Hands On With The Atomic Pi As A $35 Intel Atom Alternative To The Raspberry Pi

[ChamPro]

Unfortunately, these aren't much better as TV boxes than the RaspberryPi. Given that these are Cherry Trail tablet Atoms, they have Broadwell microarchitecture Intel Graphics. That means partial support of H265, partial of VP9, and okay support of H264.

[metallurge]

I can't get over that massive heatsink almost as big as the board. what is with every single Intel CPU being a nuclear power plant? I bet it turns into a space heater even in mild humidity.

The whole board works on 5V at maybe 2.5-3A maximum, so it's dissipating maybe 15W maximum. The CPU SoC itself (including graphics) has a "scenario design power" of 2W. This is all in the same ballpark as a Raspberry Pi. The heatsink on the Atomic Pi is clearly designed for harsh thermal environments and only passive cooling.

[starshipeleven]

I can't get over that massive heatsink almost as big as the board.

It's oversized as fuck, that's a 2W part, even if I think Intel is blatantly lying and it's actually more like 4-6w.

This is one of the random chinese boards with the same hardware, with a fanless heatsink of the right size for a 6w part.


https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...657319374.html

[teknokilr]

There are some on Atomic Pis available right now on Ebay along with the Baby and Full breakout power boards

Atomic Pi

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264317748397

Baby Breakout Board

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264324121953

Full Breakout Board

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264324234923

Atomic Pi Designer Kit

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264324147495

[edwaleni]

It's oversized as fuck, that's a 2W part, even if I think Intel is blatantly lying and it's actually more like 4-6w.

This is one of the random chinese boards with the same hardware, with a fanless heatsink of the right size for a 6w part.


https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...657319374.html

I have the Up Board with the exact same CPU. They ship it with a heat sink and fan. When I ran Windows 10 on it and it gets very, very hot when set in performance mode.

So I agree, the TDP on this CPU is under stated. The Up Board is $119 however, not $35.

[starshipeleven]

The Up Board is $119 however, not $35.

The Up board is the same size of raspi while having nearly the same connectivity (lacks bluetooth/wifi but can add it with a small module). This board is like 3 times the size.

I'd say it is fair price, designing a tightly-packed board is significantly harder.

I have the Up Board with the exact same CPU. They ship it with a heat sink and fan. When I ran Windows 10 on it and it gets very, very hot when set in performance mode.

So I agree, the TDP on this CPU is under stated.

Yes the heatsink with the fan on that board sucks, while the heatsink they provide in the cases is similar in size to the chinese board above (and actually adequate) https://up-shop.org/27-up

[nomadewolf]

Why would you want to watch youtube videos with a SBC.

But yes it's a Cherry Trail Intel tablet, it can probably work

For using as a desktop replacement for light work/power and like, browsing the web, including watching videos seems like a good option.
Or for instance when i'm at my gf's house, i can have one of these connected to the TV or small screen and do minor work/play.
That way, i don't have to carry a laptop around.
Just thinking out loud and throwing ideas around.

[starshipeleven]

For using as a desktop replacement for light work/power and like, browsing the web, including watching videos seems like a good option.

That's not what a SBC is for, if you need a mini-pc you just go and buy a mini-pc.

This isn't 2012 where the smallest PC still had to be mini-itx (so kind of big and expensive), Atom-based mini-pcs are a thing and you can find them on ebay, banggood, aliexpress and all those places that deal with chinese stuff for 100$.

This thing might look cheaper but in fact it is just a crappy mini-pc motherboard, i.e. it is missing things, like a case, like a power supply. It also looks like total ass with that heatsink and is huge for what it does.

Atom-based Mini PCs (same identical hardware) look more expensive at around 100$ (let's see if the next batch is still costing 35$) but are more compact, actually come with a case that does not look like ass and a power supply.

Seriously I've seen enough people buying some form of SBC + adapters + cases + power supply + heatsinks and then fight with the crappyness of the system when they could have bought a mini-pc for that price that would have worked so much better.

SBCs are for hardware tinkering and fast prototyping, for god's sake.


Same story for people shellling 400$ on some "high end router" because they need powerful hardware for QoS or routing or VPN, when for like 250$ you can get a full-blown quadcore x86 system with 5 gigabit ethernet ports with the form factor of a ethernet switch, that supports AES-NI crypto acceleration and can run any of the firewall distros like IPFire or pfsense, or even OpenWrt, and blows even 600$ embedded devices out of the fucking water.

Wake up sheeple!

[8r34k0u7_57y13]

Just keep in mind, whilst powerful for a SBC - they're limited-life parts due to the LPC clock bug. Don't use one for something you expect to last a long time.

[EarthMind]

Does it come with a free amazing Management Engine core?