Aaeon's Raspberry Pi-like Board Bears An Intel 8th Gen Core i7 CPU and 16GB of DDR4

Aaeon PICO-WHU4

Aaeon PICO-WHU4 (Image credit: Aaeon)

Electronics manufacturer Aaeon launched the PICO-WHU4, the brand's latest miniature board that targets the AI and edge computing markets. The PICO-WHU4 is an excellent Raspberry Pi alternative for customers that fancy a more powerful solution.

As the name implies, the PICO-WHU4 conforms to the Pico-ITX form factor and officially measures 3.94 inches x 2.84 inches (100mm x 72mm). For comparison, the Raspberry Pi 4 B comes with dimensions of 3.37 inches x 2.22 inches (85.6 mm x 56.5 mm), so the PICO-WHU4 is right up its alley. 

The Raspberry Pi 4 B utilizes Arm's quad-core Cortex A-72 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz. The PICO-WHU4, on the other hand, leverages Intel's 8th Generation Whiskey Lake processors, opening the door to x86 applications. Whiskey Lake, which is manufactured on the 14nm process node, offers chips that span from two cores up to four cores. The 14nm parts typically operate within the 15W envelope, but also feature a cTDP (configurable TDP) between 12.5W and 25W.

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ProcessorCores / ThreadsBase / Boost Clock (GHz)L3 Cache (MB)GraphicsGraphics Base / Boost Clock (MHz)TDP (W)
Core i7-8665UE4 / 81.7 / 4.78Intel UHD Graphics 620300 / 1,15015
Core i5-8365UE4 / 81.6 / 4.16Intel UHD Graphics 620300 / 1,05015
Core i3-8145UE2 / 42.2 / 3.94Intel UHD Graphics 620300 / 1,00015
Celeron 4305UE2 / 22.0 / 2.02Intel UHD Graphics 610300 / 1,00015

The Raspberry Pi 4 B forces you to choose between 1GB, 2GB and 4GB soldered LPDDR4-3200 options. The PICO-WHU4 is equipped with a SODIMM DDR4 slot, allowing you more flexibility in terms of memory capacity. The board can support up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory.

The PICO-WHU4 has a diverse range of connectors. There's a standard SATA III port for connecting your storage devices, such as hard drives or SSDs. The board also provides an mSATA/mPCIe x 1 slot, an M.2 2230 (E key) slot, and two COM headers with support for RS-232/422/485.

The PICO-WHU4 outputs video through the two HDMI 1.4b ports. Whiskey Lake incorporates two different integrated graphics solutions. The more powerful UHD Graphics 620 is found on the Core offerings, while the UHD Graphics 610 is present on the sole Celeron chip. However, both iGPUs can push resolutions up to 4K (3840 x 2160).

Aaeon employs two Realtek RTL8111G ethernet controllers to supply two Gigabit Ethernet ports on the PICO-WHU4. The board only has two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. Nonetheless, it has one USB 2.0 header and provides another two USB 2.0 ports in case you need the extra connectivity. 

The PICO-WHU4 is designed to be deployed in harsh environments. The board can withstand operating temperatures up to 60 degrees Celsius and operating humidity up to 90%. Furthermore, Aaeon offers an optional aluminum heat spreader and cooler for the PICO-WHU4, which you can purchase for $12 and $25, respectively.

The price tag is one of the PICO-WHU4's toughest selling points. It remains to be seen what the other models will cost, but Aaeon currently sells the Core i5-8365UE version for $783. You'll also have to factor in the cost of the memory as well. That's difficult to swallow for casual DIY users when the Raspberry Pi 4 B starts at a mere $35. Given the specifications, the PICO-WHU4 is probably more suited for serious projects.

Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

  • allenpan
    Is author retarded?
    where exactly Pico-ATX's Aaeon/IEI/Advantech board is "RPI-Like"?
    Just the "similar size" alone does not mean it the same league.
    RPI defined with 40 pin GPIO port.
    RPI is ARM not full blown x86.
    The article shows lack of understanding of industrial pc and RPI/maker board in general.
    Pico-ATX board has been around for ages.
    Reply
  • coromonadalix
    Have you seen the prices of theses boards ??? not rpi like better buy a small form factor pc ??
    Reply
  • ScurrvyLemonDrop
    I usually click on these articles just to see how expensive the "RasperryPi Like" board is. I would not consider any these as a alternative until the price is under $100.
    Reply
  • targetdrone
    You can NOT call a $780 anything an alternative for something that goes for about $35
    Reply