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What is the most powerful single board computer?

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The Best 1 of 19 OptionsWhy?

What is the most powerful single board computer	Price	RAM	CPU
93 Intel NUC	$120 +	SO-DIMM	Intel Celeron, Pentium, Core
-- UDOO BOLT	€308+	SO-DIMM	AMD Ryzen Embedded V1XXX
59 Udoo x86 Ultra	$267.00	8 GB DDR3L	Intel Pentium N3710 (4x 1,6 GHz, Intel Burst up to 2.56 GHz)
-- UP Board	$89+	1, 2 or 4 GB	Intel Atom x5-Z8350 (4x 1,44 GHz, Intel Burst up to 1.92 GHz)
-- Raspberry Pi 4 Model B	$35+	1, 2 or 8 GB LPDDR4	Broadcom BCM2711 ( 4 x up to 1,5 GHz)

Intel NUC

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Top Pro

x86/amd64-based

Plenty of Operating Systems to choose. See More

Top Con

Can be too expensive

The price starts at about $120 for an Intel Celeron based kit plus HDD/SSD and RAM. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Celeron, Pentium, Core

GPU:Intel i9xx (Intel HD / UHD)

USB:Depending on configuration

Top Pro

DRAM not soldered

All models sold under the NUC brand use standardized SO-DIMMs so you can easily replace or upgrade them. See More

Top Con

HDMI looses sound

In some Windows applications / games the HDMI ports loose sound if you change the resolution. Itel support said that the issue is known but there is no fix available. See More

Top Pro

Standardized size

All NUC boards (except the ones tailored for gaming with vega graphics) are 4 × 4 inches (101,6 × 101,6 mm). See More

Top Con

Changing the IGP memory or AGP aperture size will kill it

I had this now on two pentium nucs both had to be sent to intel and were replaced. See More

Top Pro

Intel based GPU

Almost any OS has support for the intel i9xx based GPUs. See More

Top Con

No GPIO

Not a huge deal unless you have a specific design intent that requires not using an intermediary bus. However you can still connect an arduino or an IO-adapter to get a working solution. See More

Top Pro

Supports an RC-6 remote

All NUCs have an integrated IR-receiver that supports RC-6 (MCE) remotes. See More

Top Pro

Fastest SBC you can buy

The i7 based NUC models are by far the most powerful SBC you can buy. See More

Top Pro

Low TDPs

The Atom based Celeron and Pentium NUCs have a very low TDP of 10 or 15W. See More

Top Pro

HDMI-CEC

6th gen+ models have basic CEC support (turn on/turn off). See More

Top Pro

Open platform

x86 is the most open and versatile PC-platform you can find, that runs and boots fully without proprietary software. See More

18 Other Options Considered

UDOO BOLT

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Top Pro

Powerful GPU

Probably the most powerful GPU on a SBC in 2019. See More

Top Con

Huge

120 x 120 mm are huge compared to a Pi it comes also close to a Mini-ITX board (170 x170mm). See More

KindClementia's Experience

It's great! See More

Specs

CPU:AMD Ryzen Embedded V1XXX

Size:120 x120 mm

Top Pro

Custom cooling

Having removable heat sync you cooling upgrades would be almost unlimited if 3rd party support. See More

Top Con

Pricy

You can get full PC's, Laptops or Tablets for that price. See More

SuccessfulNuliajuk's Experience

I don't currently have one but would very interesting in turning it into car pc. I have been holding off to see if anything better has come but I think this has more than enough performance. Having great performance would make running emulators a fun pass time while on lunch or something. I mainly want to run applications that are able to read obd2 and have a front end software to make navigation much easier. Having GPIO pins is another plus so I could wire in steering wheel controls and possibly automatic reverse cam attached to it. As I get further into the project I wouldn't mind sharing the experience. See More

Top Pro

Powered by Ryzen Embedded v1000

Udoo x86 Ultra

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Top Con

Very expensive for an SBC

It’s very expensive though, at least as far as single-board computers go. It’s priced at $259. See More

Top Pro

Capable of running as a day-to-day PC

With 8 GB of RAM and a 2.56 GHz quad-core Intel CPU, the Udoo x86 Ultra is capable of running most applications an average user would need on a daily basis without any particular problems. You can run an office suite, web browser, or an IDE the same way you would in a normal PC. It can also run some PC games such as DotA, League of Legends and Team Fortress 2 on 720p at 20-30 frames per second. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Pentium N3710 (4x 1,6 GHz, Intel Burst up to 2.56 GHz)

