midi snd_seq_midi_event cmdlinepart snd_rawmidi kvm_intel snd_seq btusb spi_nor mt7921e btmtk snd_seq_device mtd mt7921_common btrtl btbcm kvm snd_timer mt792x_lib mt76_connac_lib irqbypass btintel spi_intel_pci mei_gsc_proxy snd mt76 i2c_i801 intel_cstate wmi_bmof bluetooth igc spi_intel i2c_smbus soundcore mei_me i2c_mux crc8 xe mac80211 drm_gpusvm_helper mei gpu_sched drm_gpuvm cfg80211 drm_buddy drm_ttm_helper ttm drm_exec libarc4 r8169 intel_pmc_core drm_suballoc_helper drm_display_helper cec rc_core realtek intel_vpu i2c_algo_bit pmt_telemetry pmt_discovery pmt_class intel_pmc_ssram_telemetry acpi_tad intel_vsec acpi_pad input_leds joydev mac_hid sch_fq_codel efi_pstore nfnetlink nvme ufshcd_pci nvme_core nvme_keyring nvme_auth ghash_clmulni_intel ufshcd_core hkdf thunderbolt video intel_lpss_pci rpmb_core intel_lpss idma64 wmi pinctrl_intel_platform hid_generic usbhid hid lp ppdev parport msr dmi_sysfs autofs4 aesni_intel [45989.011597] CPU: 2 UID: 1000 PID: 3776 Comm: KMS thread Kdump: loaded Tainted: G W 7.0.0-27-generic #27-Ubuntu PREEMPT(lazy) [45989.011601] Tainted: [W]=WARN [45989.011602] Hardware name: AZW EQi/EQi, BIOS ELWL001 06/26/2026 [45989.011604] RIP: 0010:verify_single_dpll_state+0x2b3/0x6b0 [xe] [45989.011708] Code: 77 50 4d 85 f6 75 03 4c 8b 37 48 89 8d 38 ff ff ff e8 01 fd 4e d5 48 8d 3d aa 86 29 00 48 8b 8d 38 ff ff ff 4c 89 f2 48 89 c6 <67> 48 0f b9 3a 49 8b 14 24 48 c7 85 40 ff ff ff a0 d9 78 96 48 c7 [45989.011709] RSP: 0018:ffffcccf53adb5c8 EFLAGS: 00010246 [45989.011711] RAX: ffffffffc0f5185e RBX: ffff89f088a4adf0 RCX: ffffffffc0f5888e [45989.011713] RDX: ffff89f084821840 RSI: ffffffffc0f5185e RDI: ffffffffc14060f0 [45989.011713] RBP: ffffcccf53adb6a8 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000001 [45989.011714] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff89f088a4a000 [45989.011715] R13: ffff89f088a4adf4 R14: ffff89f084821840 R15: ffff89f09061e000 [45989.011716] FS: 00007b7de8ab76c0(0000) GS:ffff89f456a00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [45989.011718] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [45989.011719] CR2: 00007b7de0008a18 CR3: 0000000132410004 CR4: 0000000000f72ef0 [45989.011750] PKRU: 55555554 [45989.011756] Call Trace: [45989.011771] <TASK> [45989.011789] ? kvfree+0x32/0x40 [45989.011800] intel_dpll_state_verify+0x63/0x260 [xe] [45989.011892] intel_modeset_verify_crtc+0x5a/0xb0 [xe] [45989.011975] intel_atomic_commit_tail+0x8c2/0xc60 [xe] [45989.012086] intel_atomic_commit+0x28e/0x2e0 [xe] [45989.012194] drm_atomic_commit+0xad/0xf0 [45989.012202] ? __pfx___drm_printfn_info+0x10/0x10 [45989.012208] drm_mode_atomic_ioctl+0x7d1/0x910 [45989.012211] ? __pfx_drm_mode_atomic_ioctl+0x10/0x10 [45989.012213] drm_ioctl_kernel+0xb5/0x110 [45989.012216] ? rmqueue.isra.0+0x115d/0x1890 [45989.012221] drm_ioctl+0x309/0x5f0 [45989.012223] ? __pfx_drm_mode_atomic_ioctl+0x10/0x10 [45989.012225] xe_drm_ioctl+0x61/0xb0 [xe] [45989.012295] __x64_sys_ioctl+0xa3/0x100 [45989.012299] x64_sys_call+0x103b/0x2390 [45989.012304] do_syscall_64+0x105/0x5a0 [45989.012312] ? __radix_tree_replace+0xb0/0x140 [45989.012316] ? radix_tree_iter_tag_clear+0x12/0x20 [45989.012317] ? idr_alloc_u32+0xb9/0x110 [45989.012321] ? __pfx_drm_property_free_blob+0x10/0x10 [45989.012325] ? idr_alloc+0x37/0x70 [45989.012327] ? __virt_addr_valid+0x98/0x130 [45989.012331] ? check_heap_object+0x3d/0x1c0 [45989.012336] ? __check_object_size+0x86/0xf0 [45989.012338] ? drm_mode_createblob_ioctl+0x113/0x140 [45989.012341] ? ptep_set_access_flags+0x4a/0x70 [45989.012343] ? wp_page_reuse+0x97/0xc0 [45989.012346] ? do_wp_page+0x4ee/0x6f0 [45989.012348] ? handle_pte_fault+0x1d8/0x1f0 [45989.012350] ? __handle_mm_fault+0x493/0x720 [45989.012352] ? count_memcg_events+0x103/0x250 [45989.012356] ? handle_mm_fault+0x1c0/0x2e0 [45989.012357] ? arch_exit_to_user_mode_prepare.isra.0+0xd/0x100 [45989.012362] ? irqentry_exit+0x97/0x5a0 [45989.012365] ? exc_page_fault+0x94/0x1e0 [45989.012367] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [45989.012371] RIP: 0033:0x7b7e08d32cbd [45989.012375] Code: 04 25 28 00 00 00 48 89 45 c8 31 c0 48 8d 45 10 c7 45 b0 10 00 00 00 48 89 45 b8 48 8d 45 d0 48 89 45 c0 b8 10 00 00 00 0f 05 <89> c2 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 1a 48 8b 45 c8 64 48 2b 04 25 28 00 00 00 [45989.012376] RSP: 002b:00007b7de8ab5f70 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 [45989.012379] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 000058e6ec9fde80 RCX: 00007b7e08d32cbd [45989.012380] RDX: 00007b7de8ab6010 RSI: 00000000c03864bc RDI: 000000000000000c [45989.012381] RBP: 00007b7de8ab5fc0 R08: 0000000000000015 R09: 0000000000000000 [45989.012381] R10: 0000000000000004 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007b7de8ab6010 [45989.012382] R13: 00000000c03864bc R14: 000000000000000c R15: 00007b7de0036610 [45989.012384] </TASK> [45989.012385] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- |
