In that price range, I'd far rather get an Udoo bolt V3 for $330. Dual Ryzen cores (4 threads, 3.2GHz) and way better IO along with the option for way more RAM. Case and charger add another $45, but total performance is way higher. The quad core (8 thread, 3.6GHz) version with an 8CU GPU runs about $420.
Going from $300 to $380 or $500 with a similar form factor and many times more performance seems like a good deal for a lot of tasks.
Very nice find, thanks, I checked it can do 32GB ECC - however, for mass storage it only seems to have 1x NVME, while some quick mental math tells me there should be enough lanes for 2x NVME or Pci-e X4 Gen 3
Do you know something similar to the Udoo that would have at least 2x NVME + 1x SATA 2.5?
From the Udoo specs:
> 32gb Emmc 5.0 High Speed Drive
> Ssd Sata Module Slot M.2 Socket Key B 2260 (Featured Also Pci-e X2)
> Nvme Module Slot M.2 Socket Key M 2280 (Pci-e X4 Gen 3 Interface)
> Sata 3.0 6 Gbit/s Standard Connector
There are "commercial" boards, but they price by appointment only and probably cost 3-10x as much.
Here's an IO comparison
Udoo Bolt
* 1 sata 3 port
* 1 m.2 type B (2x PCIe 2 lanes)
* 1 NVME drive (over 4x PCIe 3 lanes)
* 1 eMMC 5 (32gb soldered -- a mistake IMO, but one could potentially solder on a different chip)
Rockchip rk3399 (raw specs)
* 1 eMMC 5.1
* 2 SD/MMC 4.5
* 4x PCIe 2.1 lanes
The Helios64 is stretching all their SATA across those 4x PCIe 2.1 lanes. The single m.2 type B on the udoo has that much bandwidth by itself (and the NVME has the equivalent of 8x additional PCIe 2 lanes). If you really wanted, you could probably find an adapter that could turn the NVME into PCIe and then into quite a few SATA lanes as that's basically all they're doing anyway with the helios.
Thanks a lot! For what I do, I'd need to add a key-B NVME drive (not SATA, because of the IOPS) to the "normal" NVME if I understand correctly.
Do you know any such drive having at least 512G and working in NVME (not SATA)? Or can I just plug a 2260 B+M keyed drive and hope it doesn't default to SATA?
ink_13 was talking about NASs, so I recommended a machine for that use case. Are you talking about a NAS as well? If so, what comparable enclosure can you find for $45? You need more SATA ports also—an expansion card or port multiplier or some such.
The Udoo is a much more powerful little machine, but the Helios64 seems more practical as a low-budget NAS.
Going from $300 to $380 or $500 with a similar form factor and many times more performance seems like a good deal for a lot of tasks.