The Sigma: The Most Powerful Single Board Windows PC
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 พ.ค. 2023
- Dave demos and benchmarks the new LattePanda Sigma single-board computer, which features 12 cores, 16 threads, 16GB RAM, 500GB Storage, dual 2.5Gn NICs, dual 10Gb USB, dual 40Gb Thunderbolt, and much more! For my book on ASD: amzn.to/42ykB2i
And it can run Doom!
Tools Used:
USB Power Meter: amzn.to/3pgO964
Wera Screwdriver Set: amzn.to/416QnSM
LattePanda Sigma: www.dfrobot.com/product-2671....
Note that the WD drive is in a PCIe-4.0x4 slot whereas the Samsung is in a PCIe-3.0x4 slot, so the perf numbers reflect the M.2 slot performance and should not be used to compare the drives.
Errata: At one point I say the CPU has 8 perf cores and 4 economy cores - I said it backwards. It's 4 perf cores (hyperthreaded) plus 8 economy cores.
My other channel, join now so you're there for episode 01 of my AudioBook!
/ @davepl
Discord Chat w/ Myself and Subscribers: / discord
Primary Equipment (Amazon Affiliate Links):
* Camera: Sony FX-3 - amzn.to/3w31C0Z
* Camera Lens: 50mm F1.4 Art DG HSM - amzn.to/3kEnYk4
* Microphone: Electro Voice RE 320 - amzn.to/37gL65g
* Teleprompter: Glide Gear TMP 100 - amzn.to/3MN2nlA
* SD Cards: Sony TOUGH - amzn.to/38QZGR9
As always, all content and opinions are mine only, (c) 2022 Plummer's Software LLC. I am not now nor have I ever been a spokesperson for Microsoft, and retired from my technical role almost 20 years ago.
Update: I've had a report of a Sigma failing after being powered by USB-C, and the email from Latte Pande advises "only power with the power supply supplied LattePanda." It worked fine for me, but it appears their USB-C implementation must have a fault if they are advising against its use. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
It's crazy how powerful singleboard and micro form factors are getting. Its a really exciting time for processing power.
Agreed. They could be a good replacement for using a laptop in flexible work spaces. All you need is a screen or two, a mouse and a keyboard, supplied through 1 or 2 usb cables (that also supply power), and you're up and running.
And if you also want to game on it at home, you could add an external GPU docking station to it, which you can leave at home, since you most likely won't need it at work.
It beats a laptop, since those are more expensive due to the inclusion of a screen (that's at the wrong height, ergonomically speaking), keyboard (that usually is also has ergonomic problems and a weird layout around the arrow keys/numpad) and trackpad (which you don't need if a mouse is available).
It really is! I know Intel Arrow Lake CPU's are going to have an iGP as powerful as a GTX 1080!!
@BingBingWahoo I've seen the rumors! Same for AMD's Strix Halo, I mean, it definitely makes sense for OEMs to want AMD/Intel to make better integrated gfx systems to they can advertise the massive boosts in battery life as well as not have to pay the Nvidia tax. I forsee this trend getting far greater as time goes on as Nvidia loses its grip on pricing reality. RDNA3 and ARC's encoders are damn good now too, so you won't even need an Nvidia chip for multimedia work once they bring more products to market. Can't come soon enough, I say.
AMD APUs were always way stronger than what intel puts out like typically 2x or more.
@@Cypeq true, but Intel has gotten a lot better with their integrated gpu since they released Alchemist
We need an audiobook version of that book, Dave. I know you're a busy man, and you may not have time to record it. But I would absolutely buy it if you released an audiobook version.
Yes please. In fact if you could record it yourself then I'm sure you would do a splendid job. Failing that use your fame and prestige to ask Wil Wheaton or R C Bray to do the honors for you 😉
I was just thinking the exact same thing. Dave would be a phenomenal narrator of his own book.
I’ve mostly finished the book but would happily pay again for the privilege to listen instead
Could we get AI with a Dave personality module to 'read' it?