I’m not sure it’s directly related to the issue I had in Firefox, but I upgraded the system to Linux 7.1 since the Wildcat Lake got a few more commits.
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mkdir ~/linux-7.1 && cd ~/linux-7.1 wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v7.1/amd64/linux-headers-7.1.0-070100_7.1.0-070100.202606141628_all.deb wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v7.1/amd64/linux-headers-7.1.0-070100-generic_7.1.0-070100.202606141628_amd64.deb wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v7.1/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-7.1.0-070100-generic_7.1.0-070100.202606141628_amd64.deb wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v7.1/amd64/linux-modules-7.1.0-070100-generic_7.1.0-070100.202606141628_amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i *.deb sudo update-initramfs -c -k 7.1.0-070100-generic sudo update-grub sudo reboot |
I can confirm we are now using Linux 7.1:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ uname -a Linux EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX 7.1.0-070100-generic #202606141628 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sun Jun 14 17:22:46 UTC 2026 x86_64 GNU/Linux |
But still no luck with GeekbenchAI. So I installed the latest Intel Linux NPU driver (and firmware):
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sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq intel-driver-compiler-npu intel-fw-npu intel-level-zero-npu intel-level-zero-npu-dbgsym sudo apt install libtbb12 wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.33.0/linux-npu-driver-v1.33.0.20260529-26625960453-ubuntu2404.tar.gz tar xvf linux-npu-driver-v1.33.0.20260529-26625960453-ubuntu2404.tar.gz sudo dpkg -i *.deb wget https://snapshot.ppa.launchpadcontent.net/kobuk-team/intel-graphics/ubuntu/20260324T100000Z/pool/main/l/level-zero-loader/libze1_1.27.0-1~24.04~ppa2_amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i libze1_*.deb |
We’ll notice the firmware file used has been updated. The first four lines are before the update (NPU was already detected), and the last three lines after the upgrade (with the newer firmware version).
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ sudo dmesg | grep intel_vpu [ 3.511567] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002) [ 3.519692] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: [drm] Firmware: intel/vpu/vpu_50xx_v1.bin, version: Feb 19 2026*NPU50xx*build/ci/npu-fw-ci-ci_branch_UD202608_npu_release_26ww05-20260206_112046-32016-7-gf693e2c0dc3*f693e2c0dc3ce525f34822f263cc12192ff0722f [ 3.519699] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: [drm] Scheduler mode: HW [ 3.601761] [drm] Initialized intel_vpu 1.0.0 for 0000:00:0b.0 on minor 0 [ 749.809251] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: [drm] Firmware: intel/vpu/vpu_50xx_v1.bin, version: May 5 2026*NPU50xx*build/ci/npu-fw-ci-ci_branch_UD202620_npu_release_26ww17-20260422_094127-fc285c23e1bf595d6430660503e8616549c01a34-8-g3b1e1e826d3*3b1e1e826d34b0aeea5cc6d75b017eb4cbf5b735 [ 749.809267] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: [drm] Scheduler mode: HW [ 749.900264] [drm] Initialized intel_vpu 1.0.0 for 0000:00:0b.0 on minor 0 |
Let’s reboot to make sure everything is updated. I also installed OpenVINO and confirmed the NPU was detected:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ source ~/ov_test/bin/activate (ov_test) cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ python -c ' import openvino as ov core = ov.Core() print(core.available_devices) ' ['CPU', 'NPU'] |
But still no luck in GeekBenchAI… I suppose the benchmark needs to be updated.
