Single-board computer (SBC) fanatics are in for a real treat. Aaeon, Advantech and Kontron (via @momomo_us) are readying their new offerings that are powered by Intel's approaching 11th Generation Tiger Lake 10nm++ processors.
The Aaeon GENE-TGU6 and Kontron 3.5″-SBC-TGL conform to the 3.5-inch form factor, while the Advantech MIO-2375 sticks to the smaller 2.5-inch standard. The SBCs will be available with different Tiger Lake options, spanning from the Celeron SKUs up to the Core i7 models. Kontron specifically confirms the usage of the U-series and the Celeron 6000-series, which operate inside thermal envelopes of 28W and 15W, respectively.
The GENE-TGU6 and 3.5″-SBC-TGL each come with two DDR4 SO-DIMM memory slots. The first can house up to 64GB of memory and the latter tops out at 32GB. The MIO-2375, however, doesn't come with the luxury of SO-DIMM slots. The SBC incorporates onboard LPDDR4X-4266 memory instead with capacities up to 32GB.
Kontron's 3.5″-SBC-TGL will land with a single SATA III interface, one M.2 Key-B, one M.2 Key-M and one M.2 Key-E slot. The GENE-TGU6 and the MIO-2375 both feature M.2 2280 Key-M and M.2 2230 Key-E slots with the exception that the first also supplies one SATA III port and a full-size mSATA/mPCIe slot.
Intel's Gen12 Xe Graphics will drive the chipmaker's Tiger Lake chips. Some preliminary benchmarks have revealed that the graphics unit's performance is reportedly in the same ballpark as the Vega that's inside AMD's latest Ryzen 4000-series (codename Renoir) APUs. Gen12 will certainly bring some serious graphical firepower to devices like SBCs, while also allowing for support for multiple displays simultaneously.
The 3.5″-SBC-TGL provides three DisplayPort outputs, one embedded DisplayPort (eDP) output and one LVDS connector. The GENE-TGU6, on the other hand, checks in with two HDMI 2.0 ports, two DisplayPort 1.4 outputs, and one LVDS/eDP port. The smaller MIO-2375 comes in last place with just one eDP/MIPI-DSI interface and one DisplayPort out.
All three SBCs put two Gigabit Ethernet ports at your disposal at all times. The 3.5″-SBC-TGL employs the Intel I219-LM and I210-IT controllers and the GENE-TGU6 utilizes the Intel I219 and I225 controllers. Advantech didn't specify the model of the Ethernet controllers on the MIO-2375.
SBCs might be tiny devices, but their connectivity shouldn't be underestimated. The 3.5″-SBC-TGL delivers two USB 3.1 ports and two USB 2.0 ports on the rear and has enough headers to provide another four USB 2.0 ports and two RS-232/422/485 ports. The GENE-TGU6 doesn't fall behind either, offering up to four USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and four RS-232/422/485 ports. Lastly, the MIO-2375 also arrives with USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and RS-232/422/485, but Advantech hasn't stated how much of each.
For the time being, the pricing for the trio of SBCs is unknown. Once Intel formally launches Tiger Lake, which could be on September 2, we expect Aaeon, Advantech and Kontron to release more details on the new devices.
