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  • Author Author: johnbeetem
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Are any SBCs ready to replace desktop computers?

I would love to replace my power-hungry desktop PC with an inexpensive SBC with no audible fan.  However, so far the SBCs I've tried lately (BeagleBone, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBoard) don't have enough processing power to be a viable desktop PC.

 

So, are any of the higher-performance SBCs that have been released lately up to the task?  I'm looking for a GNU/Linux computer that can do a decent job surfing the Internet (I don't care about video or audio performance) and a decent job compiling C programs.  I would say it needs at least 1 GB RAM and SATA for a disk drive.  100 Mb/s Ethernet is adequate, but I'd prefer not going through a USB hub.  Reasonable number of USB ports and HDMI output.  Wi-Fi is not needed or desired.

 

Here are some of the SBCs I've been watching and might consider.  Feel free to add others!  Most of these are OSHW, which is of course preferred.

 

Banana Pi: Allwinner A20 Dual ARM Cortex-A7, 1 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

CubieTruck: Allwinner A20 Dual ARM Cortex-A7, 2 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC): Intel Atom or other, up to 8 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

MinnowBoard MAX: Intel Atom, 1 or 2 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

Olimex LIME2: Allwinner A20 Dual ARM Cortex-A7, 1 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

PCduino3Nano: Allwinner A20 Dual ARM Cortex-A7, 1 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

RIoTboard: Freescale i.MX6 ARM Cortex-A9, 1GB DDR3, no SATA, GBE.

Wandboard Quad: Freescale i.MX6 Quad ARM Cortex-A9, 2 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

Parents Comment Children
  • in reply to Problemchild

    And a video of the U3 which is the affordable quadcore...nice

  • in reply to Problemchild

    John Alexander wrote:

     

    A nice pic of my XU on the back of one of my monitors...

    I saw an XU3 at the ARM TechCon last October.  Very impressive hardware, with quiet little CPU fan that only turns on as needed.  There's now an XU3 Lite for $99 plus international shipping (or $105 in the USA) that sure looks like it could meet my desktop computing requirements.

     

    How is the ODROID community?  Have you been able to get answers as needed?  If I were to get an XU3 Lite I'd want to hook up an external USB 3.0 hard drive as my main file system.  Would you know if this is easy to do?  What a saw at http://forum.odroid.com/ was pretty confusing.

  • in reply to johnbeetem

    @John Beetem ,

         I would say probably should be fine. I have hooked up my Raspberry Pi to external USB 2.0 drives on a hub running OPENLEC for movies and the software perform great. image

     

    Clem