Let’s now test the GPU performance with Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0. I tested it first with Linux 7.0, and then with Linux 7.1, and there was not a big difference. 16.6 FPS and 419 points in Linux 7.0, and 15.8 FPS and 399 points in Linux 7.1 at the standard 1920×1080 resolution.
Next, I played YouTube videos at 4K and 8K resolutions in Firefox and Chrome.
I was really impressed by YouTube video playback on Windows 11 since I could play anything smoothly up to 8K 60 FPS. It’s not quite the case on Ubuntu 26.04 on Firefox, 4K 30 FPS was just fine, 8K 30 FPS was mostly fine with one or two micro freezes, 4K 60 FPS had a few more loading issues (buffer health was fine, so not related to networking), and 8K 60 FPS was unwatchable, worse than a slideshow.
Google Chrome was a bit better with 4K 30 FPS and 60 FPS playing smoothly, 8K 30 FPS mostly fine (a few micro freezes), and 8K 60 FPS was not quite a slideshow, but still unwatchable due to the large number of dropped frames. You’ll also note the mix of VP9 and AV1 video codec during playback, while it was all AV1 in Windows, unless I look for a specific VP9-only video.
Let’s now test web browsing with Speedometer 2.0 in Firefox. The system managed 329 runs per minute, quite impressive.
Since Speedometer 2.0 is deprecated, I repeated the test with Speedometer 3.1 for future reviews. Score: 23.2 points
Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake Ubuntu benchmarks comparison against other mini PCs
Now that we have gathered Ubuntu 26.04 benchmark results, it’s time to compare the Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake Core 3 304 mini PC against the previous generation Intel Alder Lake-N platforms, such as the GEEKOM Mini Air12 (Intel N100) mini PC and ODROID-H5 (Intel Core i3-N300, actively cooled) SBC, as well as a mid-range ($500+) system: GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition.
Here are the high-level specs of the four systems.
| Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake | GEEKOM Mini Air12 | ODROID-H5 | GEEKOM A5 2026 Edition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SoC | Intel Core 3 304 | Intel Processor N100 | Intel Core i3-N300 | AMD Ryzen 5 7530U |
| CPU | 5-core (1P+4E) Widlcat Lake processor up to 4.3 GHz | 4-core Alder Lake-N processor up to 3.4 GHz | 8-core Alder Lane-N processor up to 3.80 GHz | 6-core/12-thread up to 4.5GHz |
| GPU | 1-core Intel Xe3 Graphics @ 2.3 GHz | 24 EU Intel UHD Graphics up to 750 MHz | 32 EU Intel HD Graphics @ 1.25 GHz | 7-core AMD Radeon Vega Graphics @ 2.0 GHz |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR5-6400 | 16GB DDR5-4800 | 16GB DDR5-4800 SO-DIMM (user installed) | 16GB DDR4-4800 |
| Storage | 512GB UFS 3.1 | 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD | 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD (user installed) | 1TB M.2 SSD |
| Default OS | Windows 11 Pro | Windows 11 Pro | N/A | Windows 11 Pro |
| Linux OS | Ubuntu 26.04 | Ubuntu 24.04 | Ubuntu 26.04 | Ubuntu 25.10 |
| Price (July 19, 2026) | $509 (pre-order), $609 MSRP | $475 on GEEKOM website (with default coupon) | About $500+ with case depending on configuration | $499 on Amazon |
And now for the benchmark results…
| Beelink EQi Wildcate Lake | GEEKOM Mini Air12 Lite | ODROID-H5 | GEEKOM A5 2026 Edition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux distribution | Ubuntu 26.04 | Ubuntu 24.04 | Ubuntu 26.04 | Ubuntu 25.10 |
| sbc-bench.sh | ||||
| - memcpy | 21,001.1 MB/s | 9,577.9 MB/s | 12,034.0 MB/s | 16,443.7 MB/s |
| - memset | 48,200.1 MB/s | 8,403 MB/s | 21,967.5 MB/s | 15,861.3 MB/s |
| - 7-zip (average) | 16,360 | 12,750 | 23,820 | 36,370 |
| - 7-zip (top result) | 17,533 | 13,566 | 23,872 | 38,503 |
| - OpenSSL AES-256 16K | 1,523,187.71k | 1,231,295.83k | 1,376,447.15k | 1,224,955.22k |
| Geekbench 6 Single | 2,490 | 1,228 | 1,389 | 1,980 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | 6,657 | 3,122 | 5,178 | 7,024 |
| Unigine Heaven score | 419 | 276 | 475 | 686 |
| Speedometer (Firefox) | 329 | 157 | 174 | 352 |
The Intel Core 3 304 stands out with its high memory bandwidth and single-core performance similar to high-end Intel CPUs against all three competitors. It’s much faster than the quad-core Intel N100 CPU in all aspects, and only gets beaten by the ODROID-H5 (octa-core) Alder Lake-N platform in some multi-core benchmarks, as well as in the Unigine Heaven 4.0 Benchmark for 3D graphics acceleration. Those are also the main weaknesses against the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U mini PC, which is significantly faster for 3D graphics and multi-core workloads, as we’d already seen on Windows 11.
