ZimaBoard 2 Kickstarter Update, Giveaway & Zima Member Day Deals – All You Need to Know

Eva Wong

IceWhale author

Eva Wong is the Technical Writer and resident tinkerer at ZimaSpace. A lifelong geek with a passion for homelabs and open-source software, she specializes in translating complex technical concepts into accessible, hands-on guides. Eva believes that self-hosting should be fun, not intimidating. Through her tutorials, she empowers the community to demystify hardware setups, from building their first NAS to mastering Docker containers.

1 | Where the Kickstarter Stands

We're three-quarters of the way through the campaign and 1 ,700+ backers have already jumped on board—thank you!

Exclusive Kickstarter pricing is still available for the final stretch.
Below are the two headline upgrades everyone's talking about.

⚡ 4 × Faster 4 K Transcoding

Intel® Quick Sync does the heavy lifting, so a single ZimaBoard 2 can:

direct-play 4 K files to local TVs and
down-convert four 4 K-to-1080p streams for tablets or phones—no add-on GPU, no stutter.

Perfect for Plex, Jellyfin, or a family photo/video hub

📦 Zero-Waste Box → Desktop Stand

The shipping box isn't landfill—it's part of the product.
Pop the insert out, fold along the scored lines, slot the tabs, and you've got:

a low-profile stand that holds the board + two 2.5" drives
better airflow than laying the board flat
zero extra plastic

Less packaging, tidier desk. Smart and kind of fun to build in thirty seconds.

(Fan-less cooling, dual 2.5 GbE ports, SATA & PCIe x4 are still there—they're just not today's headline.)

2 | Win a Surprise PCIe Card

To celebrate the launch we're handing out mystery PCIe cards (10 GbE NICs, WIFI, NVMe risers—who knows).

Find the giveaway post on X, Facebook, or Discord.
Drop your Kickstarter backer ID in the comments.
We'll draw winners on each platform randomly.
One prize per backer, but feel free to try your luck on all three channels.

3 | Zima Member Day: 13–15 May (EDT)

For 72 hours the whole store is up to 40 % off.

Action	Reward
Buy ZimaBoard / ZimaBlade / ZimaCube	🎁 Mystery accessory in the box
Cart ≥ $188	FREE RE.INVENTED draw-string bag (while stock lasts)
Whole store	Up to 40 % off list price

Stock heads-up

ZimaBlade is still in pre-order—restock late May.
Gen-1 ZimaBoard: only the 232 model remains; 832 has been retired.
Questions or order changes? Ping us: shop@icewhale.org.

4 | Four Things You Can Build on Day One

Need ideas? Here's what early testers tackled in a single weekend:

Project	30-minute setup	What you actually get
Home-theatre NAS	Flash TrueNAS SCALE → add Plex plug-in → point to your SSD/HDD pool	Streams four 4 K movies at once; CPU load stays under 60 %.
DIY VPN & whole-house ad-block	Slot a dual-port 2.5 GbE NIC → install OPNsense → enable WireGuard + AdGuard Home	Encrypted, tracker-free internet for every device in about an hour.
Self-hosted GPT notes bot	In the ZimaOS App Store click Open WebUI (it auto-pulls Ollama) → mount your Docs folder	Chat with your own documents locally—no API fees, no data leaving the box.
Mac/PC backup hub	Turn on SMB + Avahi in TrueNAS → enable hourly ZFS snapshots	Time-Machine for Macs & File History for PCs; rollback any file in seconds.