I’ve just written about the first Tiger Lake UP3 Pico-ITX motherboard I’ve seen with Commell LP-179 equipped with an Intel Core i7 or Celeron processor, but while doing research on the topic, AAEON PICO-TGU4 Pico-ITX SBC with “11th Generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Celeron U-Series Processor SoC” showed up.
More specifically, the PICO-TGU4 Pico-ITX SBC features processors from the Tiger Lake UP3 family, comes with up to 32GB RAM, SATA storage, HDMI output, dual Gigabit Ethernet, dual USB 3.2, and more.
But we’ve now got some photos and key features & specifications for AAEON PICO-TGU4 SBC:
- SoC – 11th Generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Celeron Tiger Lake UP3 SoC up to 4.8 GHz
- System Memory – Up to 32GB LPDDR4x 3200 MHz on-board memory, optional In-Band ECC for Tiger Lake GRE processors, only available upon request
- Storage – 1x SATA port
- Video Output
- HDMI 2.0b port up to 4Kx2K 60Hz
- 1x eDP up to HBR3, 8Kx4K 30Hz
- Audio – High Definition Audio Interface, Line-in/Line-out/MIC via header
- Networking
- 1x 2.5GbE RJ45 port via Intel i225
- 1x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port via Intel i219
- USB – 2x USB3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, 2x USB3.2 Gen 1 via header, 4x USB2.0 via header
- Serial Port – 2x RS-232/422/485
- Expansion
- 8-bit DIO header
- 1x M.2 M key 2280 socket with PCIe Gen4 as default, or SATA depending on HW BOM
- 1x Full-size mSATA/mPCIe socket with PCIe selected by BIOS by default, but USB is also an option
- 1x SMBUS/I2C/eSPI header
- Misc – Watchdog timer, AMI UEFI BIOS with Wake-on-LAN
- Power Supply – +12V via 2-pin terminal block
- Dimensions – 100 x 72 mm (Pico-ITX) form factor
- Temperature Range – Operating: 0C ~ 60C; storage: -40C ~ 80C
- Humidity – 0% ~ 90% relative humidity, non-condensing
- Certification – CE/FCC Class A
AAEON can provide various cooling solutions for the SBC including a heat-spreader for fanless operation, or a heatsink & cooler. The company provides Windows 10 64-bit and Ubuntu 20.04.2 with the Linux kernel 5.8. Target applications include gaming systems, transportation, digital signage, industrial automation, and other AIoT solutions.
More details can be found on the product page, and the PICO-TGU4 board is now listed on the company’s eShop for $615 to $1,152.
[Update: The article was initially published February 12, 2021, and updated on September 13, 2021 with the board in mass production, and some updates to the specifications such as the max RAM frequency]
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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USB 2.0 is wired directly into the mPCIe port so you’d just have to break it out with a daughter board. Its a neat way to add things like bluetooth, wifi, flash boot drive etc on a cheap old laptop, netbook, etc.
You’re right, that’s probably what they mean. But they wrote “full size USB” which I understand as “USB Type-A”.
OK. Got it now. They mean full-size mPCIe socket, when they write “Full size USB 2.0 or mSATA/mPCIe”.
Good day!
It is mini-card slot with different interface co-layout , which is including USB 2.0 signal + PCIex1 /SATA III interface, and for the PCIex1 / SATA III (mSATA) function, you could select from the BIOS setting.
It doesn’t mean physical USB Type_A connector here, and I hope my clarification is clear.
Thank you!
On your product page there’s also mentioned the M.2 slot could carry SATA signals. Does that mean 3 SATA ports in total if UEFI settings route also SATA to the mPCIe socket or are there only 2 SATA ports in total with Tiger Lake UP3?
In total two SATA interface, the SATA III Port is share the signal with the M.2 2280 socket, which means, if you use SATA SSD, then M.2 2280 could only be used for the expansion (such as AI module). Thanks!