Storage and USB performance
Since we’ve installed Ubuntu 26.04 on the M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x2) SSD with EXT-4 file system, I’ll start storage testing with that one:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ sudo iozone -e -I -a -s 1000M -r 4k -r 16k -r 512k -r 1024k -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 -i 2 random random bkwd record stride kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write read rewrite read fwrite frewrite fread freread 1024000 4 214467 248409 20000 19837 49439 241796 1024000 16 564939 609459 72593 72770 156739 588491 1024000 512 1429534 1412760 868660 865623 866070 1413900 1024000 1024 1476176 1483688 1153016 1154518 1153415 1453445 1024000 16384 1617668 1624442 1607350 1611020 1610386 1654154 iozone test complete. |
About 1600 MB/s read and write sequential speeds as expected. Let’s run the same test on the M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x1) SSD with EXT-4 file systems:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:/media/nvme1n1p2$ sudo iozone -e -I -a -s 1000M -r 4k -r 16k -r 512k -r 1024k -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 -i 2 random random bkwd record stride kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write read rewrite read fwrite frewrite fread freread 1024000 4 122599 141248 107094 107180 41580 141037 1024000 16 290609 338915 153154 156602 119557 337268 1024000 512 737371 745261 616813 620600 615918 738007 1024000 1024 770307 771577 708320 709890 708264 765121 1024000 16384 832772 831923 863114 864074 863898 826735 iozone test complete. |
Again, as expected, with 863 MB/s reads and 832 MB/s writes. Note that all ports are Gen4, so you could expect doubling those values with a proper PCIe Gen4 SSD.
I also tested the UFS (Windows) partition:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:/media/sda4$ sudo iozone -e -I -a -s 1000M -r 4k -r 16k -r 512k -r 1024k -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 -i 2 random random bkwd record stride kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write read rewrite read fwrite frewrite fread freread 1024000 4 175418 187446 394009 402140 404341 181176 1024000 16 403838 411871 1409361 1480855 1403884 410988 1024000 512 656796 682919 4946313 5058611 4994683 673468 1024000 1024 660791 686446 4988140 5027912 4975410 674366 1024000 16384 649109 669175 3776954 3890731 3929156 663354 iozone test complete. |
We have 3.7 GB/s sequential read speed and 649 MB/s sequential write speed. The read speed number is probably wrong because of caching, as the NTFS file system does not support the direct I/O option in iozone. For reference, we got 2,013.58 MB/s sequential read speed with CrystalDiskMark on Windows 11.
We also tested the USB4 and USB 3.2 ports on the mini PC with an ORICO M234C3-U4 M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure and the two USB 2.0 Type-A ports with a Seagate USB 3.0 HDD, using botctl, lsusb, and iozone utilities as appropriate.
