The Sipeed Tang Nano 20K is a low-cost FPGA development board based on Gowin GW2AR-18 FPGA with 20,736 logic cells and 64Mbit RAM, which coupled with 64MBit QSPI flash provides enough resources to simulate a 32-bit RISC-V core booting Linux or playing retro games in an emulator. The FPGA board comes with a USB-C port for power and to load the FPGA bitstream through a BL616 microcontroller that also acts as a USB to serial chip, an HDMI port and an RGB LCD interface for video output, two user buttons, and two rows GPIOs to connect peripherals such as gamepads (through adapters). Sipeed Tang Nano 20K specifications: FPGA – Gowin GW2A-LV18QN88C8I7 with 20,736 logic units (LUT4) 15,552 flip-flops (FF) RAM 41,472 shadow SRAM (S-SRAM) 828K block SRAM (B-SRAM) Numbers of B-SRAM – 46 64Mbit 32-bit SDR SDRAM 48x 18×18 multipliers 2x PLLs 8x I/O Bank Onboard debugger – Bouffalo Labs […]
Beelink SER6 Pro 7735HS Review – Windows 11 benchmarks, USB4 port tested with NVIDIA RTX 3050 eGPU’s
Previously I reviewed Beelink’s SER6 Pro mini PC when it was released with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor, mentioning that a ‘refreshed’ model had since been released. Beelink have kindly sent me this updated model which now uses an AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS. Given this is virtually an identical processor with just a 50 MHz improvement to the boost frequency, this review will look at confirming that the Windows performance is just as good as before and also revisiting the issues faced previously with the USB4 port. Spoiler alert: the USB4 now works perfectly! Beelink SER6 Pro 7735S specification Beelink list the SER6 Pro 7735HS specifications as: with the only differences to the original SER6 Pro being firstly the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS processor which has a Max Turbo Frequency of 4.75GHz, and secondly that two variations are also available: one with ports exactly the same as the original […]
Orange Pi is working on a portable gaming console with Rockchip RK3588S or AMD Ryzen 7 CPU
Single board computer manufacturer Orange Pi Ltd is working on a portable gaming console that will come with either a Rockchip RK3588S processor for Android/Linux gaming, or AMD Ryzen 7 7800U/6800U for Windows gaming. The industrial design looks to be the same for all models with a 7-inch touchscreen display, a D-Pad, two joysticks, XBOX-styled ABXY buttons, two customisable buttons on the back, two microphones, stereo speakers, three USB ports including one only for charging, The Orange Pi portable gaming console will be offered in three variants when it launches in China in October during Golden Week: AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor with 16GB RAM, 512GB storage running Windows 11 for an early bird price of 3,000 RMB ($434 US), or a regular price of 3,499 RMB ($506). AMD Ryzen 7 6800U with Windows 11 selling for 2,000 RMB, or about $289 US (early bird price). Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Arm […]
AMD Ryzen Z1 “Zen4” processors target Windows-based handheld gaming consoles
AMD has just unveiled the new power-efficient Ryzen Z1 “Zen4” Series processor family designed for handheld gaming consoles running Windows and equipped with AMD RDNA 3 architecture-based graphics. The new series features two processors at launch, namely the Ryzen Z1 hexa-core processor with 4 RDNA 3 Compute Units and the Ryzen Z1 Extreme octa-core processor with 12 RDNA 3 Computer Units for “ultimate high-performance for handheld gaming”. Highlights of Ryzen Z1 and Z1 extreme specifications: Both processors support LPDDR5/LPDDR5x memory, and USB4 interface, as well as the following AMD technologies: AMD Link – Mobile app to connect your phone, tablet, TV, or Windows-based PC, and stream games. AMD Radeon Super Resolution – In-driver feature upscaling lower resolutions set in-game to the native resolution of the active display for higher FPS performance. AMD Radeon Boost – Dynamically lowers the resolution of the entire frame when fast on-screen character motion is detected […]
