Lately, we're seeing a slew of small systems with with big processors seem, so we were weren't too surprised to see the Aaeon EPIC-TGH7 SBC reported in the pages of CNX Software. This four-inch (165 x 115mm) board has a list of compatible processors that begins with the Intel Celeron 6600HE, but which makes its way through the i-numbers to the mighty Xeon W 11865MRE.
None of these processors would make our list of the best CPUs for gaming. However, the config with the Xeon W 11865MRE promises workstation class power on a motherboard that's significantly smaller than a mini ITX motherboard (170 x 170 mm), the smallest mainstream size.
The TGH7 appears to come with the Tiger Lake H CPU+GPU combo soldered to the board; only the i3 and i7 models are listed on Aaeon’s site, and they’re both out of stock at the time of writing. But theoretically you could get one with a Xeon W installed, and run ECC memory with it too. This appears to be the only benefit of the workstation chip, which in every other way is identical to the i7 11850HE.
These two hot chips (their temperature rating tops out at 100°C or 212°F) both run to eight cores and 16 threads, with a top boost speed of 4.7 GHz, two memory channels, and identical integrated graphics. They both draw the same 45W, and don't appear to come with any cooling solutions, though holes for a CPU fan are visible on the board.
Elsewhere on the board, you’ll find a lot of ports crammed into the small space. There are two DisplayPorts and an HDMI port, four USB 3.2 Type-A sockets, a pair of Ethernet ports - one gigabit, the other 2.5Gb - a pair of SATA ports, a PCIe 4.0 x8 slot supplying a maximum of 25W, and two M.2 slots, one of which can take NVMe storage, while the other is for optional modules such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, or a cellular modem.
Drivers for Windows 10 are available, raising hopes it will work under Windows 11 as well, while a single ‘peripheral’ driver exists for Ubuntu 20.04.2.
Assuming availability picks up a bit, you should be able to get the boards direct from Aaeon’s eshop, with pages online for the i3 ($812) and i7 ($1,167) boards.
