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GEEKOM A5 Review – Part 2: Windows 11 Pro tested on an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H Mini PC

After unboxing GEEKOM A5 mini PC, checking out the hardware, and booting the device in the first part of the review, we’ve now had time to further test the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H mini PC with Windows 11 Pro operating system. The boot-up is quite fast and generally speaking the device performs well for the various tasks we ran on the mini PC. So in the second part of the GEEKOM A5 review, we will provide an overview of the system information, test features, perform benchmarks, check heat dissipation under load, and measure the power consumption of the mini PC while running on Windows 11 Pro. Software Overview and Feature Testing Going to System->About in Windows settings, we can confirm that the GEEKOM A5 mini PC is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor clocked at 3.20 GHz (base frequency)  and 32GB of RAM, and runs Windows 11 Pro […]

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Alibaba T-Head TH1520 user manuals released

Further Alibaba T-Head TH1520 quad-core RISC-V processor documentation has been released with nine user manuals covering video and audio processing, peripheral interfaces, memory interfaces, system registers, and the built-in NPU for video acceleration. We first noted the TH1520 RISC-V SoC in the expensive web3-focused ROMA laptop in October 2022, but since then there have been some very interesting developments with the release of Sipeed’s Lichee Pi 4A SBC and various other platforms based on the LM4A system-on-module plus the BeagleBoard.org’s BeagleV Ahead. Both boards also have preliminary support in mainline Linux with the Lichee Pi 4A making it to Linux 6.5, and the BeagleV Ahead was added to the just-released Linux 6.6 kernel. However I had not noticed documentation for the processor was not released publicly until now as both Sipeed and Beagleboard.org have now made available nine user manuals in English, and the Sipeed link has the Chinese versions […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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CanMV-K230 AI development board features Kendryte K230 dual-core 64-bit RISC-V processor

CanMV-K230 is a credit card-sized development board for AI and computer vision applications based on the Kendryte K230 dual-core C908 64-bit RISC-V processor with built-in KPU (Knowledge Process Unit) and various interfaces such as MIPI CSI inputs and Ethernet. The first Kendryte RISC-V AI processor was launched in 2018 with the K210 which I tested with the Grove AI HAT and Maixduino board and found fun to experiment with, but noted that performance was limited. Since then the company introduced the K510 mid-range AI processor with a more powerful 3 TOPS AI accelerator, and the K230 entry-level successor to the K210 – which was planned for 2022 in a 2021 roadmap – has now just been launched and integrated into the CanMV-K230 development board. CanMV-K230 specifications: SoC – Kendryte K230 CPU 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 1.6GHz with RISC-V Vector Extension 1.0, FPU 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 800MHz with support for […]

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LILYGO T-ETH-Lite – An ESP32-S3 board with Ethernet, optional PoE support

LILYGO T-ETH-Lite ESP32-S3 is a new ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth development board with a low-profile Ethernet RJ45 connector using a WIZnet W5500 Ethernet controller, supporting PoE with an extra shield, and also equipped with a microSD card socket and expansion I/Os. ESP32-based development boards with Ethernet have been around for years including LILYGO’s own “TTGO T-Lite W5500“, but so far we haven’t many based on the more recent ESP32-S3 microcontroller except for the SB Components’ ESPi board that we covered last April. But LILYGO T-ETH-Lite ESP32-S3 adds another cost-effective board with Ethernet. LILYGO T-ETH-Lite ESP32-S3 specifications: Wireless module ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 MCU – ESP32-S3 dual-core LX7 microprocessor @ up to 240 MHz with Vector extension for machine learning Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB SPI flash Connectivity – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5 with LE/Mesh PCB antenna Storage – MicroSD card slot Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 up to 150 Mbps and […]

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Lichee Cluster 4A mini-ITX RISC-V cluster board launched for $929 and up

