IEI’s 165 x 115mm “Wafer-ULT5” SBC delivers an 8th Gen Whiskey Lake-UE CPU with triple independent displays, triple GbE, 4x USB 3.1 Gen 2, mini-PCIe and M.2, and -20 to 60°C support.

IEI has introduced an SBC with Intel’s 8th Gen Whiskey Lake processors up to a Core i7-8665UE with 4x octa-threaded cores @ 1.7GHz (4.4GHz Turbo) and a 15W TDP. The Wafer-ULT5, which follows IEI’s 3.5-inch, Intel 6th or 7th Gen Wafer-ULT3/ULT4, is the first “3.5-inch” Whiskey Lake board we’ve seen with 3x GbE ports and the first to offer -20 to 60°C support.

The huge asterisk here is that the Wafer-ULT5 measures 165 x 115mm compared to 146 x 101mm for the Wafer-ULT3/ULT4 and almost every other 3.5-inch board we’ve covered, which vary only by a millimeter or two. The only recent exception we can recall is the Whiskey Lake based ASRock SBC-350, which is dubbed “3.5-inch” despite measuring 160 x 101mm. Blame it on the undefined 3.5-inch pseudo-standard, which doesn’t make sense even at the standard size: 146 x 101mm is equivalent to 5.75 x 3.98 inches.

Wafer-ULT5 and detail views
(click images to enlarge)

Like most of its 3.5-inch Whiskey Lake competitors, the Wafer-ULT5 offers up to 32GB DDR4-2400 and supports triple independent displays. While most of its rivals provide dual DisplayPorts or combinations of DP and HDMI, IEI is the first to provide dual standard HDMI ports, which are accompanied by an LVDS connector.

Like ASRock’s SBC-350, Commell’s LE-37N, and Ibase’s IB919, the Wafer-ULT5 provides 4x USB 3.1 Gen 2 host ports at up to 10Gbps. (Congatec’s Conga-JC370 has three, including its Type-C port.)

The Wafer-ULT5 is equipped with an M.2 A-key 2230 socket and a full-size mini-PCIe slot. The others either offer the same combo or dual M.2 slots except for the Conga-JC370, which supplies 3x M.2 plus a mini-PCIe. No OS support was listed, but Linux should fit in just fine here.

Specifications listed for the Wafer-ULT5 include:

• Processor — Intel 8th Gen “Whiskey Lake” UE-series Core and Celeron (2x or 4x core @ up to 2.0GHz); Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Gen 9.5 HD Graphics with 24 EU); 15W TDP (configurable TDP of 12.5W to 25W)
• Memory — up to 32GB of 2400MHz DDR4
• Storage — SATA III with 5V power support; mini-PCIe with mSATA (see expansion below)
• Networking — 3x Gigabit Ethernet ports (2x Intel I211AT with PCIe-based Intel i219)
• Display/media:
  • 2x HDMI 1.4 ports at up to 4096 x 2160 @ 30Hz
  • 18/24-bit dual-channel LVDS (via DP to LVDS converter) at up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60Hz
  • Triple independent display support
  • HD Audio I/O
• Other I/O:
  • 4x USB 3.1 Gen 2 host ports at up to 10Gbps
  • 2x USB 2.0
  • RS232/422/485
  • RS232
  • 8-bit DIO, I2C, fan connector
• Expansion:
  • Mini-PCIe slot (full-size) with mSATA support
  • M.2 A-Key 2230 slot
• Other features — Watchdog; embedded controller (ITE IT8587VG-FX); serial, SATA, and power cables; heatspreader; optional heatsink
• Power — 12V DC input header with AT/ATX; power and reset button; power LED
• Operating temperatures — -20 to 60°C; 5%~90% humidity (non-condensing) humidity resistance
• Dimensions – 165 x 115mm

 
Further information

No pricing or availability information was provided for the Wafer-ULT5. More information may be found in IEI’s announcement and product page.