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Thread: Recommended ARM-based development boards

  1. #11
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    And ... how long do the tasks take to crunch? Or how many points per day? I keep my fleet of Odroids on Asteroids@Home

  2. #12
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    The Pi3 performs best and brings on average just under 500 credits/day, the Pi2s do about 430-450. This because the Pi3 is a tad faster and mostly finishes in just around 6 hours while the Pi2 takes a little over 6.3 hours with some flukes taking more than that. The Banana Pro could even do some Enigma Wus in a little over 3 hours...
    I wonder what the Pi3 will do when fitted with a 3.5A USB hub and a heatsink/fan combo....

    I mostly stay away from Asteroids, Seti or Universe due to the long processing time guestimates, ATM.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 08-30-2016 at 12:41 AM.


  3. #13
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    64-bit ARM SBCs compared

    The 64-bit ARM chips are being pushed to the market, just like a few years ago with the x86 architecture. What can you buy?
    Feature Banana Pi 64 NanoPi M3 Odroid-C2 Pine A64/+/++ Raspberry Pi 3
    SOC
    Allwinner A64
    Samsung S5P6818
    Amlogic S905
    Allwinner A64
    Broadcom BCM2837
    CPU
    1.2 GHz
    Cortex-A53
    quad-core
    1.4 GHz
    Cortex-A53
    octa-core
    2.0 Ghz
    Cortex-A53
    quad-core
    1.2 GHz
    Cortex-A53
    quad-core
    1.2 GHz
    Cortex-A53
    quad-core
    GPU
    Mali-400 MP2
    (2x@500MHz)
    Mali-400 MP
    Mali-450 MP2
    (3x@700MHz)
    Mali 400 MP2
    (2x@500MHz)
    VideoCore IV
    (1x@400 MHz)
    RAM
    2 GB LPDDR3
    (733 MHz)
    1 GB LPDDR3
    2 GB LPDDR3
    (912 MHz)
    512MB (standard)
    1GB (+)
    2GB (++) LPDDR3
    1 GB LPDDR2
    (400 MHz)
    WiFi
    802.11b/g/n
    802.11b/g/n
    No
    Optional
    (802.11n)
    802.11b/g/n
    Bluetooth
    4.0
    4.0
    No
    Optional
    4.0
    4.1
    LAN
    10/100/1000 Mbps
    10/100/1000 Mbps
    10/100/1000 Mbps
    10/100 Mbps
    1000 Mbps (+/++)
    10/100 Mbps
    USB 2.0
    host ports
    2 ports
    (3rd via GPIO)
    1x microUSB otg
    2 ports
    2 headers
    1 microUSB otg
    4 ports
    1x microUSB otg
    2 ports
    Micro-USB port
    (for power)
    4 ports
    Micro-USB port
    (for power)
    eMMC
    8 GB (standard)
    up to 64 GB
    No
    Optional
    up to 64 GB
    No
    No
    MicroSD
    up to 256 GB
    up to 64 GB
    up to 64 GB
    up to 256GB
    boot disk (FAT32)
    up to 32GB
    up to 64 GB
    To be save, partition SD cards bigger than 32 GB into 32 GB partitions with 32k sectors.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 09-06-2016 at 10:49 PM.


  4. #14
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    A few years further, and the field has changed considerably. 64-bit capable SOCs we already had four years ago, but 64-bit operating systems -and BOINC applications catering for them- were less common.
    Now there is both 64-bit Linux/ARM and 64-bit Android/ARM, and we are no longer confined to the somewhat mediocre performance of the Cortex-A53 based SOCs.
    In 32-bit userland nothing still beats the Odroid-XU4 with its Exynos 5422 (a quad-core, high-end Cortex-A15 coupled to a quad-core mainstream Cortex-A7), or it must be the similarly equipped Cubieboard 4 with its Allwinner A80 SOC, also a quad Cortex-A15 coupled to a quad Cortex-A7. The user community behind the Hardkernel product trumps -excusez le mot- that of Cubieboard though.
    Other 32-bit octo-cores: the Banana Pi M3 (eight Cortex-A7's in an Allwinner A83, trying to run at 2000 MHz) and the Cubieboard 5 (eight Cortex-A7's in an Allwinner H8, trying to run at 2000 MHz). Of those two the Banana Pi M3 suffers from overheating -amongst others. Chris Skull owns a Cubieboard 5, we'd best ask him about his experiences.

