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A single board computer with a Ryzen Embedded starts shipping this week

Skanky Sylveon

Single board computers come in all shapes and sizes, from the Raspberry pi, to the odroid h2.  While there are several differences between all of them, they usually have all of the nessacary components, or at least the essential components to operate all in a single PCB, thus the term "single board computer".

 

A new addition to the rather large (and loosely defined) family is the UDOO BOLT, which is a single board computer that will have an embedded Ryzen CPU.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/liliputing.com/2019/03/udoo-bolt-single-board-pc-with-ryzen-embedded-starts-shipping-this-week-crowdfunding.html/amp

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AMD’s Ryzen Embedded line of processors are based on the same architecture as the Ryzen chips that power laptops and desktops. 

So don't expect the same level of performance as the desktop CPUs, but this may be one of the most powerful single board computers on the market. 

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The UDOO BOLT is a 4.7″ x 4.7″ single-board PC with support for either a Ryzen Embedded V1202B processor with Radeon Vega 3 graphics or a Ryzen Embedded V1605B chip with Radeon Vega 8 graphics.

First off, let's talk about the form factor.  While I could talk about how small that is, I think that showing would be better. 

udoo-bolt_07.jpg.35227a0e00b43754d0801cb92292b3e3.jpg

4.7 inches equates to roughly 120mm.

So if you have a 120mm fan lying around, you can roughly judge the size, which needless to say, is quite tiny.

 

Now let's talk about the CPU options.

Both of those are low power, both of them having a 15w TDP.

The V1605B is the same exact CPU that the upcoming Smach Z is using, which seems to play most modern titles at around 720p at 30-60FPS, which for such a low powered CPU, is rather impressive. 

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UDOO says the system can power up to four displays with resolutions up to 4K thanks to its dual HDMI 2.0 ports and dual USB 3.1 Type-C ports. There are also two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and the system features Gigabit Ethernet, a headset jack, an IR receiver, Arduino-compatible pins, and other I/O connectors.

 

It comes with 32GB of eMMC 5.0 storage and supports SATA hard drives or SSDs as well as M.2 PCIe NVMe solid state storage. And there are two SODIMM slots for up to 32GB of DDR4-2400 RAM.

While this won't be a proper desktop replacement for gamers, it could serve that purpose for general use, the Arduino compatible pins are what's going to interest tinkerers though.

32 GB of EMMC is too small for a Windows installation, but it should work with most linux distros.  There are SATA ports for HDDs/SSDs though, as well as an m.2 PCIe slot, while you would traditionally think to put an SSD there, you are able to hook up an external GPU to the lattepanda alpha (another powerful single board computer) with an adapter, and I wonder if the same thing could be done here.  Strapping on an external GPU and PSU (since the GPU needs to be powered) kinda defeats the purpose of the small form factor though. 

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The developers of the UDOO BOLT raised over $600 thousand through a Kickstarter campaignthat launched in May, 2018 with the goal of shipping the device to backers by December of that year.

That didn’t happen, but in an update posted to the campaign a few days ago, UDOO notes that the system has passed all necessary certification tests, and the first 300 units should ship to early bird backers of the campaign within days.

And now the elephant in the room.  This is a kickstarted product, that's not nessacarlly bad, but kickstarted projects tend to have a rather bad reputation of not delivering, this product was already supposed to be shipped out last year, and it's almost April. 

However in the grand scheme of things, 1/4th of a year isn't the end of the world, and it seems like the early bird backers will get the first batch.

 

So not available to the general public yet, but that will hopefully change in the coming months. 

 

And now for an opinion piece from me.  I have recently gotten into single board computers, and this interests me for several reasons. 

First off, I don't think that I have ever seen a Ryzen single board computer, and second, this is a lot of power in a small form factor.  The most powerful single board computer currently is the lattepanda alpha, which I already mentioned briefly, but that board has some limitations, soldered in RAM, no SATA ports, etc.  It's a great board, but it's limited in expansion, while that makes it very thin (as well as smaller then the UDOO BOLT footprint wise) it limits what you can do with it. 

Furthermore, the GPIO on the lattepanda alpha can only be controlled by the on board ATMega32u4 microcontroller, which connects to the CPU via serial interface, further limiting what you can do with the board. 