For reference, here are the results for the left USB 3.2 Type-A port on the front panel…
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:/media/sdd3$ lsusb -t | grep uas |__ Port 001: Dev 002, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=uas, 10000M cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:/media/sdd3$ sudo iozone -e -I -a -s 1000M -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 random random bkwd record stride kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write read rewrite read fwrite frewrite fread freread 1024000 16384 985612 990564 996120 1003530 iozone test complete. |
… the left USB4 port on the rear panel…
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:/media/nvme2n1p3$ boltctl ● Intel USB4.0 SSD ├─ type: peripheral ├─ name: USB4.0 SSD ├─ vendor: Intel ├─ uuid: ba010000-0052-541e-03d5-47dc2cd4b008 ├─ generation: Thunderbolt 3 ├─ status: authorized │ ├─ domain: 97a88780-d0e9-8d34-ffff-ffffffffffff │ ├─ rx speed: 40 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 20 Gb/s │ ├─ tx speed: 40 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 20 Gb/s │ └─ authflags: none ├─ authorized: Sun 19 Jul 2026 04:11:18 UTC ├─ connected: Sun 19 Jul 2026 04:11:18 UTC └─ stored: Sun 19 Jul 2026 04:11:18 UTC ├─ policy: iommu └─ key: no cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:/media/nvme2n1p3$ sudo iozone -e -I -a -s 1000M -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 random random bkwd record stride kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write read rewrite read fwrite frewrite fread freread 1024000 16384 2617143 2606487 2942384 2962394 iozone test complete. |
… and one of the USB 2.0 ports:
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:/media/sdd2$ lsusb -t | grep uas |__ Port 003: Dev 004, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=uas, 480M cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:/media/sdd2$ sudo iozone -e -I -a -s 100M -r 16384k -i 0 -i 1 random random bkwd record stride kB reclen write rewrite read reread read write read rewrite read fwrite frewrite fread freread 102400 16384 42641 42449 41525 42026 iozone test complete. |
Here’s a summary for all six USB ports from left to right:
- Front panel
- USB-A – USB 3.2 – 10 Gbps – Read speed: 996 MB/s; write speed: 985 MB/s
- USB-C – USB 3.2 – 10 Gbps – Read speed: 1,001 MB/s; write speed: 988 MB/s
- Rear panel
- USB-C #1 – Thunderbolt 3 – 40Gbps – Read speed: 2,942 MB/s; write speed: 2,617 MB/s
- USB-C #2 – Thunderbolt 3 – 40Gbps – Read speed: 2,942 MB/s; write speed: 2,623 MB/s
- USB-A #1 – USB 2.0 – 480 Mbps – Read speed: 41 MB/s; write speed: 42 MB/s
- USB-A #2 – USB 2.0 – 480 Mbps – Read speed: 41 MB/s; write speed: 42 MB/s
All ports work as expected, and I didn’t come across the same reliability problems as in Windows, pointing to driver issues on the Microsoft operating system.
I also decided to test the Khadas Mind Graphics 2 dock with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics card. The dock was detected, but the not the NVIDIA graphics card.
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cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ sudo inxi -Fc0 System: Host: EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX Kernel: 7.1.0-070100-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Console: pty pts/1 Distro: Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute Raccoon) Machine: Type: Mini-pc Mobo: AZW model: EQi serial: N/A Firmware: UEFI vendor: American Megatrends LLC. v: ELWL001 date: 06/26/2026 CPU: Info: 5-core model: Intel Core 3 304 bits: 64 type: MCP cache: L2: 7 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 400 min/max: 400/4500:3300 cores: 1: 400 2: 400 3: 400 4: 400 5: 400 Graphics: Device-1: Intel Wildcat Lake [Intel Graphics] driver: xe v: kernel Display: server: Xwayland v: 24.1.10 driver: gpu: xe tty: 211x50 resolution: 1920x1080 API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,surfaceless,device API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 26.0.3-1ubuntu1 note: console (EGL sourced) renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (WCL), llvmpipe (LLVM 21.1.8 256 bits) Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo x11: xdriinfo, xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr Audio: Device-1: Intel driver: snd_hda_intel Device-2: Brain Actuated Khadas Mind Graphics Speaker driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB API: ALSA v: k7.1.0-070100-generic status: kernel-api Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8127 10GbE driver: r8169 IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: 78:55:36:0b:87:e7 Device-2: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter driver: mt7921e IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: 50:bb:b5:db:9e:56 Device-3: Intel Ethernet I226-V driver: igc IF: enp89s0 state: up speed: 2500 Mbps duplex: full mac: 78:55:36:0b:87:e8 Device-4: Realtek USB 10/100/1G/2.5G LAN driver: r8152 type: USB IF: enxc8631477646f state: down mac: c8:63:14:77:64:6f Bluetooth: Device-1: IMC Networks Wireless_Device driver: btusb type: USB Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 state: up address: 50:BB:B5:DB:9E:57 bt-v: 5.3 Drives: Local Storage: total: 841.82 GiB used: 18.79 GiB (2.2%) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 model: PCIe SSD size: 238.47 GiB ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 model: PCIe SSD size: 119.24 GiB ID-3: /dev/sda model: YMUSAB4TF3D1C1 size: 476.69 GiB ID-4: /dev/sdb model: YMUSAB4TF3D1C1 size: 4 MiB ID-5: /dev/sdc model: YMUSAB4TF3D1C1 size: 4 MiB ID-6: /dev/sdd vendor: Generic model: SD MMC CRW size: 7.4 GiB type: USB Partition: ID-1: / size: 230.58 GiB used: 18.78 GiB (8.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 ID-2: /boot/efi size: 1.05 GiB used: 6.3 MiB (0.6%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swap.img Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A Info: Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 14.78 GiB used: 1.69 GiB (11.4%) Processes: 317 Uptime: 6m Init: systemd Shell: Sudo inxi: 3.3.40 cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ sudo boltctl list ○ Intel USB4.0 SSD ├─ type: peripheral ├─ name: USB4.0 SSD ├─ vendor: Intel ├─ uuid: ba010000-0052-541e-03d5-47dc2cd4b008 ├─ generation: Thunderbolt 3 ├─ status: disconnected ├─ authorized: Sun 19 Jul 2026 04:14:52 UTC ├─ connected: Sun 19 Jul 2026 04:14:52 UTC └─ stored: Sun 19 Jul 2026 04:11:18 UTC ├─ policy: iommu └─ key: no ● Intel Tapex Creek ├─ type: peripheral ├─ name: Tapex Creek ├─ vendor: Intel ├─ uuid: c3030000-0072-7c0e-03f4-9d0099a3a909 ├─ generation: Thunderbolt 3 ├─ status: authorized │ ├─ domain: b12e8780-702c-6d49-ffff-ffffffffffff │ ├─ rx speed: 20 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 10 Gb/s │ ├─ tx speed: 20 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 10 Gb/s │ └─ authflags: none ├─ authorized: Sun 19 Jul 2026 05:03:52 UTC ├─ connected: Sun 19 Jul 2026 05:03:52 UTC └─ stored: Sun 19 Jul 2026 05:03:52 UTC ├─ policy: iommu └─ key: no |
We can see the audio part (speaker), an extra 2.5GbE USB port, and a 7.4GB SD card from the Khadas device, but no new NVIDIA graphics device. The Intel Tapex Creek peripheral is also detected. I could not find any NVIDIA reference in lspcie, dmesg, etc… I’m not quite sure how to make that one work, and it’s the same problem as in Windows.
