We’ve previously written about Khadas VIM3 Amlogic S922X development board and revealed the price tag for VIM3 Basic ($69.99) and VIM3 Pro ($99.99) with a launch date announced for June 24. As time has passed, this has become “fake news” except for the launch date, as Khadas VIM3 SBC has indeed launched but for $99.99 (Basic) and $139.99 (Pro).
What’s going on? Why the large price increase? That’s because Khadas team has decided to provide a more powerful platform to the community, and replace Amlogic S922X processor with Amlogic A311D processor boasting higher clock speeds and a 5.0 TOPS NPU. Another version may also become available later on with the soon-to-be-released Amlogic S922X-B processor whose Cortex-A73 cores are clocked at up to 2.2 GHz, instead of 1.7 GHz for the original Amlogic S922X processor that will be referred to Amlogic S922X-A in the future.
New Khadas VIM3 SBC specifications:
- SoC – Amlogic A311D hexa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A73 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz and 2x Cortex A53 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G52 MP4 GPU, built-in Cortex-M4 core for “always-on” processing, and 5.0 TOPS NPU @ 800 Mhz with support for Tensorflow, Caffe and other deep-learning frameworks
- MCU – STMicro STM8S003 with Programmable EEPROM for power management, customizations, and boot media configuration
- System Memory & Storage
- VIM3 Basic – 2GB LPDDR4/4X RAM, 16GB eMMC 5.1 flash
- VIM3 Pro – 4GB LPDDR4/4X RAM, 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash
- Common – 16MB SPI flash, microSD card slot supporting up to UHS-I SDR104, support for M.2 2280 NVMe SSD (see Expansion section)
- Video Output & Display Interface
- HDMI2.1 transmitter with 3D, Dynamic HDR, CEC, and HDCP 2.2 support
- 30-pin 0.5mm Pitch FPC Connector for 4-lane MIPI-DSI interface up to 1920 x 1080
- 10-pin 0.5mm Pitch FPC connector for touch panel
- Video
- 4K UHD H.265 75fps 10-bit video decoder & low latency 1080p H.265 / H.264 60fps decoder
- Supports multi-video decoding up to 4Kx2K@60fps + 1x1080P@60fps
- Dolby Vision and HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and PRIME HDR video processing
- Audio – 8-ch I2S for microphone array applications over M2. connector
- Camera – 30-pin 0.5mm Pitch FPC connector for 4-lane MIPI CSI with dual camera support; 8MP ISP
- Connectivity
- Gigabit Ethernet with WoL support
- Dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFI 5, 2X2 MIMO with RSDB and Bluetooth 5.0 via Ampak AP6398S module
- USB – 1x USB 3.0/2.0 type-A port, 1x USB 2.0 type-A port, 1x USB 2.0 OTG type-C port with USB PD support
- Sensor – KXTJ3-1057 3-axis digital accelerometer
- Expansion
- M.2 Socket with single lane PCIe 2.0, USB 2.0, I2S, I2C, ADC, 100M Ethernet PHY interface, GPIO, MCU_PA2
- 40-pins 2.54mm pitch header exposing:
- CPU signals – USB, I2C, I2S, SPDIF, UART, PWM, ADC
- MCU signals – SWIM, NRST, PA1
- Misc – 2x IR receivers; RTC & battery header; 4-pin cooling fan header with PWM speed control; 3x user LEDs; power, func and reset buttons; XPWR pads for an external power button
- Power Supply – 5V to 20V via USB-C port or pogo pads
- Dimensions – 82.0 x 58.0 x 11.5 mm (4x M2 mounting holes)
- Weight – 28.5 grams
- Certifications – CE, RoHS
So basically nothing has changed from the specifications, except for the faster processor which also includes a 5 TOPS NPU, and a MIPI CSI camera interface. If you’d want to reproduce a similar configuration with ODROID-N2 or Raspberry Pi 4, you’d need to spend $60-$70 extra to get a neural compute stick, but obviously that only makes sense if your application can leverage AI acceleration.
Optional accessories include a new VIM Heatsink, a 3705 Cooling Fan, M2X extender board for NVMe SSD (pictured above), a TS050 Touchscreen, Khadas Tone board, a DIY Case, an IR Remote, a USB-C 24W adapter, and related USB-C cables, as well as an HDMI cable.
The company will provide Ubuntu 18.04+ with mainline Linux (Linux 5.0 or greater), as well as Android 9.0 Pie support, and they also mentioned LibreELEC and Armbian support for the boards. You’ll find more technical details and instructions to get started in Khadas documentation website.
If you are interested, you can purchase the board and/or accesories directly on Khadas shop.
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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