USB:3 x USB 3.0

Top Con

Poor wireless connectivity

The Udoo x86 Ultra does not have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth out of the box. However, it has an M.2 slot where an officially supported antenna module can be mounted. This module provides 803.11n Wireless LAN and 5 GHz Bluetooth 4.2 at for $15. Unfortunately, attaching the antenna will occupy the M.2 slot which could have been used for an SSD instead. Edit: there is 2 M2 slots so you can mount SSD and Bluetooth. See More

Top Pro

Good wired connectivity

For wired connectivity, the Udoo x86 stands out: It has three USB 3.0 ports, a SATA connector, M.2 slot, microSD slot, Ethernet, HDMI, two DisplayPort connectors, and even an IR RC5 interface. This is on par with what regular desktop computers require. See More

Top Con

Demanding games are virtually unplayable

Demanding games are technically supported, but have such a low framerate that they’re virtually unplayable. See More

Top Pro

Huge amounts of RAM

The Ultra version has 8GB of RAM, the Advanced version has 4GB and the basic version has 2GB (which is still more than most SBCs). See More

Top Con

Soldered RAM

In its size it could fit easily one SO-DIMM bank. See More

Top Pro

X86-compatible

Very easy to run all operating systems. In terms of Linux or Android internal 32GB can be used as Read Only and additional SATA HDD/SSD/eMMC drive as /tmp and /home directories. See More

Top Con

Small community

The Udoo x86 community is small as it’s just off from the Kickstarter. Not many people have their boards yet, but the fact that Udoo raised over $800,000 at Kickstarter sounds promising. The official forum seems fairly active with an average of 200 views and 5 replies per discussion. See More

Top Pro

Can be used as a gaming emulator

Supports almost all retro gaming emulators available for PC so it can be used as a retro gaming emulator. It can also emulate newer consoles like the Playstation 2 and PSP. See More

Top Con

Its price comes close to decently powerful laptop

Top Pro

Energy efficient

Even though it sports Quad Core x86 next-gen CPUs made by Intel, it's pretty energy efficient as the complete Udoo board consumes less than 11 watts of energy at any given time. See More

Top Con

4K only supports 24 FPS

Only supports HDMI 1.4 and DP 1.1a, so 4K is limited to 24 FPS. See More

Top Pro

Arduino compatible

The Udoo x86 comes with an embedded Arduino 101, with all upgrades enabled (including 6-axis accelerometer, gyroscope and Bluetooth). See More

Top Con

The official documentation is lacking

The official documentation available at the official website is lacking. Apart from the hardware specification sheet, there’s generally not much information or project examples available for the Udoo x86 at the moment. The users will have a lot of tinkering and hacking to do if they want to achieve any positive results with their projects. See More

Top Pro

Decent GPIO suppoort

The Udoo x86 Ultra comes with 28 GPIO ports in total which may seem small, but considering the fact that it has an Arduino 101 embedded inside, it’s actually a decent amount. The Arduino board has built-in functionality for what some of the pins would be used (like a six-axis accelerometer and gyroscope) and adds 12 additional GPIO pins. Several key communication protocols are also supported: two IIC, two UART, LPC and SDIO. See More

Top Con

It's possible you'll run into problems that haven't been discussed yet

Even through the community is growing, the product is not considered mainstream. When purchasing this SBC, you should be aware that some tinkering will be required. Prolific users will also most likely run into some sort of problem that might not have yet been discussed on official resources. See More

Top Pro

Set-up is easy and straightforward

It’s absolutely straightforward to set up. The installation guides for all supported operating systems are provided in written and video form. See More

Top Pro

Helpful guides and community

Has good guides available online and the community is quite helpful, even if a bit small. See More

Top Pro

spped networn in thermoplastics DVS Pro Decent graphics Intel HD graphics 405 up to 700 MHz with 16 execution units.

Intel HD graphics 405 up to 700 MHz with 16 execution units. See More

Top Pro

Best storage capabilities

In terms of storage the Udoo x86 is a clear winner. Out of the box it comes with 32GB eMMC (embedded MultiMediaCard, basically a built-in SSD). Then it’s fully up to the user to upgrade the storage as they see fit. If you need fast (but expensive) storage—an SSD is the best option. A microSD card can also be used as a storage option. See More

UP Board

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Specs

RAM:1, 2 or 4 GB

CPU:Intel Atom x5-Z8350 (4x 1,44 GHz, Intel Burst up to 1.92 GHz)

