Whiskey Lake Pico-ITX SBC offers M.2 and mini-PCIe expansion
Feb 11, 2020 — by Eric Brown 12,665 views Aaeon’s “PICO-WHU4” Pico-ITX SBC is powered by an 8th Gen Whiskey Lake-UE CPU with up to 16GB DDR4 plus SATA, M.2, mini-PCIe, and a pair each of GbE, HDMI, and USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. There’s also an enclosed “PICO-WHU4-SEMI” variant.
Aaeon announced an 8th Gen Pico-ITX board for embedded applications that follows up on its 7th Gen U-series based PICO-KBU1. Like Aaeon’s larger, maker-focused UP Xtreme, the new PICO-WHU4 taps Intel’s 15W TDP, 8th Gen Whiskey Lake-UE processors.


PICO-WHU4, front and back
(click images to enlarge)
The PICO-WHU4 is only the second Whiskey Lake based, 100 x 72mm Pico-ITX we’ve seen after Commell’s LP-178. While it lacks that board’s audio, RTC, and triple display support, the PICO-WHU4 gives you an mSATA-ready mini-PCIe slot in addition to an M.2 socket.
Other features are similar, including support for up to 16GB DDR4, as well as 2x GbE and 2x 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. Instead of the LP-178’s HDMI, DP, and LVDS display links, you get a pair of HDMI ports.


PICO-WHU4 and detail views
(click images to enlarge)
There’s a SATA III interface, as well as USB 2.0, serial, DIO, and other I/O. As usual with Pico-ITX, there’s a relatively wide 0 to 60°C operating range. Aaeon does not list OS support, but Linux should work just fine.
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There’s also an enclosed PICO-WHU4-SEMI implementation of the board. There are no additional details, but the photo shows a power button and breakouts for expressing the board’s two RS232/422/485 interfaces as DB9 ports.

PICO-WHU4-SEMI
(click image to enlarge)
Specifications listed for the PICO-WHU4 include:
- Processor — Intel 8th Gen “Whiskey Lake” UE-series with Intel Gen 9.5 HD Graphics (24 EU) and 15W TDP (configurable TDP of 12.5W to 25W), including:
- Core i7-8665UE — 4x 8-thread cores @ 1.7GHz (4.4GHz Turbo)
- Core i5-8365UE — 4x 8-thread cores @ 1.6GHz (4.1GHz Turbo)
- Core i3-8145UE — 2x 4-thread cores @ 2.2GHz (3.9GHz Turbo)
- Celeron 4305UE — 2x 2-thread cores @ 2.0GHz
- Memory — up to 16GB of 2400MHz DDR4
- Storage — SATA 3.0 with power (mSATA also available via mini-PCIe)
- Networking — 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports (Realtek 8111G) with WoL
- Other I/O:
- 2x HDMI 1.4b ports for up 3840 x 2160
- 2x USB 3.1 Gen 2 host ports
- 2x USB 2.0
- 2x RS232/422/485
- SMBUS, I2C, LPC, eSPI
- 4-bit DIO
- Expansion
- M.2 E-key 2230 slot (PCIe/USB, including WiFi/Bluetooth/)
- Mini-PCIe slot (full-size) with USB 3.2 Gen 1/2.0, SATA
- Other features — Watchdog
- Power — 12V DC
- Operating temperatures — 0 to 60°C
- Dimensions — 100 x 72mm (Pico-ITX form factor)
Whiskey Lake boards using form factors other than Pico-ITX include ASRock’s 3.5-inch SBC-350 and thin Mini-ITX IMB-1216, Commell’s larger, 3.5-inch LE-37N, Vecow’s 3.5-inch EMBC-3000, and Congatec’s Conga-JC370 and thin Mini-ITX Conga-IC370.
Further information
No pricing or availability information was provided for the PICO-WHU4. More information may be found in Aaeon’s announcement and product page.
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