Intel soft router offers up to eight 2.5GbE ports, Comet Lake or Whiskey Lake Core processor

Topton is offering a soft router powered by an Intel Whiskey Lake or Comet Lake processor up to the Core i7-10510U quad-core/octa-thread processor with either eight 2.5GbE RJ45 ports or four 2.5GbE RJ45 ports and two 10GbE SFP+ cages.

We’ve previously written about the low-cost InuoMicro G4305L8-S2 fanless industrial PC box with eight 2.5GbE interfaces, but it is powered by an Intel Celeron 4305UE dual-core Whiskey Lake processor, and the Topton model should offer more performance with a choice of 8th or 10th generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Whiskey Lake or Comet Lake SoC.

Specifications:

• SoC (one or the other)
  • Intel Core i3-8145UE dual-core Whiskey Lake processor up to 3.90 GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 620; 15W TDP
  • Intel Core i5-10210U  quad-core/eight-thread Comet Lake processor @ 1.6 GHz / 3.9 GHz (turbo all cores) / 4.2 GHz (turbo one core), 24EU Intel UHD graphics; 6MB Cache; 15W TDP
  • Intel Core i7-10510U quad-core/eight-thread Comet Lake processor @ 1.8 GHz / 4.3 GHz (turbo all cores) / 4.9 GHz (turbo one core); 24EU Intel UHD graphics; 8MB Cache; 15W TDP
• System Memory – Up to 64GB DDR4 memory @ 2400/3200 MHz via 2x SO-DIMM socket
• Storage
  • 6x SATA 3.0 interfaces (ASM1064 adapter chip)
  • M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x1 socket for NVMe SSD
• Video Output – HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.2 up to 4K resolution
• Audio – 2-in-1 combo audio interface, digital audio output via HDMI and DisplayPort
• Networking (2 options)
  • 8x 2.5GbE RJ45 ports via Intel i226-V controllers
  • 4x 2.5GbE RJ45 ports via Intel i226-V controller, and 2x 10GbE SFP+ cages via Intel 82599ES controllers
• Console – RJ45 COM console port
• Expansion – PCIe x8 slot with x4 signals used by the 2x 10GbE or 4x 2.5GbE expansion card
• Misc – Power LED, HDD LED, power button, Reset pinhole, WiFi antenna holes, copper block with “silent fan”.
• Power Supply – 12V via DC jack (5.5/2.5mm)
• Dimensions – 154.6 x 154.6 x 60 mm (TBC)

The company says they install “OEM Windows 11 Pro” by default, but customers can request “OEM Windows 10 Pro” instead.  The system seems ideal for solutions like pfSense Plus, OPNsense, OpenWrt, ESXi, Promox, etc…, but the product description highlights that the Intel i226-V is a relatively new controller, and drivers may not be available, so they recommend installing the newest version of the selected operating system. Topton also tells customers “DO NOT open dispute because of system issue”.

Internally, the system is comprised of a motherboard with four 2.5GbE ports and a PCIe riser card to connect either a 4x 2.5GbE expansion board or a 2x 10GbE SFP+ expansion board as shown in the exploeded view below.

Topton usually relies on systems from CWWK, but this specific model does not show up on cwwk.net. Topton is selling the soft router on Aliexpress starting at $338.01 for a barebone Core i3-8145UE system with eight 2.5GbE ports and goes up to $624.45 for a system based on the Core i7-10510U processor with 32GB RAM, a 1TB SSD, four 2.5GbE ports, and two 10 GbE SFP+ cages.

Thanks to Evadim for the tip.

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