USB:6x USB 2.0( 2x as pin header), 1x USB 3.0

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B

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Top Pro

De Facto Standard

You can get a gazillion of applications and samples for this. Tried and trusted. See More

Top Con

Not very powerful

Its hardware is inferior to its competitors, however its software support is great. See More

ImaginativeCardea's Experience

twice as fast as rpi3; usb 3.0 and gigabyte ethernet . Still GREAT price; great community support See More

Specs

RAM:1, 2 or 8 GB LPDDR4

CPU:Broadcom BCM2711 ( 4 x up to 1,5 GHz)

GPU:Broadcom VideoCore VI

USB:2x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.2

Top Pro

Great support

It might not be the most powerful SBC but it does the job slowly but stable. See More

Top Con

No SATA port

So you have to rely again on microSD cards. See More

HappyFengMeng's Experience

Have one (4GB version) running as camera server/monitor and pihole. Wouldnt buy it again external HDD drives refuse to work due limited power supply, Without fan it overheats very quickly. I already lost one microSD card even if the system is configured as read only. See More

Top Con

USB ports dont have enough power

USB hard disk drives without external power supply might not work. See More

CreativeZhongliQuan's Experience

I have several. All work great. See More

Top Con

Heat issues

Without fan it is overheating very quickly See More

Top Con

Price comes close to a low-spec PC

The buget kit, a Pi4 w 4GB and heatsink, plus the charger, case and a 128GB SD-Card costs €105 plus shipping. Probably a bit more since you also need a few adapters (eg. USB-C>USB-A, micro-HDMI>HDMI/DP). However, for a few bucks more you will get a low spec x86-PC that is better suited as HTPC, Desktop or emulation system. See More

Top Con

Had Problems with micro HDMI, Intermittent contact, should have been full size

ODROID-XU4

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Top Pro

Great performance

The performance runs laps around competitors in terms of raw power with its impressive specs and octa-core processing. See More

Top Con

Expensive

It’s expensive for a SBC, for ~$20 more you can get a faster x86 PC barebone. See More

Specs

RAM:2Gbyte LPDDR3 RAM PoP stacked

CPU:Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5422 (4x up to 2.1 GHz + 4x up to 1.4 GHz)

GPU:Mali-T628 MP6

USB:2xUSB3 1xUSB2

Top Pro

Supports eMMC 5.0 storage

Top Con

No SATA port

Top Pro

Includes cooling system

Includes fan and heatsink combo standard. Fan spins when CPU is load is high. Other single-board computers require a seperate purchase where fan runs constantly, has improper power supply, or requires complex setup for proper funtion. See More

Top Con

SD card corrupts

SD card corrupts easily with the XU4, you can use emmc for more stability but even then it is not that reliable. You will also need to reimage the memory every so often. See More

Top Pro

Includes power adapter

Many single-board computers require you to purchase a power adapter separately. See More

Top Con

Unstable USB support

Top Pro

Includes a power button

Some single-board computers have no power button, requiring the power supply to be unplugged or customization to add a button. See More

Top Con

Does not natively support most accessories and sensors on the market

The ODROID GPIO pins operate at 1.8V which means that it cannot support most accessories and sensors on the market which operate at 3.3V or 5V. But this can be fixed for the XU4 with the XU4 Shifter Shield which adapts them for voltages used in the market. It comes at an extra cost of $18 though. See More

Top Pro

USB 3.0 ports

The ODROID-XU4 has two USB 3.0 ports. Making it one of the few single board computers to have them. See More

Top Con

No Audio CODEC

To get Audio out of the XU4 you need to use an HDMI device that has built-in speakers. See More

Top Pro

Great OS support

ODROID supports and can run a full desktop version of Ubuntu. Other than that it can run Android, of which there are some excellent ports for ODROID-XU4. See More

Top Pro

Practically very usable general purpose computer experience

Practically very usable general purpose computer experience with much lower power consumption when eMMC 5.0 storage is used for booting. See More

Top Pro

Fast ethernet

Much faster than 10/100 as it contains a gigabit ethernet port. See More

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Top Pro

Faster CPU than the original Pi 3 Model B

Thanks to a new thermal management plate (heat spreader), as well as better voltage regulation, the CPU gained a nice little 200 MHz bump in clock speed over the Pi 3 Model B. Applications on the Pi 3 B+ are a little faster and snappier than their predecessor. See More

Top Con

Bluetooth is very unstable - never fails to fail

Many times after successfully pairing devices it just stops working. One speaker worked for about 5minutes then stopped. Since then it will pair but will not connect. Yes the speakers work in Windows and with a Samsung Galaxy S8. Its seems to have more to do with the Raspbian OS, since using a BlueTooth dongle with it gives the same results. See More