Thank you for the ‘2 SATA ports in total’ confirmation. Maybe it might be interesting for your customers whether Tiger Lake SoCs are compatible with SATA port multipliers allowing more than one disk behind one SATA port.
It’s just 2 SATA disks, some cheap JMB585 thingy off of Aliexpress or eBay to test for this. Might extend use cases for this device…
Any pictures of the cooler that goes on this board? As that’s going to be one frankencooler.
Thanks for your attention! the cooler/ thermal solution is still under evaluation. more details can be released in Q2 this year.
@Jean-Luc Aufranc
Is there a PICO-alternative from AMD (with 2x Ethernet RJ45 port)?
I can’t even find any AMD Ryzen Pico-ITX boards, let alone with dual Ethernet.
There’s DFI GHF51 SBC but it’s not Pico-ITX, just a bit smaller, and with a single Ethernet port.
Thank you and that is very sad 🙁
Thanks for your attention! AAEON is now developing the PICO-ITX board with AMD V2000 platform. More information can be released in later Q2 this year.
Next question 🙂 Why only 32.4 Gbit/s (1x eDP up to HBR3, 8Kx4K 30Hz)? Today we have a demand for 48 Gbit/s (4K120Hz 12bit chroma 4:4:4). This would allow the system to be classified as familiar for multimedia.
I like the onboard 2.5 GbE … it’s a sign 2.5 GbE is becoming mainstream.
Those Tiger Lake SoCs have an embedded Foxville NBase-T controller inside so it would be rather dumb to not expose it if it’s already there.
Ah, it’s on the Intel SoC? Even better! I love mainstream.
It should be illegal to make new computers with useless sata these days. If you need a spinning rust drive use USB, if you need lots of them use SAS.
LOL! While SATA could be called ‘legacy’ these days it’s still perfectly fine to use, especially from an energy efficiency point of view since USB-to-SATA bridges need also power while SAS controllers waste power since optimised for only one special use case.
Ever tried to spin down spinning rust in the ‘wrong’ USB enclosure? Ever had to apply firmware updates to an USB disk just to get disk health data (SMART)?
Price? Will they kill this as many others before them? Must be around 100-150$ max.
It’s not a high-volume consumer product, so the price should be quite higher than $150.
Well, you can say same thing about “raspberry” product. Not a high-volume consumer product but people behind it didnt kill it with crazy price tag. Just imagine, how well and far they could get with this little pico board if they keep price around 100$. But hey, lets have price tag around 200-300$ and kill this project just before it even started. If they didnt develop this board for specific customer with pre-agreed price tag, they will have hard time to sell more than few units to few hard-core fans.
I’ll try to explain even though I may be missing some important points.
These types of boards are designed for companies with specific needs. They may need long-term availability (10-15 years), specific certifications, and support. With Raspberry Pi boards, you don’t get long-term availability or customization ability (except for Compute Modules to some extent), and support means “ask on the forum”. I’ve also noticed people may struggle to get supplies. Let’s say a company needs a board for a power plant, and 10 years later it breaks, they need to be able to get a replacement. Using a different board, you increase costs, plant shutdown, and delays due to the need to qualify the software on a new platform.
For reference, I’ve just had a look at the sample price for AAEON’s earlier Pico-ITX SBC based on Whiskey Lake processors: $518 for the Core-i3 model, $783 for the Core-i5 model.
I see, so this is not raspberry or pine type of product for end users at home, but specialized HW for companies with “specific needs”. I get it now…maybe if you put it somewhere in your article…not for “home use”…
If the product costs over $300 then I and (I suspect) any retail consumer won’t buy it. From $500 you can buy a notebook with a screen, keyboard, case, batteries, power adapter etc. I know a lot of people who are looking for an efficient alternative to RPI, but $350 is the maximum budget. Higher price will kill AAEON PICO-TGU4 Pico-ITX for the retail consumer. I hope that the company not only serves the company, but has a positive attitude towards the retail market.
When will it be available for purchase?