SolidRun’s first COM Express module is powered by the AMD Ryzen V3000 series APU

AMD Ryzen COM Express with SO DIMM Sideways 1030x687

SolidRun has recently introduced the “Ryzen V3000 CX7” x86-based CoM Express 7 module powered by an AMD Ryzen V3000 Series V3C48 or V3C18I APU. This module is designed with AMD’s 6nm ‘Zen3’ architecture and can reach speeds up to 3.8GHz. It supports up to 96 GB of DDR5  memory, which can be either ECC or non-ECC, offering strong performance for different uses. The module features 20 PCIe Gen4 lanes, dual 10Gbps Ethernet MAC, and two SATA Gen3 6Gbps interfaces (on V3C18I and V3C48 models) all these features make this module useful for high-speed networking, embedded computing, and storage applications. Previously we have seen many similar COM Express & other modules based on the Ryzen V3000 Series of APUs including the ADLINK Express VR7 (COM Express) and another custom CPU module found in SolidRun Bedrock V3000 fanless industrial computer. Feel free to check those out if you are looking for similar […]

GEEKOM A7 mini PC review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 (and Ubuntu 24.04)

GEEKOM A7 Ubuntu 22.04 Linux review

After a GEEKOM A7 mini PC unboxing and teardown, I tested the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS mini PC in Windows 11 Pro, but I’ll now report my experience with the GEEKOM A7 running Ubuntu 22.04.4 to see our well the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS system performs in Linux. I also had to install Ubuntu 24.04 to check the wireless module further, so I’ll report on that too. The Ubuntu 22.04 review will include features testing, several benchmarks, storage, 2.5GbE, and WiFi 6 networking performance testing, a stress test to check thermal performance, as well as fan noise and power consumption measurements. Ubuntu 22.04 installation I resized the Windows 11 partition to get an unused 500GB partition to install Ubuntu 22.04 from a USB drive. But the first time, it did not work as I was asked to disable BitLocker disk encryption in Windows 11 just like I did for the […]

Testing AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS’ AI Engine in Windows 11

AMD Ryzen 7940HS AI Engine Image Sorting

Some of the newer AMD Ryzen processors come with an AI Engine (also called NPU or IPU) that works in Windows 11 including the Ryzen 9 7940HS, Ryzen 7 7840HS, Ryzen 5 7640HS, Ryzen 7 7840U, and Ryzen 5 7640U. I’ve just completed the review of the GEEKOM A7 mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU with Windows 11 – but need to wait before publishing it – so I decided to try the AI engine on the Ryzen 9 7940HS processor. The AI Engine relies on AMD XDNA architecture, and AMD provides instructions to get started with examples, demos, and developer resources. So I decided to try some examples, but for some reasons I’ll explain below, I eventually had to settle for some demos. Ryzen AI software installation (for the demos) The examples hosted on GitHub require us to install dependencies for the Ryzen AI software […]

Sapphire Edge+ VPR-4616-MB mini-ITX motherboard features “AMD Embedded+” architecture with Ryzen R2314 & Versal VE2302

AMD Embedded+ mini-ITX motherboard

Sapphire Edge+ VPR-4616-MB is a new mini-ITX motherboard on the “new” AMD Embedded+ “architecture” comprised of an AMD Ryzen Embedded R2314 processor and an AMD Versal AI Edge VE2302 adaptive SoC (also called FPGA SoC…). The motherboard supports up to 64GB ECC/non-ECC DDR4 memory for the CPU, 8GB of memory for the adaptive SoC, supports SATA and NVMe storage, dual video output, 2.5GbE networking, and offers a range of USB ports and M.2 sockets for expansion. AMD Embedded+ solutions target sensor fusion, AI inferencing, industrial networking, control, and visualization applications. SAPPHIRE Edge+ VPR-4616-MB specifications: AMD Embedded+ Architecture Adaptive SoC Subsystem Main IC – AMD Versal AI Edge VE2302 with dual Arm Cortex-A72 core processor @ up to 1.6 GHz, dual-core Arm Cortex-R5F, 23 TOPS AI engine, FPGA fabric, etc… System Memory – 2x 4GB LPDDR4 Storage 1Gbit OSPI NOR flash for local boot 64 Kbit EEPROM for Board-ID Expansion 160-pin […]