Beelink SER6 Pro mini PC review – Windows 11, Ubuntu 22.04, and USB4
Beelink upgraded their earlier SER6, which used an AMD Ryzen 5 6600H processor with integrated AMD Radeon 660M graphics, and released the SER6 Pro which has a faster AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor with much more powerful integrated AMD Radeon 680M graphics. Beelink kindly sent a SER6 Pro unit for review however since receiving the mini PC, Beelink have ‘refreshed’ the processor to use an AMD Ryzen 7 7735H also with AMD Radeon 680M graphics, and called it the SER6 Pro Refresh. As a result, this review looks at Windows performance which should be indicative for both versions, together with a quick look at running Ubuntu and also a more detailed look at the USB4 port which is a new inclusion to Beelink’s mini PCs. Update: you may be interested in the review of the Beelink SER6 Pro 7735HS – in Windows 11 only – as we’ve also received it […]
Auspicious Machine modular handheld Linux PC with keyboard takes various Arm-based SoMs
The “Auspicious Machine” may look like a Blackberry phone, but it’s actually a handheld Linux PC with a built-in QWERTY keyboard and a 3.5-inch display that can be powered by a range of system-on-modules (SoM). The computer, whose name can also be translated as the “Auspicious Phone”, can be used as a Linux terminal with GPIO control, and for gaming with Linux distributions such as Batotera or RetroBat with the D-Pad and ABXY buttons found on the device. Auspicious Machine specifications: Supported SoMs Bigtreetech CB1 with Allwinner H616 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and 1GB DDR4 Raspberry Pi CM4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, up to 8GB LPDDR4, up to 32GB eMMC flash Radxa CM3 with Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor, up to 4GB LPDDR4, up to 64GB eMMC flash Banana Pi BPI-CM4 with Amlogic A311D octa-core Cortex-A73/A55 processor with 4GB LPDDR4 and 16GB eMMC flash Storage – MicroSD card socket […]
Raspberry Pi 400 powers dual-display retro-gaming console
“Block after Block” has designed a dual-display tabletop retro-gaming console using plywood edge grain and a Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard PC that allows players to physically face each other during a fight or other gameplay. While there’s a galore of projects based on Raspberry Pi SBCs, the Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard PC is more like a consumer product due to its form factor, but Block after Block integrated the PC into its own retro-gaming console which involved a lot of woodworking skills and installing RetroPie on the Pi 400 device. This DIY project mostly involves spending time in a workshop cutting wood, and once you’re done with this part, it should be pretty straightforward. The following items are required for the project: A Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard PC Two monitors (second-hand monitors will do) An HDMI splitter to mirror the output from the Pi 400 along with a micro HDMI […]
Kontron D3724-R mSTX – A Mini-STX motherboard based on Ryzen Embedded R2000 CPU
Kontron D3724-R mSTX is an upcoming industrial Mini-STX motherboard powered by an AMD Ryzen Embedded R2000 Series SoC and designed for applications with high graphical requirements such as casino gaming, medical displays, thin clients, and compact industrial PCs. The motherboard supports up to 32GB RAM, SATA & NVMe storage, and is equipped with up to three DisplayPort outputs, one HDMI port, as well as eDP and dual-channel LVDS interfaces to support up to four independent 4K displays. Kontron D3724-R mSTX specifications: SoC (One or the other) D3724-R1 – AMD Embedded R2312 dual-core/quad-thread processor @ 2.7 / 3.5 GHz (Turbo) with 3-core AMD Radeon Vega Graphics; 12-35W TDP D3724-R2 – AMD Embedded R2314 quad-core processor @ 2.1 / 3.5 GHz (Turbo) with 6-core AMD Radeon Vega Graphics; 12-35W TDP D3724-R3 – AMD Embedded R2514 quad-core/eight-thread processor @ 2.1 / 3.7 GHz (Turbo) with 8-core AMD Radeon Vega Graphics; 12-35W TDP System […]