Networking (2.5GbE, 10GbE, and WiFi 6) performance
Let’s now test networking on the Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake Core 3 304 mini PC, which offers 2.5Gbps Ethernet, 10Gbps Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) connectivity.
We’ll start with the 2.5GbE RJ45 port using the iperf3 utility and AAEON’s UP Xtreme i11 Edge mini PC on the other side.
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123456789101112131415cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ iperf3 -t 60 -c 192.168.31.12 -i 10 -RConnecting to host 192.168.31.12, port 5201Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.31.12 is sending[ 5] local 192.168.31.7 port 38612 connected to 192.168.31.12 port 5201[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5] 10.01-20.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5] 20.01-30.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5] 30.01-40.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5] 40.01-50.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5] 50.01-60.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 16.4 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 131 sender[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 16.4 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec receiver - Upload
1234567891011121314cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ iperf3 -t 60 -c 192.168.31.12 -i 10Connecting to host 192.168.31.12, port 5201[ 5] local 192.168.31.7 port 35304 connected to 192.168.31.12 port 5201[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.36 Gbits/sec 0 789 KBytes[ 5] 10.01-20.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1.17 MBytes[ 5] 20.01-30.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1.17 MBytes[ 5] 30.01-40.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1.75 MBytes[ 5] 40.01-50.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1.75 MBytes[ 5] 50.01-60.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1.75 MBytes- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 16.4 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 sender[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 16.4 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec receiver - Full duplex
1234567891011121314151617181920212223cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ iperf3 -t 60 -c 192.168.31.12 -i 10 --bidirConnecting to host 192.168.31.12, port 5201[ 5] local 192.168.31.7 port 59628 connected to 192.168.31.12 port 5201[ 7] local 192.168.31.7 port 59632 connected to 192.168.31.12 port 5201[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1004 KBytes[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 10.01-20.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1.52 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 10.01-20.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 20.01-30.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1.52 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 20.01-30.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 30.01-40.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 177 1.06 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 30.01-40.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 40.01-50.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1.50 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 40.01-50.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 50.01-60.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 1.50 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 50.01-60.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-60.01 sec 16.4 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 177 sender[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-60.01 sec 16.4 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec receiver[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-60.01 sec 16.4 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 39 sender[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-60.01 sec 16.4 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec receiver
All good. The 10GbE port was tested through the iKOOLCORE R2 max mini PC running QWRK, a fork of OpenWrt.