Maxtang MTN-FP750 business mini PC review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04

Maxtang MTN-FP750 review Ubuntu 22.04

We’ve already checked out the hardware of the Maxtang MTN-FP750 mini PC in the first part of the review with an unboxing and a teardown, and tested the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS Mini PC with 32GB DDR5 and a 512GB SSD in Windows 11 Pro in the second part. In the third part of the review, we will report our experience with the Ubuntu 22.04 Linux operating system. This includes features testing, several benchmarks, storage and networking performance testing, a stress test to check thermal performance, as well as fan noise and power consumption measurements. Ubuntu 22.04 installation Since the plan is to install Ubuntu 22.04 alongside Windows 11, so we will shrink the Windows 11 partition by about half first, before inserting the Ubuntu 22.04.3 USB drive to install the Linux distribution. The installation went smoothly with no issues to report on. Ubuntu 22.04 System information Going to Settings->About […]

GEEKOM A7 mini PC review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM A7 Review Windows 11 Pro

GEEKOM A7 is a compact mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS (or Ryzen 7 7840HS) processor with up to 64GB DDR5, up to a 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD, four 4K capable video outputs, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6E connectivity, and six USB ports for expansion. The company sent us a sample of the GEEKOM A7 with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU, 32GB DDR5, and 2TB SSD for review. We’ll do a three-part review starting by listing the specifications, checking out the hardware design and accessories, and quickly trying it in the first part of the review, before testing both Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 22.04 in detail in a few weeks. GEEKOM A7 specifications SoC (one or the other) AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS 8-core/16-thread processor up to 4.0GHz with 16MB cache, AMD Radeon 780M Graphics; TDP: 35 to 54W AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS 8-core/16-thread […]

SAPPHIRE EDGE IPC-FP6 mini-ITX motherboard supports 10GbE networking

SAPPHIRE IPC-FP6 mini ITX motherboard 10GbE

SAPPHIRE EDGE IPC-FP6 is a mini-ITX motherboard powered by an AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 SoC with support for 10GbE networking and designed for gaming machines, medical imaging equipment, digital signage, thin clients, or POS terminals. The motherboard also comes with four 4K-capable DisplayPort video outputs, M.2 sockets for storage and wireless, two SATA ports for mass storage, up to eight USB interfaces, a PCIe x8 slot for expansion,  and a combo audio jack. SAPPHIRE EDGE IPC-FP6 specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 AMD Ryzen Embedded V2516 hexa-core/12-thread processor @ 2.1 GHz / 3.95 GHz (Turbo) with 3MB L2 cache, 6 CUs Radeon RX Vega 6 GPU @ 1.5 GHz; TDP: 10-25W TDP (15W default) AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 hexa-core/12-thread processor @ 3.0 GHz / 3.95 GHz (turbo) with 3 MB L2 cache, 6 CUs Radeon RX Vega 6 GPU @ 1.5 GHz; TDP: 35-54W TDP (45W default) AMD Ryzen […]

Chatreey AM08 Pro review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 and ESXi 7.0 on an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS mini PC

Chatreey AM08 Pro Review Ubuntu VMWare ESXi

In the first article, I checked out the hardware of the Chatreey AM08 Pro mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU and tested it with Windows 11 Pro in the second part of the review. Now it’s time for the third part where I’ll test Ubuntu 22.04.03 Desktop OS and ESXi 7.0 update 3C hypervisor on the AM8 Pro mini PC. The installation process was simple enough and both WiFi and Ethernet were detected correctly. Contents Ubuntu 22.04 System information with AM08 Pro Performance of AM08 Pro 7940HS sbc-bench.sh Geekbench  iozone3  FIO  Network performance (2.5GbE and WiFi 6) of AM08 Pro 7940HS 2.5 GbE WiFi 6E  Stress test and CPU temperature of AM08 Pro 7940HS Power consumption of AM08 Pro 7940HS Jellyfin on Ubuntu 22.04.03 (server) ESXi 7.0 Installation The stability Conclusion 1. Ubuntu 22.04 1.1. Ubuntu System information with AM08 Pro The system information in Ubuntu […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case