This year's small computer - Page 5

fivemack · 2015-02-09, 16:01

OK, it's back-ordered for eight weeks and only appears to have US suppliers, but

https://www.96boards.org/products/hikey/

has an eight-core 1.2GHz A53 devboard for $129.

1GB memory, 4GB eMMC, and networking would have to be over either wifi or a USB2 dongle, but it is an eight-core ARMv8 board.

www.96boards.org promise a 'enterprise edition', which definitely has SATA and hopefully has gigabit ethernet, with 'first products 2015Q2'

henryzz · 2015-02-10, 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by fivemack

OK, it's back-ordered for eight weeks and only appears to have US suppliers, but

https://www.96boards.org/products/hikey/

has an eight-core 1.2GHz A53 devboard for $129.

1GB memory, 4GB eMMC, and networking would have to be over either wifi or a USB2 dongle, but it is an eight-core ARMv8 board.

www.96boards.org promise a 'enterprise edition', which definitely has SATA and hopefully has gigabit ethernet, with 'first products 2015Q2'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari..._ARMv8-A_cores suggests that the a53 is half the speed of a a57.

fivemack · 2015-02-11, 10:45

Quote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari..._ARMv8-A_cores suggests that the a53 is half the speed of a a57.

True; http://www.anandtech.com/show/8718/t...xynos-review/4 has some real benchmarks (admittedly for 32-bit code) with A53 scoring 597 on specint2000.gcc and A57 scoring 1549. Also a real measurement of A57 at 1W/core at 1500MHz and A53 at 100mW/core at 900MHz.

On the other hand, in most circumstances a system with a slower chip that you can buy is preferable to one with a faster chip that you can't.

VictordeHolland · 2015-02-11, 17:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by fivemack

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8718/the-samsung-galaxy-note-4-exynos-review/

That is a nice in depth article also elaborating on the differences in manufacturing processes (Samsung vs. TSMC) and 28nm vs. 20nm.
That A57 is power hungry >1300Mhz! No way that a phone will sustain those frequencies for more than a few seconds.

fivemack · 2015-02-11, 23:29

Whilst https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6dK62_B3lI is a video, it does have a bit more information about the 96boards project; for example it confirms that the enterprise spec includes Ethernet (and explains why the consumer spec doesn't).

I still don't know if it's realistic to hope for affordable ThunderX boards (48 2.5GHz v8 cores, quad-channel DDR3) by the end of the year, but I have more hope now.

VictordeHolland · 2015-02-19, 00:44

Qualcomm Snapdragons are not very likely to come to small computer boards, but at least it looks like Cortex A72 (successor of the A57) is coming at the end of this year. Looks like the Snapdragon 618 and 620 could become interesting SOCs with 2160p30 HEVC (H.265) en/decode options. ~~I just hope Qualcomm can get enough 14/16nm FINFET resources by then so they are not produced by TSMC 'ancient' 28nm HPm.~~
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8990/q...-lineup-modems

[edit]
According to Ars Technica their are going to use 28nm :-(

Quote:

The chips, both of which will use a 28nm manufacturing process, will begin shipping in consumer devices in the second half of this year.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/...drange-socs/2/

Xyzzy · 2015-04-06, 15:05

http://en.yibada.com/articles/24755/...starts-110.htm

Dubslow · 2015-04-06, 21:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

http://en.yibada.com/articles/24755/...starts-110.htm

That's the first thing in a while from the electronics industries that has excited me. It's even cheaper without Windows, that's a first as well.

ldesnogu · 2015-04-07, 06:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dubslow

That's the first thing in a while from the electronics industries that has excited me. It's even cheaper without Windows, that's a first as well.

The non-Windows version comes with less RAM and disk space: 1GB/8GB vs 2GB/32GB. I'll wait for Chromebit, but I'm biased

Dubslow · 2015-04-07, 06:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by ldesnogu

The non-Windows version comes with less RAM and disk space: 1GB/8GB vs 2GB/32GB.

....................

xilman · 2015-05-07, 19:39

A Kickstarter project has fired up to produce a 1GHz ARM cpu + gpu, 512M RAM and 4GB storage on a 4cm x 6cm board at a price of $9. Over here that translates to £6 plus shipping and baksheesh. Shipping is likely to cost markedly more than the hardware

2015-02-09, 16:01	#45
fivemack (loop (#_fork)) Feb 2006 Cambridge, England 14466₈ Posts	At last, Cortex-A53 on a devboard OK, it's back-ordered for eight weeks and only appears to have US suppliers, but https://www.96boards.org/products/hikey/ has an eight-core 1.2GHz A53 devboard for $129. 1GB memory, 4GB eMMC, and networking would have to be over either wifi or a USB2 dongle, but it is an eight-core ARMv8 board. www.96boards.org promise a 'enterprise edition', which definitely has SATA and hopefully has gigabit ethernet, with 'first products 2015Q2'

2015-02-11, 23:29	#49
fivemack (loop (#_fork)) Feb 2006 Cambridge, England 2·7·461 Posts	Whilst https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6dK62_B3lI is a video, it does have a bit more information about the 96boards project; for example it confirms that the enterprise spec includes Ethernet (and explains why the consumer spec doesn't). I still don't know if it's realistic to hope for affordable ThunderX boards (48 2.5GHz v8 cores, quad-channel DDR3) by the end of the year, but I have more hope now. Last fiddled with by fivemack on 2015-02-11 at 23:32

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Sieving with powers of small primes in the Small Prime variation of the Quadratic Sieve	mickfrancis	Factoring	2	2016-05-06 08:13
Small FFTs immediately crashes my computer, help please!	scrawlings	Information & Answers	39	2014-08-02 21:48
Small computer is surprisingly capable	fivemack	Hardware	30	2013-05-18 19:36
Another interesting small computer	fivemack	Hardware	0	2013-04-25 15:15
What would you do with a small quantum computer?	CRGreathouse	Lounge	39	2012-07-31 00:20

2015-04-06, 15:05	#51
Xyzzy Aug 2002 8659₁₀ Posts	http://en.yibada.com/articles/24755/...starts-110.htm

2015-05-07, 19:39	#55
xilman Bamboozled! "𒉺𒌌𒇷𒆷𒀭" May 2003 Down not across 2E16₁₆ Posts	A Kickstarter project has fired up to produce a 1GHz ARM cpu + gpu, 512M RAM and 4GB storage on a 4cm x 6cm board at a price of $9. Over here that translates to £6 plus shipping and baksheesh. Shipping is likely to cost markedly more than the hardware