@@uploadJ sounds like illegal use of a persons likeness or something. I wouldn’t risk it
This is an excellent opportunity for you to spin off a second channel that I would be incredibly interested in. Independant, unbiased reviews from an expert are difficult to find. Paid reviews that are more an education of a product or product tours would be perfectly fine as well as long as they are very clearly labeled and presented as such.
You are my new favorite channel, keep up the amazing work!!
Fantastically done, sir! Great review of so many facets. Only found your channel a month or two ago and am totally enjoying it.
Thanks! Glad to have you aboard!
I ordered one and it came in a few days ago. Everything works pretty much the same way it did in the video. Amazing little machine.
It's so refreshing to watch your channel, Dave. It's the most comprehensive, well research and clearly explained collection of videos that I've come across. Absolutely love it! Keep them coming 😊
Excellent review of the LattePanda board. Many thanks for posting!
I have never regretted subscribing. Very absorbing topics as always! Thank you Dave Plummer.
Impressive SBC in my opinion. Thanks for your time Dave. Cheers from OZ
It's honestly astounding how small and portable powerful solutions are getting. It's been my dream since I was a kid playing with my GBP that I'd have something in my pocket that could watch movies, play 3D games and such. We're in the future as far as I'm concerned.
We're always in the future.
A bit off-topic, but with what's being done today in AI and space exploration, I'm convinced that we're well into the future.
I'm so far past having my mind blown by our capabilities
@@brandonakey6616 *We're always in the present
I think it's faster than my Xeon Silver 4216 storinator! No PCIe slots though... but I could daisy-chain eGPUs and put the HBAs in there!
@@jimbotron70 ACKSHUALLY, we're always in the past. Latency between the actual universe, our I/O and processing of it means we're perpetually behind the times of real life. Kinda like I'm way behind all of your months-old comments!
Looks like the perfect little home server. Dual NIC, 12cores (16 Therads), dual NVME, intel GPU and low wattage
Now if all the devices are recognized by linux - slap some proxmox on there and install all the "CPU intensive" stuff there...
It should also make a pretty powerful firewall for some specific usage situations.
@@ehsnils … especially if you team it with an m.2 Ethernet card to give you a couple more Ethernet ports…
@@philharris9631 For corporate internal use it's enough with running multiple VLANs on one of the ports.
Don't forget that you will have to add duty to the price when imported from China. As i already got earlier pandas devices... more expensive the devices are more you must add to the the price at custom... The price for this device is OK, however adding duty....all depends on the location you are at...
Be perfect for pfsense Firewall
i really like your way to review everything! CLEAN AND STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. thanks !
You are a VERY good presenter. You keep the relevent info flowing and you're very knowledgable of computer tech, benchmarking, and of the products you are reviewing 🙂
at sea level sir
Love the review! More single board stuff!
Very interesting! Glad you're having fun, and Best Wishes from Canada.
Just want to say that I enjoy everything you've been posting, Dave, and really appreciate the variety of videos. Keep it up 👍🏽👍🏽
Thanks very much!
Dave, please consider doing a follow up to the FPGA video. The subject is really really interesting and your way of explaining thing is unmatched 😊
I found your video on this product rather interesting.
Well presented and to the point.
Absolutely love the presentation here Dave …
I have an ‘old’ Lattepanda Alpha from when they did the original kickstarter and it has been absolutely fantastic - I’ve used it in a 3D printed enclosure that I knocked up on TinkerCAD and can just throw it in my bag with a 12v wall wart and it’s my portable PC that I can just plug in a keyboard, mouse and monitor wherever I am.
I’d seen that the Sigma was out - it’s a fairly ‘robust’ price but I suspect I’ll end up getting one at some point …
I am still waiting for my Hackboard2 from their Indegogo project and that will end up strapped to the back of my 27” touchscreen which I use as an oversized UI to Roon (that currently runs on an HP 800 Desktop Mini).
Anyway - great review Dave, I really like the presentation. Hope you’ll do more … :-)
The Delta 3 isn't so bad either. Close to the power of Alpha but a lot cheaper and you can use an external GPU almost as well.
An excellent review of the Sigma. Thank you.
Excellent review, Dave! Your review was way better than most!
Awesome fun video, enjoyed hanging out Dave. Good times. 😊
I love this little computer and all of its stupidly overpowered customizable functionality. I would say this would make the ultimate micro home server (and probably still would) if it was not for its $700 price tag... Actually that is a cool idea for a video project, turn this thing into the ultimate home server! Just throw everything you can at it and see what it can do.
Thanks very much Dave, very useful review indeed
Succinct, practical, useful, no one better. Thank you
Great info! Need to purchase this pc!
Hello Dave from Costa Rica. This amazing. truly amazing.
on top of that the way you approach explained its amazines is the great way you approach.. beautiful and clear introduction, passed to hardware, the performance... great and clear explanation. each p
word were putting me deeper and deeper in the curiosity. great work !!!!!
Thank you for this, super interesting.
You are the first person on YT that I fully believe the review is unbiased. 😀 Good stuff
Very interesting. Thank you.
Stumbled here , great review with relevant testing.
Worth my time
Thanks
Small dryer plug maybe Australian 😊
2:28 I remember when the Lattepanda Alpha came out, and it too was feature rich, but then it was also HYPER expensive, so I'd expect nothing less. In fact, because these boards are so expensive, I would have felt ripped off if they didn't include enough. (IMO they still don't, basically the bare minimum to charge a premium)
These small PC's are getting more popular and more will come, like already posted it is surprising how powerful they are, reminds me of when the first transistor radios came on the scene years ago, how could a radio be that small, well now the PC's are going the same way, soon have a pocket size version lol.
@@RaverWave Sorry not on Whatsapp.
Most of us have been carrying around mini PC's in our pockets since the early 00's. Smartphones are basically SBC's.
This is an excellent development. I really hope they put some future development focus on the GPU. Gaming is the primary reason I have a PC, and it'd be nice to downsize from the massive ATX tower to a super compact device. And I love the low power draw of the system they have now!
really enjoyed this one; thanks for your time-investment
Thanks Dave i enjoyed the video.
It's an i5 1340p on a tiny board, the laptop version of the 13400. It appears very well designed and produced, and seems to allow that 1340 to saturate it's power targets.
Superb review brother! u just got a new sub.
now I want one of these for no good reason. you win this round marketing department
Very cool. Shared to others.
"Small Drier" !! I love it. I was thinking the same!!
Great review Dave. My Current 5U Rack mount beast is going to be replaced by something like this.
Great Video!
good addition for the mobile radio van or a 9 axis CNC milling machine (auto load unload, tool change and that does a visual inspection using multiple cameras and stores the raw data)..
Wowee that's amazing so small for such a powerful machine.
I wish we had computers like these when I was a kid. I remember having so many ideas for all sorts of mechanisms, gadgets or robots but didn't have a clue how to make a computer control anything in the real world. Schools would sometimes have simple control boxes that connected over serial but I never had any idea how to get such a thing, and nothing like the arduino IDE existed. I wonder what kind of hardware hacking I might be capable of now if I'd been able to play and experiment with GPIOs back then .
WiFi antennas are tricky. You don't realize how tiny those things are until you see them in front of you. The pictures on the internet deceivingly make them look bigger. We also need to remember that they are fragile and are not meant to be removed and reattached a lot. They are reliable enough if you only mess with them when you need to and don't do it frequently. They were made for you to set them and forget them. Some laptops come with brackets that not only hold the card down but the connectors for the antennas. I have no idea if they work well but none of my laptops ever had that and I never once had a faulty antenna connection. Of course I don't mess with the antennas unless I am installing a new WiFi card. I have the AX200NGW in my laptops and couldn't be happier with it. I am sure there may be better cards out there but I bought the AX200NGW since it is a good popular card. Is it the best? I can't tell, I never had other ones except for the mediocre ones I replaced with it. I also like that one since you can get them cheaply enough if you do some searching for prices. If your laptop has just one antenna cable buy a second one or a card that comes with them.
I have a laptop that has just one antenna from the factory but what I did was just route the cable to an empty part of the case where it will not touch other electrical parts. I taped the excess cable down. Do not bend or cut the cable, it is a thin coaxial cable and you will ruin it. I just made a one loop coil of the excess cable and attached the antenna. Then I used some good electrical tape to tape the excess in place. It has been working well ever since and I now have better WiFi speed than I did with that mediocre Realtek card. Why do they even use those mediocre things? Is it cost or to make you want to upgrade? When I installed the second cable I did not mess with the screen bezel to do it. That is the key reason it is in the case itself. I just also used the already installed one that is in the screen bezel. I just don't think that we should have to tear apart the display to do these things, it seems like a lot of risk and work and a deliberate attempt to make us want a new laptop instead of upgrading it.
Terrific, well-detailed review. Would be nice if you could've included fan noise (which drives my wife crazy) under the heaviest of loads, and then at normal.
The piano backdrop music made this video so relaxing 🥺
The cable in your right hand at 2:49 is a power cable for UK and Ireland sockets, maybe a handful of others too. You're right about the European Schuko plug.
Oh that desk warms my heart. A scope and an Imsai? But wasn't that before your time.? I have a Sol Technology micro in my garage. It was the first micro I got to have total control over. All the other engineers fiddled with the Imsai. This was 77 or 78.
Looks so perfect for my needs wish I could afford it.
Nice video, i especially like the slight off-focus camera around 5:52 , emulates what my 49yr old eyes would observe
If memory serves me well enough, I seem to recall hearing that this board does have a very small 2-position COM select switch to provide users the option of RS232 vs RS485 support via the 9-pin COM header, but I might be mistaken. Didn't hear anything mentioned about it...though it isn't really a biggie for nearly all typical use cases. Can you confirm whether or not the onboard Gb Ethernet adapters provide PoE support?
Thanks for awesome unboxing and review, Dave. You're really quite good at it, even if you don't much care to do it!
Cheers
I'm looking forward to the PC I can stick on the back of my monitor and use for gaming. A setup I could move about the house easily and play cross platform with my sons XBox would be perfect!
subscribed because of what a straightforward and thorough review this was. thanks, Dave!
So basically, like a laptop board with 3 M.2 slots, 2x2.5G ports and GPIO. Pretty nice if you need it, considering the price is just $130 more than the Framework’s 13th gen i5 board (which uses the same CPU).
For people that hates laptop like me, I think this SBC is a good one. Imagine you can bring your work back and forth without a very heavy bag. You only have few options with a laptop, like having a small and light laptop, but you can't stand the very small keyboard and screen, or, like bring a very big laptop with large screen and keyboard, but the downside is it is too heavy. We can always bring portable monitor and full-size keyboard/mouse along with the small laptop, but that defeats the purpose of the laptop, with just added bulk. So why not have this pocket size PC and then you have options to bring portable monitor and keyboard (and they are not that heavy alone!). And once you reached your destination, you can simply plug it on your existing workstation, keeping your other portables in the bag. Plus, laptop battery will only take few hours, and so once you work or game, you'll probably going to plug it most of the time like a normal computer. Plus, permanently plugging your laptop as a workstation will definitely kill its battery overtime. Unplugging it might help, but it's more of a hassle when you can just plug it and leave it without worries.
Though yes, laptop is very good for people who likes to work in a middle of travel as you don't need to assemble something. I have tried that, but I couldn't work on that kind of setup, I always stop-by to a hotel if I really need to work, for the reasons of guaranteed power source and internet, security, and focus. Which brings me back to this SBC, I can just plug it in once I'm in the hotel!!
Can't wait other variants of this SBC!! The 32gb!
@@roguemx You don't need to get a Framework laptop. They'll sell you just the board, so you're in good shape (and there are plenty of designs for little cases & the like). I think the fact that you can dump 64G of RAM on the framework board is a good upside...
@@kevinfrei Yeah, been eyeing on that framework laptop as well. With its board, it's almost similar to building a NUC PC, but you'lre building way more than a NUC. But with this SBC, I have nothing to build and just plug in my storage and put it on my pocket.
Don't get me wrong, I love custom build PC and been doing that (variants of SFF, my smallest is 3.3L GPU included).
But for travel, I would rather have a complete but powerful pocket size PC without a need extra effort to build, just like a phone. It's basically just like laptop performance. Then I can do all heavy lifting once I'm on my workstation, or attachment to eGPU. Like you're bringing your NAS and few apps, and data with you.
Wow, that's really cool. Will consider picking up this or a weaker model as a home server/arduino tinkering setup.
Benchmarks mean i am subscribing.
A trick for the wifi antennas that Ive learnt is to snap, clip it in from an angle (30 to 40 degrees), not straight down, you'll bend stuff.
I found this very compelling since I own one of the first gen Latapanda SBC's and let's just say it wasn't a good purchase. Because of that experience I wouldn't even consider the Sigma when it came out. Now I'm considering it again.
Khadas 👍
Now this is an extremely impressive device.. It checks a lot if not every box.. Intel NIC, fast RAM, decent GPU, extensibility, thunderbolt and as you benchmarked does very well.... Very tempting and pretty much beats the Intel 13th gen Pro NUC as far as I can see and then some.... Pricing is still on the very steep end I suppose but then again, that is the market these days
The big three prong plug is from the UK. One of the safest plug and wall socket systems in the world.
Great review! Do you know what is the resolution limitation for the integrated GPU? May I also know what is the audio quality like (low, mid, high)?
with good internal gpu comparisonable with discrete one, this red pill was a deal
This sounds like the perfect solution for a off-grid home computer
Thats a good find!!
How did you speed up footage smoothly like you have it? It looks really crisp and fluid looking. Davinci Resolve optical flow?
Thanks again Dave!
have you also tested the Intel NUC13ANKi5 with the same processor, similar interfaces and a case and less power consumption?
this is normally a video i would see on Explaining Computers YT channel, nice to see you branching out to the SBC's Dave!
Hey Dave, one very important thing you didn't mention, is the thunderbolt routed via the chipset or connected directly to the CPU ?
Nice this is wonderful for academic purposes
@Dave's Garage
Please try some FFmpeg encoding testing. That Iris Xe with 80EU's is a transcoding beast, this could make a great Proxmox node with all the ARR's in docker along Plex or Jellyfin fed from a separate NAS. I have a 1235u with the same GPU running Blue Iris/CPAI with 24/7 no substream recording on a dozen 5mp 1440P cameras @5fps and the CPU is ~40% with the GPU ~30% all while only using ~26w at the wall with a 14TB WD Purple drive. I run Frigate along with a Coral in another 1235U that is running bare metal HA using the substreams for notification's and automations and it sit's ~20w all while dealing with ~130 devices split between the Zwave, Zigbee, wifi, 433mhz, and BLE protocol's. I am very happy with the efficiency as I get everything in place but I already see some places where I can squeeze out a fare bit more. This rebuild all started as part of a desire to go solar this year and part of that was gauging usage and trimming the fat so the dual socket servers had to go.
im thinking of adding this to my GR supra. datalogging, tune flashing, obd2 diagnostics, google maps, websurfing video gaming for passenger.
Great video! Thank you! Did you happen to make any modifications to power points in bios? We’re these modifications available? They are in the alpha 864s I have, I believe.
I was going to go down the LattePanda path then decided to go with a Erying Mini ITX solution with an Intel 12700H cpu built in. The whole build with a dedicated low profile GPU for me came out about the same price as just one LattePanda board.
Testing it out as an actual computer is cool and all but what odd uses could you put it to? Or has there been an update to this showing off the different projects you've used it for? ETAPrime's TH-cam channel uses these SBCs to test game console emulation for older technologies no longer sold. But he also tests out more recent games for Steam, Windows, Android with them as well.
I absolutely don't need one of these. But I'm sure as hell going to buy one. Might as well upgrade my RV main server. 🤷♂️
@2:50 The first two power cords are for IE/UK and then for EU including funny notches for FR/BE etc.
I wish this had VGA out on the machine as well. I like that in a PC with HDMI also. Sometimes I like 4:3 Tube stuff. Sometimes I like an HDMI widescreen tilted for pinball.
Excellent
Those specs for that price is absolutely amazing. With 32GB of RAM and an eGPU it’d be a compelling option for a compact game development workstation.
As-is you could probably just embed it in the side of an eGPU enclosure with a GTX 1660 and be good to go for a gaming machine.
@@KiraSlith It would also be easy to power the board using the power supply of the eGPU enclosure with a boost converter I expect. Edit: Nvm, it looks like it will run from the thunderbolt port.
What was the price? Don't know how I missed it.
It has 16GB Ram doesn´t it?
Might be good as a render farm for people with limited space and electrical. Twenty of these at full render would be 1,200W, not heating your room or small apartment and well within the breaker-box limits. In fact that's about the amount of power consumed by a single top of the line overclocked gaming PC - except this gives you 240 cores and 320 threads. Sweet! It would be a little pricey at $12,580 (for 20 of the 32Gig - no drive units) but not *_all that bad_* . We could boot them over the net and run them off a partitioned NAS as well - so wouldn't even need SSDs. Although 64GB or 128GB units are far more desirable for distributed rendering, 32GB is enough for the majority of jobs. It's a shame this unit costs over $600 and not down around the $250 to $300 mark where I believe it belongs but still quite interesting!
there are plenty of 250$ SBCS and mini pcs - just buy older one or w8 till this will get older and cheaper
I have never heard of that single-board system, but I might use it as a retro-gaming machine/spare computer connected to a TV.
The GPU OpenCL score is a little less than half that of a 970 GTX, which is not bad for integrated graphics. It's not going to be a 1080p powerhouse for modern games but it's good enough for some decent casual gaming and would be great for emulation.
I have discovered some desktop computers that are single board computers. Dell Micros and equivalents. The micro I own supports 32 GB RAM, 1x M.2 SSD, 1x M.2 WLAN. ethernet, one SATA, 4 USB3 on the back, 1 x Dp. It's quite old, Optiplex 7050.
No header though. I can grip the case across its length, but it's too heavy for me to pick up. This has an i5, it supports i7 too.
Although it is a SBC, it is intended to be use in its case.
I need this.
Hey Dave, I realise I am a little late to the party and this may have been said already. The first plug you returned to the box is the British plug design. Lastly, I love your content (and task manager lol) please keep doing what you do.
Dave I have a problem you are perfect for helping me with. I graduated high school in May 1995 & was a big tech nerd (God I miss those days of the tech industry 😢) I went from DOS 6.22 to Widows for Workgroups 3.11 to Windows 95, Windows 98 etc. I need to recreate a Windows 95 or 98 system so I can play the game series The Journeyman Project (1: Pegasus Prime, 2: Buried In Time & 3: Legacy of Time). I have tried creating a Virtualbox & I just can't get it to work properly & these particular games run horribly on newer versions. Any thoughts? Thank you!
I've got 2 deck out systems. evo NVME, RTX30xx, Crucial Ram etc. That little board is faster than my I7-10700K and almost as fast as my I7-12700K (single core of course) on geekbench. Pretty impressive.
Nice video again Dave. I'm looking for a computer that can run in my soundstudio. I'm using Presonus Studio One together with some VST plugins and approximately 20 to 60 track simultaneously. Presonus uses the GPU for drawing the faders, volume graphs in real time. I also need some control software for my Focusrite Digital Interface. It needs to absolutely as quite as possible. What is your guess, would this single board computer fit my needs?
I want one! And I want one more if it will make a great Test Box that good for Cyber Sec.
I would like to see a version with a standard PCIe slot on it so that a RAID card or HBA could be connected at the expense of two of those m.2 slots. The dual 2.5Gb ethernet ports would make this a good NAS, after all.
This was very informative. I wonder if you have any recomendations for a single board windows PC that would be a great dedicated NDI decoder.
This looks like an interesting device.
Feels like the "right" comparison here might be with a Framework mainboard. Fewer M2 slots (and ports in general), but RAM configurability is probably the key decision making factor, plus you can go with a Ryzen or higher end Intel chip, if you want (though you start paying serious $$$). It's good to see some competition in the general "small, self-contained system" category that's isn't just an underpowered (compared to desktop chips) RasPi derivative...
This is a good device for emulations of game consoles. Just hook it to a TV and game controller and play with smooth settings. Very powerfull indeed.
Yes, please
Can we use this as a standoff board or plug n play through thunderbolt headers.
I think that a cool project might be use one of this boards to upgrade an old laptop internals