[Novalug] I might have my Linux Intel Compute Stick by then

Bryan J Smith b.j.smith@ieee.org
Wed Jul 29 13:14:10 EDT 2015


Bryan J Smith wrote:
>> The Zotac I'm eyeing is the CA320, the AMD APU version
>> with the A6 1450 (Temesh) chip in it.
>
> Jaguar [2a] is so 2013.  I wouldn't buy a Kabini or Temash in 2015,
> unless you get a killer deal.
> Puma [2b] is 2014, and much improved Beema and Mullins, respectively
> (I like how they differentiate with "Micro" in the Mullins line), but
> using the same BGA-769 Socket-FT3 (or replacable Socket-AM1, but I
> wouldn't bother with that).
> Puma is typically 20-40% faster/efficient over Jaguar.

Speaking of a Jaguar/Kabini deal [1] for $70 - $20 MIR = $50.

ASRock QC5000-ITX submodel PH** with the 15W TDP, Quad-1.5GHz A4-5000.
It's Mini-ITX, so 170x170mm (6.7"x6.7") and won't be as small as a
Nano-ITX (or Pico-ITX for that matter), but ~8x8x2.5" (no slot),
~8x8x4" (LP slot) and ~8x8x5.5" (full slot) cases are out there and
not too terribly big.

The A4-5000 was the "staple" and "sweet spot" Kabini that really
performs well  for power (especially GPU-wise) versus all but the
brand new, out-of-order executing, 4-8 core Atom designs (all AMD
low-power designs are out-of-order, unlike Atom until the latest
batch).  Today the Beema is better, but not at this price, and the
latest Atom's (especially the 8-core microserver options) can be
better too.

I personally have several ASRock QC5000-ITX mainboards, although not
this submodel**.  The work flawlessly with any modern Linux distro,
including RHEL7.

If you're running RHEL6, you might have issues like the NewEgg
reviewer complained about with FreeNAS.  You really need to be on a
kernel 3.0+ release for AMD Socket-FT3 (BGA-769) and Socket-AM1
(PGA-722) Jaguar and Puma processors ... namely the updated
peripherals built into the SoC.

As you've probably heard me say prior ... ASRock is now (circa 2013)
the flagship OEM of Pegatron, the ODM that used to be owned by Asus,
but was spun off (while Asus now uses ECS and Foxconn as their OEMs).
Given their quality, combined with economies-of-scale, most ASRock
products designed and fab'd in the last 2+ years have been excellent,
at some of the best prices.

Although always check the reviews, to ensure a model wasn't
subcontracted and fabbed by another ODM.

-- bjs

[1] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157595

**NOTE:  This submodel PH added peripherals, although the troubling
ASMedia SATA forPorts #3 and #4 (so only count on 2 working
flawlessly).


-- 
Bryan J Smith - http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith



More information about the Novalug mailing list