As expected, Sipeed has now launched their Lichee Cluster 4A mini-ITX cluster board and box taking up to seven RISC-V modules with prices starting at $929 on Aliexpress. All kits on offer are fitted with seven Sipeed LM4A system-on-modules based on the T-Head TH1520 quad-core RISC-V processor in either 8GB/32GB or 16GB/128GB memory and storage configuration. Lichee Cluster 4A specifications: SoM – 7x Sipeed LM4A modules with Alibaba T-Head TH1520 processor (4x C910 @ 1.85GHz) and a total of either 56 or 112GB LPDDR4X, and 224GB or 869GB eMMC flash Storage – 7x microSD card slots, one per slot Video Output – 1x HDMI port connected to slot 1 Networking 1x Gigabit Ethernet port for the cluster 1x Gigabit Ethernet port for slot 1 only 1x Ethernet for BMC control USB 7x USB 3.0 ports, one per slot 1x USB 2.0 port for BMC Power Supply – 12V DC input […]

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Allwinner 2023-2024 roadmap reveals A736/A737 Arm Cortex-A78/A76 processors

Allwinner should launch new Cortex-A76/A55 and Cortex-A78/A55 processors in 2024 according to the company’s roadmap including the Allwinner A736/A737 for tablets and the T736/T737 designed for automotive and industrial applications. In recent years, we’ve seen Rockchip and Amlogic introduce more powerful processors with the Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor and Amlogic A311D2 octa-core Cortex-A73/A53 or the more recent Amlogic S928X Cortex-A76/A55 for 8K TV boxes. But we’re still seeing some recent boards based on Allwinner Cortex-A7 32-bit processors, although recently we covered the Allwinner A523 octa-core Cortex-A55 processor for tablets. So today, I decided to go on a quest to find out whether Allwinner plans to use 64-bit Arm “big” cores in their future design. I first ended up on the linux-sunxi website where they list the Allwinner T736 octa-core “sun60i” processor with two Cortex-A76 cores and six Cortex-A55 cores, but no other details. This leads me to some “notes” […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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Blackview MP80 review – Part 2: An Intel Processor N95 mini PC tested with Windows 11

In the first part of our Blackview MP80 Mini PC review we’ve looked at the specifications of the Intel Alder Lake-N Processor N95 pocket-sized mini PC, gone through an unboxing, a (limited) teardown, and given it a quick try in Windows 11. We’ve now had time to test the mini PC with Windows 11 more thoroughly and the MP80 mini PC works quite well and smoothly for its size. So in the second part of the review, we’ll report our experience, run some benchmarks, test hardware features, and so on. Software overview and Blackview MP80’s features testing The System->About section in Windows settings confirms the Blackview MP80 mini PC is powered by an Intel Processor N95 Alder Lake-N CPU with 16 GB RAM, and comes with Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 OS build 22621.1702. HWiNFO64 provides more details about the Intel Processor N95 Alder Lake-N quad-core/quad-thread processor, the motherboard (Shenzhen […]

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Khadas Mind Review – An ultra-thin Core i7-1360P mini PC tested with Windows 11

We wrote about the Khadad Mind portable mini PC a few weeks ago with quite a unique design bringing the Intel Core i7-1360P Raptor Lake processor to a super thin design and enabling extension through the Mind Link connector with PCIe, HDMI 2.1, and USB 3.2 Gen 2 interfaces. We’ve now had time to test the Khadas Mind with the Khadas Dock adding 2.5GbE, two HDMI ports, and several 5 Gbps USB connectors, as well as an audio jack and a full-size SD card reader with the Windows 11 Home operating system, so we’ll report our experience that has been mostly positive. Software overview and features testing The Khadas Mind ships with Windows 11 Home 22H2 build 22621.1992 and the System About menu confirms we have a mini PC equipped with an Intel Core i7-1360P processor with 32GB RAM. HWiNFO64 provides more details about the Core i7-1360P processor, Khadas Mind […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC