Commell’s Linux-friendly “LP-178” Pico-ITX board features Intel’s Whiskey Lake-UE CPUs at up to 4.4GHz turbo and offers up to 16GB DDR4, triple displays, SATA III, 2x GbE, and 2x 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports.

Commell announced the first Pico-ITX board we’ve seen based on Intel’s 8th Gen “Whiskey Lake” U- or 10-year available UE-series processors. Commell has previously tapped Whiskey Lake on its larger, 3.5-inch LE-37N, which similarly uses UE chips. Other Whiskey Lake-UE SBCs include Vecow’s 3.5-inch EMBC-3000 and Congatec’s Conga-JC370 and thin Mini-ITX Conga-IC370. Whiskey Lake-U SBCs include Aaeon’s maker-focused UP Xtreme and ASRock’s 3.5-inch SBC-350 and thin Mini-ITX IMB-1216.

LP-178 and block diagram
(click images to enlarge)

The LP-178 is designed for gaming, surveillance, medical, defense, transportation, and industrial automation applications. The SBC offers a choice of Linux and Windows 10 running on either the quad-core, 8-thread, 1.7GHz/4.4GHz Core i7-8665UE or the 2.0GHz dual-core, dual-threaded Celeron 4305UE. Both offer low 15W TDPs.

Due to the compact, 100 x 72mm Pico-ITX footprint, the LP-178 has sacrificed a few features compared to the 146 x 101mm LE-37N, starting with a halving of maximum DDR4 to 16GB. It offers only one SATA III interface instead of two, and there’s no mSATA. The SBC supplies half the 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 host ports with two coastline ports.

LP-178 portside detail view
(click image to enlarge)

Triple displays are supported via coastline HDMI and DisplayPorts and an LVDS interface enabled via a DP-fed ADP-3460 converter module. An M.2 E-Key 2230 slot supports a WiFi/Bluetooth module. Other I/O includes 2x RS232, 2x USB 2.0, HD audio, and PS/2. There’s a 12V DC input and 0 to 60°C support.

Specifications listed for the LP-178 include:

• Processor — Intel 8th Gen “Whiskey Lake” UE-series (FCBGA1528 package) with Intel Gen 9.5 HD Graphics (24 EU) and 15W TDP (configurable TDP of 12.5W to 25W); defaults to:
  • Core i7-8665UE — 4x octa-threaded cores @ 1.7GHz (4.4GHz Turbo); 8MB cache; Graphics 620
  • Celeron 4305UE — 2x cores @ 2.0GHz; 2MB cache; Graphics 610
• Memory — up to 16GB of DDR4 via single socket (2400MHz on i7-8665UE, 2133MHz on 4305UE)
• Storage — SATA 3.0
• Networking — 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports (Intel I210-AT and 1219LM with AMT 12.0)
• Display/media:
  • HDMI port
  • DisplayPort
  • LVDS (18/24-bit, single/dual channel) via converter module or optional DP-to-VGA
  • Triple display support
  • Realtek ALC262 HD audio mic-in, line-out interfaces
• Other I/O:
  • 2x USB 3.1 Gen 2 host ports
  • 2x USB 2.0
  • 2x RS232
  • PS/2, LPC, SPI, SMBus, fan
• Expansion — M.2 E-key 2230 slot for WiFi/Bluetooth
• Other features — Watchdog; RTC with battery
• Power — 12V DC
• Operating temperatures — 0 to 60°C
• Dimensions — 100 x 72mm (Pico-ITX form factor)
• Operating system — Linux or Windows 10

 
Further information

No pricing or availability information was provided for the LP-178. More information may be found in Commell’s LP-178 announcement and product page.