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123456789101112131415cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ iperf3 -t 60 -c 192.168.4.1 -i 10 -RConnecting to host 192.168.4.1, port 5201Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.4.1 is sending[ 5] local 192.168.4.100 port 43630 connected to 192.168.4.1 port 5201[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.39 Gbits/sec[ 5] 10.01-20.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec[ 5] 20.01-30.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec[ 5] 30.01-40.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec[ 5] 40.01-50.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec[ 5] 50.01-60.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 65.7 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec 0 sender[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 65.7 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec receiver - Upload
1234567891011121314cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ iperf3 -t 60 -c 192.168.4.1 -i 10Connecting to host 192.168.4.1, port 5201[ 5] local 192.168.4.100 port 51938 connected to 192.168.4.1 port 5201[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec 0 2.66 MBytes[ 5] 10.01-20.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec 0 2.66 MBytes[ 5] 20.01-30.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec 0 2.66 MBytes[ 5] 30.01-40.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec 0 2.66 MBytes[ 5] 40.01-50.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec 0 2.66 MBytes[ 5] 50.01-60.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.40 Gbits/sec 0 2.66 MBytes- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 65.7 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec 0 sender[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 65.7 GBytes 9.41 Gbits/sec receiver - Full-duplex
1234567891011121314151617181920212223cnxsoft@EQi-Wildcat-Lake-CNX:~$ iperf3 -t 60 -c 192.168.4.1 -i 10 --bidirConnecting to host 192.168.4.1, port 5201[ 5] local 192.168.4.100 port 54146 connected to 192.168.4.1 port 5201[ 7] local 192.168.4.100 port 54152 connected to 192.168.4.1 port 5201[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 11.0 GBytes 9.40 Gbits/sec 0 2.64 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 10.8 GBytes 9.27 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 10.01-20.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.40 Gbits/sec 0 2.64 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 10.01-20.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.35 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 20.01-30.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.40 Gbits/sec 0 2.64 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 20.01-30.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.37 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 30.01-40.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.40 Gbits/sec 0 2.64 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 30.01-40.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.34 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 40.01-50.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.40 Gbits/sec 0 2.64 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 40.01-50.01 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.40 Gbits/sec[ 5][TX-C] 50.01-60.00 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.39 Gbits/sec 0 2.64 MBytes[ 7][RX-C] 50.01-60.00 sec 10.9 GBytes 9.39 Gbits/sec- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-60.00 sec 65.7 GBytes 9.40 Gbits/sec 0 sender[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-60.00 sec 65.7 GBytes 9.40 Gbits/sec receiver[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-60.00 sec 65.3 GBytes 9.35 Gbits/sec 252 sender[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-60.00 sec 65.3 GBytes 9.35 Gbits/sec receiver
Again, perfect! Even better than in Windows for the bi-directional test.
I also tested 5 GHz WiFi 6 using a Xiaomi Mi AX6000 router.
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1234567891011121314devkit@UPX-i11:~$ iperf3 -t 60 -c 192.168.31.26 -i 10Connecting to host 192.168.31.26, port 5201[ 5] local 192.168.31.12 port 52298 connected to 192.168.31.26 port 5201[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 990 MBytes 830 Mbits/sec 7 4.11 MBytes[ 5] 10.01-20.00 sec 1006 MBytes 844 Mbits/sec 1 3.77 MBytes[ 5] 20.00-30.01 sec 1002 MBytes 840 Mbits/sec 1 4.04 MBytes[ 5] 30.01-40.00 sec 997 MBytes 837 Mbits/sec 15 4.04 MBytes[ 5] 40.00-50.00 sec 1004 MBytes 842 Mbits/sec 2 4.04 MBytes[ 5] 50.00-60.01 sec 1015 MBytes 851 Mbits/sec 8 4.04 MBytes- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 5.87 GBytes 841 Mbits/sec 34 sender[ 5] 0.00-60.03 sec 5.87 GBytes 840 Mbits/sec receiver - Upload
123456789101112131415devkit@UPX-i11:~$ iperf3 -t 60 -c 192.168.31.26 -i 10 -RConnecting to host 192.168.31.26, port 5201Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.31.26 is sending[ 5] local 192.168.31.12 port 36086 connected to 192.168.31.26 port 5201[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 956 MBytes 802 Mbits/sec[ 5] 10.01-20.01 sec 836 MBytes 701 Mbits/sec[ 5] 20.01-30.01 sec 757 MBytes 635 Mbits/sec[ 5] 30.01-40.01 sec 1.04 GBytes 894 Mbits/sec[ 5] 40.01-50.00 sec 774 MBytes 650 Mbits/sec[ 5] 50.00-60.01 sec 820 MBytes 688 Mbits/sec- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 5.09 GBytes 729 Mbits/sec 104 sender[ 5] 0.00-60.01 sec 5.09 GBytes 728 Mbits/sec receiver
840 Mbps download and 728 MB/s upload is not too bad, but for some reason, it’s much lower than the 1.77 Gbps download speed and 1.65 Gbps upload speed we got on Windows 11 Pro with the exact test environment. Some tweaks may be required to extract more performance.
I also quickly tested Bluetooth connectivity by pairing the Beelink EQi to an OPPO A98 5G Android smartphone, using the mini PC as a de facto Bluetooth speaker and transferring a file. No issues at all here. The file was even transferred while listening to music over Bluetooth.
Thermal performance of the Beelink EQi 304 mini PC on Ubuntu 26.04
To evaluate the thermal performance/cooling efficiency of the Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake mini PC on Ubuntu 26.04, we ran a stress test on the penta-core Intel Core 3 304 CPU while monitoring CPU temperature and frequency with Psensor temperature monitor and sbc-bench.sh script.
