Radxa ROCK 5 ITX RK3588 mini-ITX motherboard review – Building an Arm PC and NAS with Debian KDE

ROCK 5 ITX Review: Build Arm Computer NAS

In this review, I’ll show how I installed Debian on the ROCK 5 ITX mini-ITX motherboard powered by a Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Arm Cortex-A76/A55 processor, before building a computer/NAS with the Arm mini-ITX motherboard, testing various features and running benchmarks. In the first part of the review, we checked out the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX (Arm) and Jupiter (RISC-V) mini-ITX motherboards with specifications and unboxing, and the Auriga 6-Bay NAS mini-ITX chassis used in this review. I already built the computer with the Jupiter RISC-V mini-ITX motherboard, so here I simply switched the RISC-V motherboard with the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX Arm motherboard and installed a few SATA drives. Radxa ROCK 5 ITX first boot – A tricky start… Radxa provides getting started instructions on the documentation website which I mostly follow to hopefully boot within a few minutes. I had to prepare the hardware first. So I installed a […]

MILK-V Jupiter review – A RISC-V mini-ITX motherboard and PC tested with Ubuntu-based Bianbu OS

Milk-V Jupiter RISC-V computer review

In this review or preview of the the Shenzhen Milk-V Jupiter RISC-V mini-ITX motherboard, I’ll assemble the motherboard into a mini-ITX chassis, before installing the Ubuntu 23.10 Mantic-based Bianbu OS optimized for RISC-V platforms, and testing the device to see how much progress has been done on RISC-V since I tested the StarFive VisionFive 2 SBC with Debian 12 about 18 months ago. In the first part of the review, we checked out the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX (Rockchip RK3588 Arm) and Jupiter (SpacemIT K1 RISC-V) mini-ITX motherboards with specifications and unboxing, and the Auriga 6-Bay NAS mini-ITX chassis used in this review. I planned to start with the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX, but due to logistics and technical issues, I went ahead testing the RISC-V motherboard first. Installing Bianbu OS to the Jupiter RISC-V motherboard The board does not come with storage, so no operating system is installed. So […]

Jetway JMTX-ADN8 mini-ITX motherboard features Intel N97 CPU, dual GbE, three display interfaces

Jetway JMTX ADN8 Mini ITX SBC

The Jetway JMTX-ADN8 is a mini-ITX motherboard built around an Intel N97 (Alder Lake-N) processor. The board supports up to 32GB DDR5 RAM via a single SO-DIMM slot and can drive up to three independent displays powered by Intel UHD graphics. Additionally, it offers dual GbE LAN, nine USB ports both USB3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0, and multiple storage and expansion options including M.2 (M-key, E-key, and B-key) and SATA-III. The motherboard also includes PCI expansion and supports Windows and Linux operating systems. In one of our last posts, we wrote about the Jetway JNUC-ADN1, another Intel N97-powered SBC, but in a smaller Next Unit of Computing (NUC) form factor. Other than that we have written about similar motherboards in mini-ITX from factors including Radxa ROCK 5 ITX, MW-100-NAS, and ASRock IMB-A8000 feel free to check those out if you are looking for mini-ITX motherboards. Jetway JMTX-ADN8 mini-ITX SBC […]

Building a workstation with Radxa ROCK 5 ITX (Arm) or Milk-V Jupiter (RISC-V) mini-ITX motherboard – Part 1: The hardware

Milk-V Jupiter ROCK 5 ITX mini ITX NAS enclosure

Radxa ROCK 5 ITX is a mini-ITX motherboard powered by a Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor, and the Shenzhen Milk-V Jupiter is another mini-ITX motherboard, but based on SpacemIT K1 octa-core 64-bit RISC-V processor instead. When Radxa contacted me about reviewing those, I thought it would be interesting to review a complete kit with a mini-ITX case since I had never built this type of system myself.  Yesterday, I was surprised to receive two large packages and thought maybe a company sent me a 3D printer or laser engraver kit, but instead, I got one package with the two Arm and RISC-V mini-ITX motherboards and another with a mini-ITX NAS enclosure with 6x SATA bays. Radxa ROCK 5 ITX unboxing Let’s look at the ROCK 5 ITX motherboard and accessories first. The motherboard ships with a rear panel and two screws for the M.2 module. The motherboard features the Rorkchip […]