    The only disadvantage of these octo-cores is that they can only run 32-bit OS-es and apps. The productivity of my Odroid-XU4 is on the same level as my Raspberry Pi 4B's that operate on a 32-bit Raspbian at stock speed. As Vaughan already mentioned about the XU4, the stock cooling leaves to be desired -both in performance and noise- and it could do with a leftover chipset cooler with heatpipe and a fan, something like 52Pi does for the Raspberry Pi 4 and the nVidia Jetson Nano.

    In the 64-bit userland nothing beats the Odroid-N2+ at the moment, having a hexacore Amlogic S922X that can be overclocked to 2400 MHz for its four high-end Cortex-A73 cores and to 2000 MHz for the two mainstream Cortex-A53's. Be sure to order their 80mm fan too with the board, that comes with an immense heat sink. At the moment I only have an Android equipped N2+, but I'll order one to have Ubuntu Mate or Armbian soon too. Using the route of adding an alternative platform in the cc_config.xml you can let the 64-bit ARM boxes run 32-bit apps too. At least: This works with Linux, it ought to work with Android too. The only thing I can't run at the moment in 64-bit Android is Ralph, for which I have to edit that cc_config. All other projects that have Android apps have them for 64-bit Android too -sometimes only 64-bit even.
    Other boards with a good 64-bit high-end ARM Cores are of course the Raspberry Pi 4's, of which the best two models have enough RAM to take full advantage of a 64-bit OS.
    Not only do the Pi 4's have a good CPU, thay also have lots of tailored hardware and a big community for support. This can't be said for a lot of their competitors. nVidia -them of the competitors video cards- have a nice, if expensive SBC platform in the shape of the Jetsons (no kidding): Nano, Xavier NX and Xavier AGX. Only the first falls into the category of affordable boards, if just barely. It has a quad-core Cortex-A57 CPU (the same as AMD used for their ARM venture) and of course CUDA-capable GPU. Main USP of the board is the access to nVidia's Jetpack Library.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 10-01-2020 at 12:04 AM.


  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by vaughan View Post
    The Odroid XU4s with the small fan don't last very long. The fan fails and they get too hot. 75 percent failure rate so far but YMMV.
    I replaced mine after failure with the passive XU4Q heatsink I got together with the XU4, and coupled it to a Noctua NF-A4x20. Silent, and cool.


  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dirk Broer View Post
    I replaced mine after failure with the passive XU4Q heatsink I got together with the XU4, and coupled it to a Noctua NF-A4x20. Silent, and cool.
    Still running my Odroid-XU4 24/7/365 with the 'Q' heatsink and Noctua NF-A4x20 fan, but in order to get more bang for the buck I will now change that to a Xigmatek Porter N881 chipset cooler and change the fan to a 80mm 5V Noctua NF-A8. I will also change the OS from Hardkernel's Ubuntu Mate 20.04 to Armbian Jammy 22.05, to have better control over the LITTLE.big core speeds, the better cooling should be enough to let those Cortex-A15 cores run at 2000 MHz. System ran stable as a rock under Ubuntu Mate, just a tad slow (1400 MHz for the LITTLE Cortex-A7 cores, 1500 MHz for the big Cortex-A15 cores).

    The Odroid-XU4 still is my personal #1 choice for a 32-bit ARM cruncher, with the ASUS Tinkerboard/Tinkerboard S with its Cortex-A17 equipped Rockchip RK3288 a close second.
    It is just that 32-bit crunching is not exactly the future, BOINC-wise.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 07-29-2022 at 11:13 PM.


  7. #17
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    With 2023 almost knocking at the door, I give my updated recommendations

    32-bit: Ditch them power-sucking beasties! None of them reaches to 10.000 or more credits per KWh...

    64-bit: I set my money on the nVidia Jetson Orin family. They are, in a sequence from reasonable affordable to absurdly expensive:
    1. Jetson Orin Nano 4 GB
    2. Jetson Orin Nano 8 GB
    3. Jetson Orin NX 8 GB
    4. Jetson Orin NX 16 GB
    5. Jetson AGX Orin 32 GB
    6. Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB

    Models 1, 2 and 3 come with a six-core Cortex-A78; Models 4 and 5 make that a eight-core; Model 6 has even a 12-core.

    There's no RK3588 board that can shine a light to these specs, period.


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