AMD Ryzen-Powered NUCs? Sapphire Slips Embedded SoCs in New Mini PCs
Small Ryzen with small power consumption
AMD introduced two new embedded Ryzen processors, which Sapphire is building into its new AMD-based NUC boards with embedded AMD Ryzen processors. These boards are the NP-FP5V 'Red Oak' and the BP-FP5V 'Post Oak,' which both measure a tiny 4x4 inches. In collaboration with Simply NUC, the company is bringing these boards to market.
Embedded Ryzen R1102G & R1305G
The two new Ryzen embedded processors are the R1102G and the R1305G, which pack two cores each with four threads and three AMD Vega CUs for GPU horsepower. They arrive to complement the existing lineup of embedded Ryzen processors, offering higher performance per watt for applications where power consumption is critical.
| Processor | R1102G | R1305G |
| Cores/Threads | 2/4 | 2/4 |
| CPU Base Freq. | 1.2 GHz | 1.5 GHz |
| 1T CPU Boost Freq. | 2.6 GHz | 2.8 GHz |
| GPU CU | 3 | 3 |
| Max GPU Freq. | 1.0 GHz | 1.0 GHz |
| TDP (W) | 6 W | 8-10 W |
Sapphire's New NUC Boards
The two new Sapphire NUC boards are largely identical, featuring AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 or R1000 processors. They can pack up to 32GB of DDR4 SODIMM memory and house M.2 WiFi or SSD cards. Both feature TDPs of up to 25W, depending on the CPU configuration, and come with active cooling.
Whereas one of the board's APU options is the new R1305G, Sapphire's boards are also available with higher-performing more power-hungry options such as the V1605B, R1606G, and R1505G, depending on the variant you go for. AMD's new R1102G does not appear to be on the options list.
Where they differ is in their connectivity, with the NP-FP5 featuring two Mini-DisplayPort 1.4 connectors and a single Gigabit Ethernet port. The BP-FP5V takes things a step further as the feature-rich option with two full-size DisplayPort 1.4 ports and an HDMI 2.0 port, paired with two Gigabit Ethernet ports. The BP-FP5V also comes with a COM port.
“With the AMD Ryzen Embedded processors, our goal is to provide customers with the seamless compute power needed for designers to achieve new levels of versatility and efficiency for embedded computing,” said Stephen Turnbull, director of product management and business development, Embedded Solutions, AMD. “We are excited to see SAPPHIRE use the AMD Ryzen Embedded processors to deliver innovative products, such as the BP-FP5 and NP-FP5 embedded boards, delivering a stable balance of low power consumption and optimized performance for the embedded markets.”
Sapphire Embedded Ryzen NUC Specifications
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | NP-FP5V | BP-FP5V |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen™ Embedded V1000/R1000 Series | AMD Ryzen™ Embedded V1000/R1000 Series |
| Display | 2 x mini-DP1.4 | 2 x DP1.4 + 1 x HDMI 2.0 |
| Ethernet | 1 x RJ-45, 1GbE | 2x RJ-45, 1GbE |
| USB | 2 x USB3.1 + 2 x USB2.0 (Front) | 1 x USB3.1(Front) + 2 x USB3.1 |
| COM | N/A | 1 x (2 x 5) header-- RS232/422/485 (Jumperless) |
| SATA | N/A | SATA PWR 1 x 4 pins |
| M.2 | 1x M.2 (Key M, 2242/2280) with PCIe x4 and SATA for SSD | 1x M.2 (Key M, 2242/2260) with PCIe x4 and SATA for SSD |
| TPM | N/A | Infineon SLB9670 TPM2.0 on board |
Where Sapphire builds the boards, Simply NUC integrates them into the enclosures and sells them to the end consumers. The units will land in Q2 2020, but there's no word on pricing yet.
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Next to Sapphire and Simply NUC, SECO and OnLogic are also updating their existing platforms to support the new embedded Ryzen R1102G and the R1305G SoCs.
Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
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mspencerl87 Seems under powered, but a dual Port NIC option perfect. They just sold a million.Reply -
hannibal Does anyone know what architecture this is based on. Zen1, Zen2 ???Reply
Also production node is interesting part... -
gggplaya Replymspencerl87 said:Seems under powered, but a dual Port NIC option perfect. They just sold a million.
Dang, I literally just a built a new router using an Athlon 3000g. Total system power is about 24watts at idle, which isn't horrible. But if these embedded Ryzen's can do CAKE at 1gbps, I might be tempted to switch up depending on the idle wattage. -
drlamb Replygggplaya said:Dang, I literally just a built a new router using an Athlon 3000g. Total system power is about 24watts at idle, which isn't horrible. But if these embedded Ryzen's can do CAKE at 1gbps, I might be tempted to switch up depending on the idle wattage.
In a similar vein to you, I just snagged an itx board with the R1505G for ~$100 on eBay. While I’d love a sapphire board or mini PC the pricing has often turned me off from such solutions for a non-essential computer.
I have a mixed architecture Kubernetes cluster at home for not only learning but also for self-hosting a number of things. (Plex, Minecraft, pihole, etc.). I wanted the cluster to use as little power as possible while still serving my needs/curiosity.
Master node: Epyc 7252 8 Core 64GB ECC 120W TDP (Heavy x86 apps) - Ebay snag paired with Supermicro board that supports Redfish (Ansible)
Worker 1: 25W Ryzen R1505G on this board paired with 16GB 3200Mhz ram. https://us.dfi.com/product/index/1404Pihole, and most of my home network services run here.
Worker 2: Raspberry Pi 4 4GB. In the process of flashing the WIP UEFI firmware for the pi, but this will be the ARM node.
Storage will be handled by the upcoming Helios64 ARM NAS. Cannot wait to replace the 9W Intel CPU that’s in my current synology. That’s the last intel CPU I’ll ever own. -
bit_user Reply
Looks like Zen 1.hannibal said:Does anyone know what architecture this is based on. Zen1, Zen2 ???
https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-ryzen-r1000-series
Prediction node? Uh, if you're wondering what manufacturing node they're made on, it seems to be 14 nm.hannibal said:Also prediction node in interesting part...
https://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/R1000-product-brief.pdf -
bit_user How much sense these make depends a lot on pricing.Reply
Also, I really hope they support ECC RAM (the SoC does - just not sure about the board). -
Rdslw Reply
I think that switched mid-stack, 2/4 are zen1.hannibal said:Does anyone know what architecture this is based on. Zen1, Zen2 ???
Also prediction node in interesting part...
I've seen a little 4/8 cpu on that stack with tdp of 12W.
Its almost perfect little box for me just give me 4/8 please. -
bit_user Reply
Huh?Rdslw said:I think that switched mid-stack, 2/4 are zen1.
Even the 4-core V1000-series are still 14 nm Zen 1:
https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-ryzen-v1000-serieshttps://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/v1000-family-product-brief.pdf
It's actually at the bottom of page 1 of the product brief. -
Rdslw Reply
sorry then, I remember I've seen something non-14 in that stack.bit_user said:Huh?
Even the 4-core V1000-series are still 14 nm Zen 1:
https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded-ryzen-v1000-serieshttps://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/v1000-family-product-brief.pdf
It's actually at the bottom of page 1 of the product brief.
maybe it was R series vs V series?
I will try to dig it out, but it was when V/R embeded were announced not sure if I will find it now....