Top Pro

Great community and developer support

The various addons boards means this is the board to go with for starters into development. Without much knowledge you can get a project up and running in a short amount of time. See More

Top Con

USB and Ethernet bandwidth shared

For cloud servers (OwnCloud, NextCloud, FTP, Media Hosting, etc...) it will take a dip on the transfer performance (when using ethernet combined with a USB Storage device) as the same controller handles the USB and Ethernet interfaces. Better performance than its predecessor, but something to keep in mind. See More

Top Pro

World-class support and software

What really sets the Raspberry Pi apart from the competition, and makes it leagues apart from every other SBC out there, it the software and support you get from every corner of the ecosystem regarding anything you want to make, build or do with the Pi. The most up-to-date kernels, the widest supported bundles, hats for every occasion, step-by-step instructions, and if you're trying something and get stuck, chances are high someone else has got stuck at the same spot, got past it, and left detailed instructions on how to get past it so nobody ever gets stuck there again. That is the best feature of the Raspberry Pi. See More

Top Pro

Faster networking capabilities

Because of the Gigabit ethernet (although still sharing the USB 2.0 bus which limits its speed ceiling), it goes up to 3x faster than the original Pi 3 Model B. The new wireless chip supports 802.111ac, which also increases its throughput to 3x as well. Bluetooth 4.2 LE is much more stable, and it's just a nice little upgrade. See More

ASUS Tinker Board S

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Top Con

Not Enough Community Support

Although the Tinker OS is very functional, it lacks the community support that Raspberry Pi's Raspbian has. Plus, Tinker OS is not as well developed as Raspbian is. See More

Top Pro

Outputs in 4K

This single board-computer has enough juice to stream the 4K media at the frame rate of 30Hz through its HDMI port. See More

Specs

CPU:Rockchip Quad-Core RK3288

GPU:ARM Mali-T764

Top Pro

Multi-OS platform

Right now, Tinker Board S can run both Android and Linux. Linux comes in the form of TinkerOS_Debian that is based on a well-known Debian distribution while the TinkerOS_Android is based on the Android 6. See More

Top Pro

Fair performance

The Asus Tinker Board S is a more powerful single-board computer than a Raspberry Pi Model B since it has a more powerful microprocessor as well as larger and faster RAM memory. See More

NanoPC

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Specs

CPU:Samsung S5P4418

Size:100 x 60 mm

LattePanda 4G/64GB

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Top Pro

Tablet mode enabled (by code)

With the Atom Cherrytail, you could attach the board to a touchscreen to create an ultimate Surface Pro experience (except for the fact that it doesn't have a camera). See More

Top Con

Only Windows 10 is officially supported

While it may work with other OSes such as Linux or Android, it has no official images for these operating systems and may have compatibility issues. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Atom x5-Z8350 Processor

GPU:Intel HD Graphics, 12 EUs @200-500Mhz

USB:2 x USB 2.0 and 1 x USB 3.0

Top Pro

Arduino-compatible

The Lattepanda has a Arduino-compatible coprocessor for any projects which involve an Arduino. See More

Top Con

Throttles due to poor heatsinks

This thing throttles down to 400 MHz due to poor cooling thus making it useless without some knowledge of computer building and modification. See More

Top Pro

Can function as a day-to-day PC

Lattepanda comes with a full Windows 10 installation. While by no means a powerhouse it can easily deal with daily tasks such as checking email, editing documents and browsing the web. See More

Top Con

No support for HDMI-CEC

When you connect it to a TV or projector it sometimes requires extra manual settings on the output device, such as for viewing 3D. Also, you can not control the player on this board with your TV or projector remote via HDMI-CEC. See More

Top Pro

System installed on internal flash

System is installed on eMMC rather than an SD card like other SBCs. This means no extra physical components are required in order to get the computer to boot. See More

Top Pro

USB 3.0 available

Lattepanda has a USB 3.0 port available. See More

Top Pro

Can fit most Raspberry Pi cases

Since it's almost the same size a the Raspberry Pi 3, it can fit inside most of the cases built for the Pi. See More

Top Pro

Integrated WiFi and Bluetooth

WiFi and Bluetooth are integrated on the board so your USBs are available for other peripherals. See More

