Particle, an integrated IoT platform used by more than 240,000 developers and more than 160 enterprise customers, has helped make countless innovations possible with its wide variety of system-on-modules, development boards, and more. Now the company hopes to bring the “it just works” experience it’s known for to Linux with Tachyon, a powerful 5G-capable single-board computer (SBC) that runs Linux and includes its own AI accelerator.
Recently launched on Kickstarter, Particle’s Tachyon has already exceeded its funding goal with 29 days left in the campaign. Starting from $149 for the "Super early bird" pledge, Tachyon matches the Raspberry Pi form factor, and it’s driven by an octa-core Qualcomm Kryo CPU. The CPU has one 2.7 GHz core, three 2.4 GHz cores, and four 1.9 GHz cores.
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Specs
Details
CPU
Octa-core Qualcomm Kryo CPU (1x 2.7GHz, 3x 2.4GHz, 4x 1.9GHz)
Connectivity
5G sub-6GHz cellular connectivity and Wi-Fi 6E with on-device antennas
RAM and Storage
4GB RAM and 64GB built-in UFS storage
Accelerator
Adreno 643 GPU and 12 TOPS Al accelerator
Interfaces
USB-C 3.1 with DisplayPort and PD, 2x PCle lanes, DSI 4-lane
Camera
2 x CSI 4-lane with ISP, supporting over 20 pre-integrated camera sensors
Power
Powered by USB-C or lithium battery with integrated battery charger
Security
Secure boot and encrypted filesystem
In addition to the CPU, the Tachyon also features a Qualcomm Adreno 643 GPU and a Qualcomm Hexagon 770 DSP with an AI accelerator. The AI accelerator is capable of delivering 12 TOPS, allowing the deployment of smaller large language models in a compact package.
For connectivity, the Tachyon features 5G wireless through an embedded EtherSIM, as well as support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. The SBC has antennas built into the board, and Particle offers its own low-cost 5G data plans.
Tachyon lacks USB-A ports, but it does have dual USB-C 3.1 connectors. One of these supports Display Port Alt Mode, allowing you to connect the Tachyon to your USB-C capable monitor. Particle also offers an add-on USB-C hub with USB-A ports, a gigabit Ethernet port, and an HDMI port. Other USB-C hubs will also work with the SBC.
Particle is also integrating a Raspberry Pi-compatible 40-pin GPIO header, allowing you to use Raspberry Pi HATs with the board. Compatibility with the latest HATs is still a gray area, even for the Raspberry Pi 5. This is largely down to a recent Python change. The change is PEP668 and it moves all user installed Python modules into virtual environments to prevent damage to the OS level Python install. This can lead to software issues with HATs. But we shall test this when we get our review unit.
Tachyon also includes support for cameras, displays, and PCIe peripherals connected via FPC ribbon cables. The dual PCIe lanes introduce the ability to connect multiple devices to the PCIe interface.
Tachyon will ship with Ubuntu 24.04 by default, but other options are available. Particle will support Yocto Linux and the chipset also includes upstream support for Qualcomm Linux, Android 13, and Windows 11.
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Tachyon alongside other popular SBCs (Image credit: Particle)
The Tachyon could easily appeal to more customers than businesses developing IoT solutions. While it’s certainly one of the most powerful SBCs available, it could appeal to hobbyist computing as well. We can't wait to see how it performs against the Raspberry Pi 5.
The Kickstarter campaign suggests the computer would work well to host media, play games, or act as a do-it-yourself NAS. Because of its powerful processor and 5G connection, though, Tachyon lends itself to other possibilities, like building your own gaming device.
The power and capabilities do come at a price higher than most SBCs, understandably. As of this writing, a Super Early Bird pledge of $149 will get you a Tachyon, a $100 discount off the suggested retail price. The campaign offers other reward levels when the Super Early Bird slots are full. Particle expects to start shipping the Tachyon in January 2025.
Remember that crowdfunding a project is not a guarantee of receiving a finished product. Backing a crowdfunded project is akin to an investment; you believe in the project and want it to succeed. You are not purchasing a retail product.
Jeff Butts has been covering tech news for more than a decade, and his IT experience predates the internet. Yes, he remembers when 9600 baud was “fast.” He especially enjoys covering DIY and Maker topics, along with anything on the bleeding edge of technology.
I found these specs on the SoC, in a review of a phone that uses it:
"Its Kryo 670 CPU was first introduced in 2021’s flagship Snapdragon 780G and has powered a small selection of other mid-range smartphone chips. The CPU cluster comprises one Cortex-A78 core at 2.71GHz, three Cortex-A78s at 2.4Ghz, and four low-power Cortex-A55 cores at 1.96GHz."
Source: https://www.androidauthority.com/fairphone-5-benchmarks-3362975/
Okay, so expect a decent bit more performance than a Raspberry Pi 5. Maybe around 2x the multithreaded performance of Pi 5. On single-threaded, looks like it could be about 50% faster, assuming each SoC is running at stock clock speeds.
Here's more on A78 performance:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15813/arm-cortex-a78-cortex-x1-cpu-ip-diverging/4
The most disappointing aspect of this product is definitely the 4 GiB of RAM. That's certainly enough for many embedded applications, but you'd really want boards with such a powerful SoC and 8 cores to support far more. There should absolutely be 8 GB and 16 GB options, IMO.
Also, I hope the PCIe interface is 3.0. With only 2 lanes, that would be adequate for decent SSD performance, not to mention if you bifurcate them and use only x1 for SSD.