MW-100-NAS Intel N100 motherboard features six SATA ports, two M.2 PCIe sockets, 2.5GbE and 10GbE interfaces

MW-100-NAS motherboard

The MW-100-NAS mini-ITX motherboard is powered by an Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N CPU and seems especially suited for NAS (networked-attached storage) applications with six SATA connectors, two M.2 Key-M sockets for NVMe drivers, one 10GbE port, and two 2.5GbE RJ45 jacks. The motherboard supports up to 32GB DDR5 memory, features HDMI and DisplayPort video output ports, a COM port header, and plenty of external and internal USB interfaces. It takes power from a standard ATX connector. NW-N100-NAS motherboard specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ up to 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – Up to 32GB DDR5-4800 via SO-DIMM socket Storage 2x M.2 sockets for NVMe SSDs onboard 6x SATA connectors MicroSD card slot Video Output – 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort  Networking 2x 2.5GbE RJ45 ports via Intel i226-V controllers 1x […]

ASRock IMB-A8000 industrial Ryzen Embedded 8000 mini-ITX motherboard takes up to 96GB DDR5 RAM

ASRockI MB A8000 Mini ITX Industrial Motherboard

ASRock Industrial recently launched the IMB-A8000, an industrial and embedded motherboard in a mini-ITX form factor. As an embedded motherboard, it is powered by AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000 series APU which features 8 cores and 16 threads, built with 4nm technology, and including a 16 TOPS AI accelerator. The motherboard supports up to 96GB of dual-channel DDR5-5600MHz memory and includes one 2.5GbE LAN port and one GbE LAN port. With a wide temperature range of -20ºC to 70ºC this motherboard can be used in applications like manufacturing, robotics, machine vision, and more. Previously we have seen SolidRun introduce the Bedrock R8000 industrial PC built around the Ryzen Embedded 8000 APU family. Other than that we have written about other Ryzen Embedded mini-ITX motherboards/SBCs such as the Flex Logic InferX Hawk combining an AMD Ryzen Embedded R2314 SoC with AI accelerators, the DFI RNO171 with Ryzen Embedded V2000 family, or more […]

SBC Case Builder v3.0 can create thousands of cases for popular SBCs and standard motherboards (mini-ITX, Pico-ITX, NUC…)

SBC Case Builder V3.0

SBC Case Builder V3.0 case design utility has just been released with the ability to create over 1,000 standard cases – not including customization – for popular SBCs from Raspberry Pi, Hardkernel, Orange Pi, Radxa, and others, as well as standard motherboards following Mini-ITX, Pico-ITX, NUC, Nano-ITX, etc.., and SBC adapters following these standards, meaning you could install a Raspberry Pi 5 into a mini-ITX case if needed. SBC Case Builder started as a command line utility for designing DIY case for SBCs relying on OpenSDAD in April 2022, but Edward Kisiel (hominoids) quickly released version 2 with a GUI in October or the same, and has now further improved the utility with the release of SBC Case Builder v3.0. Version 3.0 comes with many improvements but the main focus was to reuse existing and new PC standard form factor cases by creating SBC adapters and custom I/O Shields since […]

Axelera Metis PCIe Arm AI evaluation kit combines Firefly ITX-3588J mini-ITX motherboard with 214 TOPS Metis AIPU PCIe card

Metis PCIe Arm Evaluation Kit

Axelera has announced the general availability of several Metis PCIe AI Evaluation Kits that combine the company’s 214 TOPS Metis AIPU PCIe card with x86 platforms such as Dell 3460XE workstation and Lenovo ThinkStation P360 Ultra computers, Advantech MIC-770v3 or ARC-3534 industrial PCs, or the Firefly ITX-3588J mini-ITX motherboard powered by a Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 SoC. We’ll look into detail about the latter in this post. When Axelera introduced the Metis Axelera M.2 AI accelerator module in January 2023 I was both impressed and doubtful of the performance claims of the company since packing a 214 TOPS Metis AIPU in a power-limited M.2 module seemed like a challenge. But it was hard to check independently since the devkits were not available yet although the company only started their early-access program in August last year. Now, anybody with an 899 Euros and up budget can try out their larger Metis […]

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