 

So my hope with the UDOO BOLT is if it gives similar, if not greater CPU performance without the shortcomings of the lattepanda alpha. 

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Vega 8 means its not too bad probably. 

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I wonder how expensive this will be. I'd love to have this just for fun. Hell, it would make a fantastic media center pc (connecting to services like Netflix or Plex). Wish it had 10 gigabit tho.

 

Shit. Linus should get in on this and use this to revisit Linux gaming and see if this is a good budget option (assuming it won't cost your left testicle like most of these kickstarted products tend to).

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4 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

I wonder how expensive this will be. I'd love to have this just for fun. Hell, it would make a fantastic media center pc (connecting to services like Netflix or Plex). Wish it had 10 gigabit tho.

 

Shit. Linus should get in on this and use this to revisit Linux gaming and see if this is a good budget option (assuming it won't cost your left testicle like most of these kickstarted products tend to).

Why do you wish it had 10 gigabit?

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1 minute ago, Schnoz said:

I hope it will ship with a heatsink attached. It would be a pain to have to find a proprietary cooler for it once you get it.

Could you not quote the entire damn OP? Really redundant in this case, or any case where someone has a huge post.  

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6 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Why do you wish it had 10 gigabit?

Do you not want it to? 10gig man! Patrick Star said it best "We have technology" so let's fuckin use it!

 

In all seriousness though, I really think USB C/Thunderbolt and 10gb networking should be standard features included with all applicable devices. I mean, there's really no reason not to anymore.

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Holy SFF batman, that's pretty sweet.

But does it overclock?

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3 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

. I mean, there's really no reason not to anymore.

Well, there's the issue of cost, and the issue of hardly justifying said cost in a market segment oriented to low cost, low power, high versatility (where even 100 Mbps ethernet computers have reigned supreme for a while), and especially hard to justify when your 10 Gbps port is going to be hooked to the 1 Gbps port of your router, because 10 Gbps network infrastructure hasn't exactly become ubiquitous yet.

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Just now, SpaceGhostC2C said:

Well, there's the issue of cost, and the issue of hardly justifying said cost in a market segment oriented to low cost, low power, high versatility (where even 100 Mbps ethernet computers have reigned supreme for a while), and especially hard to justify when your 10 Gbps port is going to be hooked to the 1 Gbps port of your router, because 10 Gbps network infrastructure hasn't exactly become ubiquitous yet.

Does it really cost that much for 10gig? I honestly find this hard to believe. I'd need quite the explanation to convince me, otherwise I'm inclined to think it's due to monopolization and greedy companies charging like they're a kickstarter company themselves.

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12 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

I wonder how expensive this will be.

Lowest configuration will be 229 dollars.  The upgraded CPU will probably tack a decent amount on to the cost though. 

16 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

Hell, it would make a fantastic media center pc (connecting to services like Netflix or Plex). Wish it had 10 gigabit tho.

The lattepanda alpha is a popular Plex server option, the odroid h2 can be used as one as well, but it can't stream to as many devices simultaneously. 

The h2 also has 2 gigabit ethernet ports. 

 

As far as 10 gigabit, the cheapest available 10gb cards are about 100 dollars.  That extra cost would be prohibitive for the intended price bracket, especially since most people won't take advantage of it.

You may be able to add a 10gb card through an m.2 adapter.  Such as this one.

20190325_191321.thumb.jpg.e6421d49fd17b410fd842a1f6fc3235f.jpg

 

It was originally meant for miners, but people have used it to expand their PCIe devices. 

21 minutes ago, Schnoz said:

I hope it will ship with a heatsink attached. It would be a pain to have to find a proprietary cooler for it once you get it.

I'm pretty sure it comes with a heatsink, that would be nice if it was standard PC heatsink spacing, but I don't think so.

 

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Would it be enough to run CSGO on 1080p@60fps?

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22 minutes ago, williamcll said:

Would it be enough to run CSGO on 1080p@60fps?

The V1605B can play Overwatch at 720p 60FPS.  So probably?

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25 minutes ago, williamcll said:

Would it be enough to run CSGO on 1080p@60fps?

CS isn't all that GPU-intensive, so if the CPU side of things were peppy enough (the page ain't loading for me at all), I'd bet cash it could do it at 1080p60 (or, at the very least, 720p60).

