Slowly but surely we are starting to see some Intel Gemini Lake products for sale / pre-order such as Intel June Canyon NUC Mini PC/Kits, or Jumper EBook X1 laptop, and if are based in Europe, it’s now possible to purchase ASUS PRIME J4005I-C mini-ITX motherboard for under 80 Euros.
The motherboard is equipped with an Intel Celeron J4005 dual core processor, two U-DIMM slots for up to 8GB RAM, SATA and mSATA for storage, HDMI/RGB/LVDS ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and more.
ASUS PRIME J4005I-C specifications:
- SoC – Intel Celeron J4005 dual core processor @ 2.0 / 2.7 GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 600 up to 700 MHz; 10W TDP
- System Memory – 2x U-DIMM sockets up to 8GB DDR4 2400/2133 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
- Storage
- 2x SATA 6Gb/s ports
- 1x M.2 Socket with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIe mode)
- 128 Mb Flash ROM for UEFI AMI BIOS
- Video Output
- 1x HDMI 2.0 up to 4096 x 2304 @ 24 Hz
- 1x D-Sub (VGA) up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60 H
- 1x LVDS connector up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
- 1x Flat panel display brightness connector
- Supports up to 3 displays simultaneously
- Audio
- Realtek ALC887-VD2 8-Channel High Definition Audio Codec
- 3x Audio jacks
- 1x S/PDIF out header
- 1x front panel audio connector (AAFP)
- 1x speaker connector
- Connectivity – 1x Gigabit Ethernet via Realtek RTL8111H controller
- USB
- 2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports
- 2x USB 2.0 ports
- USB 2.0 internal header
- Expansion
- 1x M.2 Socket with E Key, type 2230 WiFi/BT devices support or PCIe/USB mode
- Misc
- 1x PS/2 keyboard (purple), 1x PS/2 mouse (green)
- 1x COM port (DB9), 1x COM header
- 1x LPT header
- 1x 4-pin Chassis Fan connector
- 1x Chassis Intrusion connector(s)
- 1x Clear CMOS jumper(s)
- 1 x Panel off header
- 1x System panel connector
- ASUS 5X Protection II (LANGuard, Overvoltage Protection,DRAM Overcurrent Protection, Stainless-Steel Back I/O, ESD Guards)
- Power Supply
- 1x 24-pin EATX power connector
- 1x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
- Dimensions – 170 x 170 mm (mini-ITX form factor).
The motherboard is said to support Windows 10 64-bit or Linux, and ships with a user’s manual, support CD/DVD with drivers,user’s manual…, an I/O Shield, two SATA cables, and an M.2 screw package. ASUS claims the motherboard follows the thin mini-ITX form factor, but the height appears higher than the 2.5cm maximum height normally used for thin Mini-ITX boards. Visit the product page for further details.
Via FanlessTech
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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Very nice, i want.
Ugly ATX power connector.
Nice, indeed, but 8GB maximum? I know RAM prices are high, but the past 10 years or so maximum RAM size has halted on most non-server equipment, often due to solder-on RAM only. Here there are RAM sockets, but still no proper RAM support. Has all the memory controller designers retired? Sigh …
8GB RAM seems to be a limitation of the CPU: https://ark.intel.com/products/128992/Intel-Celeron-Processor-J4005-4M-Cache-up-to-2_70-GHz
@Bobby
Yes, @fossxplorer is right, Gemini Lake processors launched so far only support up to 8GB RAM. Those are entry-level processors, so I guess it makes sense.
Very reasonable price for the value. Too bad I don’t need it 🙂
Yeah looks good compared to many overpriced ARM boxes, although without RAM. Is there a good ATX PSU without fan?
Too many archaic ports instead of modern ones: PS/2, com port and header, LPT header, VGA, but no directly usable second digital display connector, no USB-C port, no USB3 headers, only 2 SATA … might be targeted as a replacement for embedded stuff that uses those archaic ports.
@fossxplorer
for these type of low power boards you can use a fanless picoPSU
like this
https://www.mini-itx.com/store/~picoPSU-90
For 30£. Much better and convenient to use a 12V supply, and include switching regulators in the board.
The header right behind the HDMI port should carry 4 x USB3. Unfortunately I’m not aware of a lot of general purpose PCIe attached adapters that could fit into the M.2 slots (Key E and M). The only one I currently remember is for Key B: shop.t-firefly.com/goods.php?id=52
Two DIMM slots, 8GB max.. No UDIMM will be left behind with this board ; )
At this power level, and with this Asus boards, we usually use a cheap (sometimes used) atx PS and disconnect the fan (or cut the wires!). Also we get rid of the PS case and put the circuit inside our small custom case.
@willy
These boards with integrated CPUs are not good value at all. For the same 80eur you can get a Celeron G3900 and a MATX motherboard. If you put an extra 10-15eur, you also get ITX. It has been like this ever since Braswell.
The performance is on another league and you get to slam at least 16GB in there if you need. Plus, I measured an old G1840 and power consumption while stressing GPU+CPU was under 20-25W.
Get these if you really need something that can run below 10W. What you save on electrical costs is not much more than 1eur/month.
@cnxsoft
Yes, I know the memory controller is integrated. 8GB is not bad relative to higher end CPU’s, but as I see it, it is not enough in either end.
How? Do you know a single such PCIe attached SATA controller with M.2 key M or E? Or using the SuperSpeed USB ports since ‘fast enough’?
@willy
You can find multiple MATX motherboards + G3900 w/ heatsink (the included one, which is low-ish profile and low noise) for *under 80eur*. For 95eur you can get a combo with ITX motherboard – on a part that is much higher performance.
These only make sense for very small NAS and I don’t find these worth more than 50eur unless you fit in the top quad core model.
Those TDP numbers are meaningless. Ever since Ivy Bridge, Intel has been pushing very high TDP numbers for non-K CPUs. G1840 is sub-25W at 2.8GHz and a G3900 is certainly below that, as the clock didn’t increase but there have been silicon process improvements. You can check this in reviews, G4560 is under 30W and that is for a higher clock, quad thread chip.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/11658/the-amd-ryzen-3-1300x-ryzen-3-1200-cpu-review/16
For this price point, I’d expect something on 15W, based on bigger cores like the 1037U that was available a few years back.
Both not really an option since while M.2 key M could carry SATA it does not in this case (the Celeron J4005 has only two native SATA ports which are already used). M.2 key M also could expose 4 PCIe lanes but again since the el cheapo Celeron is running out of PCIe lanes only two are available here:
All you can do with the M.2 key M slot is inserting a heavily bottlenecked PCIe SSD (designed for Gen3 x4 but limited to a fourth of the performance with Gen2 x2) but nothing else. And yeah, I know passive adapters exist but they make the whole setup both more expensive and unreliable as you already said. If I want PCIe carried on wires I would only choose Thunderbolt since this works reliable.
IMO it would be a great idea to define some M.2 logos so end users can simply get what the M.2 slot in question really provides. There’s an awful lot of confusion associated with this connector, the most crazy one resulting in people talking about ‘M.2 SSD performance’.
It’s a dumb mechanical connector that could transport this or that but even if the protocol is known (e.g. NVMe/PCIe attached SSD) there’s still a great chance to be bottlenecked as the above example shows. Those amazingly fast NVMe SSDs want an M.2 slot exposing Gen3 x4 and not Gen2 x2 bottlenecking both sequential and random performance.