Top Pro

HDMI plus LCD and touch ports

On the LattePanda you have the choice of the HDMI output for a normal style monitor screen or you can buy the little 7" LCD and if you wish, the touch-screen option which means you free up the HDMI feed for other tasks such as playing a movie file etc. This also gives you the option of not having to plug in a USB keyboard because the LattePanda will default to providing a touch-screen keyboard style interface via the combination touch-screen and LCD. See More

Top Pro

Faster than most other single-board computers

The 64-bit Intel Atom system-on-a-chip used in the LattePanda board offers greater processing power in comparison to ARM-based single-board computers. See More

Top Pro

Full Windows 10

Comes pre-installed with a full edition of Windows 10, including powerful tools such as Visual Studio, NodeJS, Java, Processing, and more. See More

UP²

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Specs

RAM:2, 4 or 8 GB

CPU:Intel Atom, Celeron or Pentium

GPU:Intel i9xx (Intel HD / UHD)

Size:85.6 × 90 mm

Google Coral

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Top Con

Expensive

If you're tight in budget, Google Coral isn't for you. One unit costs roughly 150 USD - compared to Raspberry Pi 4 which is only up to 55 USD for the 4GB RAM model. See More

Top Pro

Heatsink Included

Google Coral boards include a heatsink and a fan to ensure the MXU and the SoC are within optimal temperatures. See More

Capuccino 's Experience

I've had the experience to try out one of these and they are undeniably in par with Raspberry Pi 4 however its more powerful with the inclusion of a MXU unit for Machine Learning. If you're into AI/ML and want a rather cheap board to experiment with, this is for you. See More

Specs

CPU:NXP i.MX 8M SoC (quad Cortex-A53, Cortex-M4F)

Top Con

No third party distribution support

Based on documentation, there is no support beyond its own preinstalled distribution built exclusively for Google Coral. You're basically stuck with their own distribution. See More

Top Pro

Flash Memory Included

Unlike Raspberry Pi and some boards, Google Coral has a built in 8GB eMMC flash storage. Perfect if you want to flash another distro or if micro SDs are too unreliable. See More

Top Con

1GB LPDDR4 RAM only

There is no larger RAM option for Google Coral boards. You're stuck with the 1GB LPDDR4 RAM - which is comparably the same as Raspberry Pi 4 in its introductory price. See More

Top Pro

AI/ML Native

Google Coral SBCs are designed primarily for AI and ML in the edge. Each board carries a Edge TPU - a smaller version of Google's own ASIC chips used to power Google AI. See More

Odroid-N2+

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Specs

RAM:4GiB DDR4 (1320Mhz PC4-21333 @ 1.2V)

CPU:Hexa-core (4×2.4Ghz Cortex-A73 + 2×2.0Ghz Cortex-A53)

GPU:Mali-G52 (Hexa-core @ 800Mhz)

USB:4×USB-A 3.0 Host + 1×Micro-A USB 2.0 OTG

ODYSSEY - X86J4105

Specs

CPU:Intel® Celeron® J4105 (Frequency: 1.5 - 2.5GHz)

GPU:Intel® UHD Graphics 600 (Frequency: 250 – 750MHz)

USB:USB 2.0 Type-A x2, USB 3.1 Type-A x1, USB 3.1 Type-C x1

ODROID-C4

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OK1046A-C

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MYC-JX8MX+MYD-JX8MX

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HonestHuixtocihuatl's Experience

he MYC-JX8MX CPU Module is based on NXP i.MX 8M Quad processor featuring 1.3GHz quad ARM Cortex-A53 cores and a real-time ARM Cortex-M4 co-processor. It is a minimum system integrated with CPU, LPDDR4, eMMC, QSPI Flash, GigE PHY and PMIC. All controller signals are brought out through one 0.5mm pitch 314-pin MXM 3.0 Expansion Connector. It is a Linux-ready ARM SoM ideal for your next embedded design. See More

OK1043A-C single board computer

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Top Con

It is very costly, you can buy a laptop at this price

Top Pro

Powerful processing performance, various high-speed peripherals such as USB3.0, PCIe, SGMII, and QSGMII

ResoluteXolotl's Experience

OK1043A-C is a single board computer(also called development board or demo board) designed by Forlinx based NXP Cortex-A53 featuring quad-core processor LS1043A with frequency up to 1.6GHz has 7 native Ethernet interface(1x 10Gbps and 6x 1000Mbps), it has PCIe2.0, SATA3.0, USB3.0, UART, IIC and other periperals redy-to-use and supports both Ubuntu and OpenWRT. It is applicable for router, IoT gateway, IP-PBX and other similar products, and fields such as edge computing, energy related gateway, smart city, industrial automation,video surveillance, etc. See More

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