3.5-inch Elkhart Lake SBC offers triple GbE ports
Feb 24, 2021 — by Eric Brown 2,085 viewsIbase’s -40 to 85°C ready “IB836” SBC runs Ubuntu or Windows on an Atom x6000 with up to 32GB DDR4, 3x GbE, 3x USB 3.1, DP, Type-C with DP, 2x SATA, mini-PCIe, and M.2.
Avalue revealed the first 3.5-inch SBC based on Intel’s Elkhart Lake back in September with its ECM-EHL, and now Ibase has posted a preliminary product page for its own 3.5-inch entry. The IB836 offers triple 1GbE ports instead of the GbE and 2.5GbE ports found on the ECM-EHL or the dual GbE ports on Congatec’s smaller, Elkhart Lake based Conga-PA7 Pico-ITX board.


IB836, front and back
(click images to enlarge)
Elkhart Lake runs on 10nm SuperFin Tremont CPU cores and up to 32EU Intel Gen11 graphics with triple 4K. The SoC offers improved AI performance over the earlier, Atom-class Gemini Lake, which Ibase used on its 3.5-inch IB822 SBC.
Elkhart Lake integrates an Intel Programmable Services Engine (Intel PSE) built around a Cortex-M7 with features including remote out-of-band (OOB) and in-band (INB) device management. (For more details, see our Elkhart Lake report.)
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Ibase is offering major IB836 SKUs with the quad-core Atom x6425E and x6413E and the dual-core Atom x6211E. However, it also supports other models including Pentium and Celeron Elkhart Lake SoCs. No OS support was listed by Ibase, but Intel’s IB836 promo page says it runs Ubuntu and Windows.


IB836 detail views (left) and Elkhart Lake models
(click images to enlarge)
Aside from their different Ethernet configurations, the Ibase and Avalue boards differ in how they deal with storage and expansion. The IB836 offers dual SATA interfaces, one of which colays with an optional mSATA drive available on the mini-PCIe slot. By contrast, Avalue’s ECM-EHL has a single SATA connection plus mSATA available on an M.2 B-key slot. Both boards also provide an M.2 E-key for WiFi/Bluetooth.
The IB836 enables triple independent displays via a DisplayPort plus a second DP available via USB Type-C and eDP or LVDS. Avalue’s board instead offers triple displays with HDMI, DP, eDP, and LVDS options. Whereas Avalue’s board supplies dual USB 3.1 Gen2 and dual USB 2.0 host ports, Ibase gives you 3x USB 3.1, which is presumably the slower Gen1, plus the Type-C port.
Other features common to both boards include a COM port, DIO, TPM, and a 9-36V input. Ibase provides standard -40 to 85°C support on the Atom-equipped models whereas this is optional with Avalue. Ibase supports error-correcting IBECC RAM, but this is not listed by Avalue.
Specifications listed for the IB836 include:
- Processor — Intel Elkhart Lake Atom x6000E, Celeron, and Pentium (2x or 4x 10nm Elkhart Lake cores @ up to 1.8GHz/3.0GHz; Intel UHD Graphics (Intel Gen11) up to 32EU; built-in Cortex-M7; 4.5-12W TDP
- Memory — Up to 32GB DDR4-3200 via 2x slots, including IBECC RAM
- Storage — 2x SATA 3.0; mSATA available via mini-PCIe shared with one of the SATA ports
- Networking — 3x GbE ports (Intel I211IT via PCIe); wireless available via M.2 or mini-PCIe
- Media I/O:
- DisplayPort
- DisplayPort via USB Type-C
- eDP or 24-bit, dual-channel LVDS
- Triple display support
- Audio I/O headers (Realtek ALC269); class D amp
- Other I/O:
- 3x USB 3.1 host ports
- USB 3.1 Type-C with DP support
- 2x USB 2.0 headers
- RS-232/422/485 port
- 3x RS-232 headers
- 4-in/4-out DIO
- Fintek F81964D-I I/O chip
- Expansion:
- M.2 E-key 2230 slot
- Mini-PCIe (full-size) slot with mSATA support
- Other features — Watchdog; HW monitoring; TPM 2.0; optional cable kit
- Power — 9-36V input; EuP/ErP compliance
- Operating temperature — -40 to 85°C on Atom models plus 60°C @ 90% non-condensing relative humidity tolerance
- Dimensions — 147 x 102mm (“3.5-inch form factor”)
- Operating system — Ubuntu Linux; Windows
Further information
No pricing or availability information was provided for the “preliminary” IB836. More information may be found on Ibase’s product page and Intel’s IB836 page .
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