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Just for some more perspective I've done my best to include an accurately scaled TR board and CPU beside it

 

4582f9a9-f92b-4c8e-a0cd-d9fe6005329c.jpg

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7 hours ago, Skanky Sylveon said:

 

udoo-bolt_07.jpg.35227a0e00b43754d0801cb92292b3e3.jpg

While this won't be a proper desktop replacement for gamers, it could serve that purpose for general use, the Arduino compatible pins are what's going to interest tinkerers though.

Challenge accepted!

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7 hours ago, Skanky Sylveon said:

A new addition to the rather large (and loosely defined) family is the UDOO BOLT, which is a single board computer that will have an embedded Ryzen CPU.

udoo-bolt_07.jpg.35227a0e00b43754d0801cb92292b3e3.jpg

want.png.e41bded0037949e0356d3306c95f8266.png

 

I like to hoard various kinds of SBCs and I've backed several such on Kickstarter. I've got an Intel-based SBC that's similar to this one, namely the UP^2 and I've quite liked it. I really badly wanna add this one to my collection as well!

8 hours ago, Skanky Sylveon said:

And now the elephant in the room.  This is a kickstarted product, that's not nessacarlly bad, but kickstarted projects tend to have a rather bad reputation of not delivering, this product was already supposed to be shipped out last year, and it's almost April. 

However in the grand scheme of things, 1/4th of a year isn't the end of the world, and it seems like the early bird backers will get the first batch.

UDOO has already kickstarted several similar boards before, I see no reason to worry here. As for being late.... well, I always say that one should always prepare for at least a 6 month delay in any and every Kickstarter-project. Only a fool expects the originally-planned schedule to stick.

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This would make a great linux personal server sitting at a relative's place for remote backups and the like on an attached HD.  I might even be able to find an older large HD case that I could put this and a couple 3.5's both in.  Please post back up when this is actually available to the public, not just kickstarter. :)

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8 hours ago, Skanky Sylveon said:

32 GB of EMMC is too small for a Windows installation

Windows 10 has a compact mode which it picks by itself when it detects a small OS drive. So it is definitely possible to have a Win10 install on 32GB. I have an older generation nettop which also has 32GB internal storage with Win10 on it. Even major OS updates can be installed, although it requires you have a USB stick to work as temp space. Of course, that doesn't leave a lot of space for... anything else, but it is workable as a basic system. 

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Ever since i heard of this thing ive wanted one. Only thing i would want from it is a couple of small PCIe connectors.

 

 

If it gets on the market i woull probably end up buying one

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That's a pretty neat little board. 

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Yeah, they ship this week....but only to the first 300 backers on a certain tier (which I, sadly, am not a part of despite spending even more money than that tier required).  Still, I have high hopes for it and am really looking forward to playing with Linux and Proton on it.

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looks like something nice for a home server or maybe Ryzen's version of STX

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5 hours ago, porina said:

Windows 10 has a compact mode which it picks by itself when it detects a small OS drive. So it is definitely possible to have a Win10 install on 32GB. I have an older generation nettop which also has 32GB internal storage with Win10 on it. Even major OS updates can be installed, although it requires you have a USB stick to work as temp space. Of course, that doesn't leave a lot of space for... anything else, but it is workable as a basic system. 

While this is true, it's not guaranteed that updates will actually install.  I've had three different machines with 32GB eMMC chips where we simply could not install Windows 10 version updates.  One of them I had to clean up a bunch of preinstalled apps, and another one I ended up moving files off that weren't critical until after the update finished.  On a third one, I couldn't ever get it to work no matter how much I deleted, so we ended up clean reinstalling 10 with the latest build.

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I've been kinda wanting to get rid of my old optiplex router in favor for something like this. certainly a lot more efficient.

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2 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

I've been kinda wanting to get rid of my old optiplex router in favor for something like this. certainly a lot more efficient.

It's gonna be a while longer before you can buy these ones. If you don't want to wait, an UP^2, like I have, might fit the bill. Or one of the various NUCs.

 

One caveat with the UP^2 is that it does not have CSM-support in the BIOS, so you can only run OSes that support UEFI. This means that e.g. OpenWRT is a no-go at the moment. pfSense, on the other hand, works fine.

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