Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    FYI: there's something cool coming from PC Engines

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    32 Posts 10 Posters 11.3k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • ?
      Guest
      last edited by

      AMD Embedded G series GX-412TC
      AES-NI support
      ECC memory
      3x Intel ethernet
      USB 3

      Cool, nice to hear about that, I would say it is fine to get the hands on this product.
      4 Cores at 1GHz should be more sufficient as I see it right.

      Do you have permission from Pascal/PCengines to post this link in public forums?

      If the Link is up everybody is able to find it over Google!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • D
        doktornotor Banned
        last edited by

        No ShitTek this time? Finally!!!  ;D

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • jahonixJ
          jahonix
          last edited by

          You mean ReallyNot NICs?  ;D

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • jahonixJ
            jahonix
            last edited by

            @BlueKobold:

            Do you have permission from Pascal/PCengines to post this link in public forums?

            If the Link is up everybody is able to find it over Google!

            No.
            First you don't know how the new device will be called so you can only guess what to look for and
            have you ever heard of robots.txt? You can tell the crawlers what to index and what not of a web site.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • JailerJ
              Jailer
              last edited by

              Well they have the apu2b2 on the price list and it's listed as beta test, but no apu2b4. Curious what the price on it will be.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • ?
                Guest
                last edited by

                Well they have the apu2b2 on the price list and it's listed as beta test,

                And this means beta only as i see it right.

                but no apu2b4. Curious what the price on it will be.

                The APU2b2 comes without ECC RAM but the APU2B4 does and now please
                read the release notes:

                Release notes
                BIOS is not feature complete yet, in particular -
                • No boot from SD card.
                • ECC not working yet.
                • Boot order selection not working yet.
                • iPXE module not included yet.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • L
                  lfam
                  last edited by

                  That SOC includes a "Platform Security Processor", which, as far as I can tell, is an ARM core implementing TrustZone, but for the amd64 platform. If those features are accessible, it would be very cool.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • B
                    bendavid
                    last edited by

                    Anyone know if this platform can support DPDK?

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ?
                      Guest
                      last edited by

                      Interesting they have AES-NI instructions on AMD…

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • ?
                        Guest
                        last edited by

                        Anyone know if this platform can support DPDK?

                        Until now I was only seeing or hearing this (DPDK) named together with the Intel
                        QuickAssist Technology could it might be the same or something that is based on the other perhaps?

                        Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) is perhaps something that give you the capability to
                        write your own code for the Intel QuickAssist Technology. Here is what I found about that.
                        Intel Quick Assist Technology (DPDK)

                        Interesting they have AES-NI instructions on AMD…

                        I think this is something like the MMX,SSE, and so on registers that can be inserted also by others
                        if they paying license fees to the other part who was doing the research, but good for us as customers
                        that we can until now also buying AMD CPUs that comes with this feature or function inside, or am I wrong
                        with this?

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • B
                          bendavid
                          last edited by

                          I'm pretty sure DPDK is not tied to QuickAssist (and that the document you link to is just an example of how the two can be used together).

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • J
                            jwt Netgate
                            last edited by

                            DPDK is not tied to quickassist.

                            But a 1GHz part isn't going to be that fast, either.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • ?
                              Guest
                              last edited by

                              I am left wondering why they chose to keep the same 6" x 6" form factor of the old board, instead of Nano-ITX or Mini-ITX.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • ?
                                Guest
                                last edited by

                                @jwt:

                                DPDK is not tied to quickassist.

                                But a 1GHz part isn't going to be that fast, either.

                                Thanks for enlighten us in this case. but why then some board vendors do promotion likes this for their boards?
                                Supports Intel DPDK enabling software

                                Because if this would not be tend to AES-NI or QuickAssist, what is the goal for this DPDK option?

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • J
                                  jwt Netgate
                                  last edited by

                                  @Phishfry:

                                  I am left wondering why they chose to keep the same 6" x 6" form factor of the old board, instead of Nano-ITX or Mini-ITX.

                                  To fit their cases, just like the Alix and APU have the same footprint and external connectors.

                                  The mistake is that they kept the same CPU down with a heat-spreader attached to the case design.  That's (still) gonna suck.

                                  BTW, I posted about this board back in January:
                                  https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=83075.msg474524#msg474524

                                  RCC-DFF is better.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • L
                                    lfam
                                    last edited by

                                    @jwt:

                                    RCC-DFF is better.

                                    Perhaps, but the apu2b4 will cost about $100 less when you include the case and power supply. Assuming the current prices and CHF->USD exchange rate holds.

                                    How much of an issue is heat dissipation for the apu1d4? Does it affect performance or does it just "run hot"?

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • J
                                      jwt Netgate
                                      last edited by

                                      Perhaps, but the apu2b4 will cost about $100 less when you include the case and power supply. Assuming the current prices and CHF->USD exchange rate holds.

                                      There is only $50 delta in the boards.  Where is your other $50?  Show your work.  8)

                                      How much of an issue is heat dissipation for the apu1d4? Does it affect performance or does it just "run hot"?

                                      Eventually you will either have to either throttle the CPUs (from 1GHz to… lower), or things crash (because some other component gets too hot.)

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • jahonixJ
                                        jahonix
                                        last edited by

                                        @lfam:

                                        How much of an issue is heat dissipation for the apu1d4?

                                        APU cooling is so critical that only black and red chassis are advised.
                                        A silver chassis's thermal transportation capacity (heat coefficient) is too low.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • L
                                          lfam
                                          last edited by

                                          @jwt:

                                          Perhaps, but the apu2b4 will cost about $100 less when you include the case and power supply. Assuming the current prices and CHF->USD exchange rate holds.

                                          There is only $50 delta in the boards.  Where is your other $50?  Show your work.  8)

                                          http://store.netgate.com/ADI/RCC-DFF-2220.aspx
                                          Board, case, power supply: $275

                                          http://pcengines.ch/order1.php?c=48881
                                          apu2b4 board: CHF 143.13
                                          case1d2blku: CHF 10.04
                                          ac12vus: CHF 4.38
                                          According to google's currency exchange rates, that is $159.62.

                                          It's actually more than $100 difference, although you'll need to supply some storage for the apu2b4. However, it includes double the RAM, and ECC at that.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • B
                                            bennyc
                                            last edited by

                                            @jwt:

                                            The mistake is that they kept the same CPU down with a heat-spreader attached to the case design.  That's (still) gonna suck.

                                            It does… I have installed my APU upside down (so CPU up), pasted heatsinks on the casing above the CPU, drilled the case to allow airflow, ... and still the result is mediocre.
                                            When stressing the board, core temperature rises to 60-62°C (the unit is in a too-little-vented closet at home, ambient temp +-20°C)

                                            @lfam:

                                            How much of an issue is heat dissipation for the apu1d4? Does it affect performance or does it just "run hot"?

                                            It does however poses no issue for everyday usage and works fine here, just know what you buy.
                                            I guess it depends on the need and budget. (and how cheap you can get or SG's (US), or APU's (EU) –> no affiliation to either, I have installed a couple of SG's as well as apu's over the last year.)

                                            4x XG-7100 (2xHA), 1x SG-4860, 1x SG-2100
                                            1x PC Engines APU2C4, 1x PC Engines APU1C4

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.