We can see a sharp CPU temperature increase from 38°C to 80°C at the beginning of the stress test before it stabilizes at around 65°C over the long test. That probably means we could play around with the PL1 (long duration) power limit to slightly increase the performance. The CPU frequency stabilizes at 2900 MHz (P Core) and 2600 MHz (E Core), and probably reached the maximum 4.3 GHz/3.3 GHz during the initial spile, which was short enough that sbc-bench.sh didn’t pick it up in monitor mode.
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14:51:10: 400/1292MHz 0.28 4% 1% 2% 0% 0% 0% 39.0°C 14:51:15: 1275/1100MHz 0.26 6% 1% 3% 0% 0% 0% 39.0°C 14:51:21: 3900/3100MHz 0.24 57% 0% 57% 0% 0% 0% 73.0°C 14:51:26: 3897/3100MHz 0.62 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 75.0°C 14:51:32: 3886/3084MHz 1.51 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 78.0°C 14:51:38: 3900/3084MHz 1.79 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 80.0°C 14:51:45: 2900/2600MHz 2.13 100% 0% 99% 0% 0% 0% 61.0°C |
In any case, that means the cooling solution is perfectly adequate.
Fan noise
As noted in the Windows review, the Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake Core 3 304 mini PC is probably the quietest actively cooled mini PC we’ve ever tested, as it stays very quiet even under heavy loads. We measured the fan noise with a sound level meter placed around 5 centimeters from the top of the device:
- Idle – 38.9 – 39.1 dBA
- Stress test on all 5 cores – 40.1 – 40.2 dBA
For reference, the meter measures around 36.4 – 36.8 dBA in a quiet room.
Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake power consumption on Ubuntu 26.04
I finally measured the power consumption with a wall power meter:
- Power off – 0.9 Watts
- Suspend – 1.6-1.7 Watts
- Idle –
- WiFi 6 only – 4.0 – 4.2 Watts
- WiFi 6 + 2.5 GbE – 4.7 – 4.9 Watts
- WiFi 6 + 10 GbE – 5.6 – 5.7 Watts
- Video playback – 13.6 – 18.6 Watts (YouTube 4K 60FPS in Firefox)
- CPU stress test (stress -c 5)
- First few seconds – 33.9 – 34.1 Watts
- Longer runs – 18.8 – 18.9 Watts
During testing, the mini PC was connected to Wi-Fi 6, a USB RF dongle for a wireless keyboard and mouse combo, and a CrowView Note laptop shell via HDMI.
Conclusion
The Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake Core 3 304 mini PC works relatively well on Ubuntu 26.04, considering it’s based on an SoC from a brand new processor family. As noted in the Windows review, it delivers excellent single-core performance, close to high-end Intel processors, which should be great for workloads such as web browsing, outstanding 2.5 GbE and 10GbE networking performance, and support for up to three 4K displays. The system is also the quietest actively-cooled mini PC we’ve reviewed, and power consumption is fairly low for an Intel computer.
There are some differences between Windows and Linux. WiFi 6 throughput was acceptable at 800 Mbps in Linux, but it’s still half of what I achieved under Windows in the same testbed. While I was truly impressed by 4K and 8K YouTube video playback on Windows, the system struggles more under Linux, using either Firefox or Chrome, since 8K 60 FPS videos are completely unwatchable, and 4K 60 FPS and 8K 30 FPS experience a few micro freezes from time to time, and only 4K 30 was smooth at all times. One plus on Ubuntu 26.04 was that I found the Thunderbolt 4/USB4 to be more reliable, as I had no issues with an ORICO NVMe enclosure. However, I was still unable to use the Khadas Mind Graphics 2 dock with an NVIDIA graphics card. Another small issue I had on Linux was that the default Firefox (snap) would not start, whether Linux 7.0 or 7.1 was used, so I had to remove it and install Firefox from apt instead. Finally, while the NPU on the Wildcat Lake processor was detected on Linux, GeekbenchAI benchmark could not find it.
Compared to the Alder Lake-N and Twin Lake families, the new Wildcat Lake family delivers higher performance in every way, except for some multi-core benchmarks (Geekbench) and Unigine Heaven 3D graphics, where the Intel Core i3-N300 octa-core processor found in the ODROID-H5 was slightly faster. The Beelink EQi 304 is also slower than a similarly priced AMD Ryzen 5 system for multi-core and 3D graphics workloads, but delivers much higher memory bandwidth and single-core performance.
From my early testing of the Beelink EQi 304 mini PC, I’d say Wildcat Lake mini PCs look promising, but I would not rush to pre-order a system, since there’s more driver and software work to be done to improve interoperability of the Thunderbolt ports (Windows especially, but also Linux), and various other compatibility/performance enhancements are needed o Ubuntu Linux.
I’d like to thank Beelink for sending the Wildcat Lake Core 3 304 mini PC for review. The model reviewed here, with 16GB LPDDR5 and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage, is available for pre-order for $509, and the MSRP is shown to be $609 after the pre-order period. Shipping is still scheduled to started in approximately 35 days…
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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