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    FYI: there's something cool coming from PC Engines

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • 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.

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      • 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.

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        • ?
          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.

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          • 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.

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            • B
              bendavid
              last edited by

              Anyone know if this platform can support DPDK?

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              • ?
                Guest
                last edited by

                Interesting they have AES-NI instructions on AMD…

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                • ?
                  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?

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                  • 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).

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                    • J
                      jwt Netgate
                      last edited by

                      DPDK is not tied to quickassist.

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

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                      • ?
                        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.

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                        • ?
                          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?

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                          • 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.

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                            • 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"?

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                              • 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.)

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                                • 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.

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                                  • 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.

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                                    • 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

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                                      • jahonixJ
                                        jahonix
                                        last edited by

                                        @lfam:

                                        {CHF 157,55}  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.

                                        Nope and varying massively depending on where you live.

                                        a) You are only allowed to buy from pcengines directly if you either reside in Switzerland  or
                                        b) are an international dealer with a valid WEEE registration number (think: costs money to obtain)
                                        c) you left shipping costs completely out of the equation
                                        d) add import duties and taxes/VAT to the net amount, according to your local laws.
                                        e) add company taxes since you have to be a company to get a WEEE registration number

                                        Now do the math again.
                                        Might be that it's even cheaper to buy from negate than from pcengines, depending on where you live.

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                                        • dotdashD
                                          dotdash
                                          last edited by

                                          The street price in the US of a full APU4 kit with case, ps, and a card is about $250. The ADI 2440 runs $350. But, it has better nics, another ethernet port, faster CPU with quickassist, and you don't have to assemble it. If they keep the price the same, and you get better nics and cpu, it might be worth it in some deployments. I wouldn't buy one of the current APU boards over the 2440. The 2220 is comparable in price to the APU, if you can get by with two ethernet ports. I need at least three.

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                                          • ?
                                            Guest
                                            last edited by

                                            The street price in the US of a full APU4 kit with case, ps, and a card is about $250.

                                            Here in Germany it is vice versa!

                                            • APU1D4 ready assembled without storage and WiFi and pfSense ~202 € + sipping
                                            • APU1D4 ready assembled with mSATA but without WiFi and pfSense ~225 € + shipping
                                            • APU1D4 ready assembled with mSATA and WiFi but without pfSense ~259 € + shipping
                                            • APU1D4 ready assembled with mSATA and WiFi and pre-installed pfSense ~271 € + shipping
                                              Because the swiss is near us!

                                            pfSense SG-2440 ~645 € + shipping
                                            Because the USA is not near us or far away!

                                            The ADI 2440 runs $350. But, it has better nics, another ethernet port, faster CPU with quickassist, and you don't have to assemble it.

                                            The new APU2B4 comes also with Intel NICs, 4 CPU Cores, ECC RAM and AES-NI, so it might be more fair
                                            to compare the new ones to the SG units. But the SG-4860 and SG-8860 are awesome compared against
                                            the PC Engines if more horse power is needed. But for low budget or simple home usage the APU and APU2
                                            are more often bought here because the price pending and base.

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