Wednesday, March 27th 2024
Chinese Company Revives AMD Vega GPU in a Unique NAS Motherboard
A Chinese Topton company has brought new life to the AMD Vega graphics architecture by integrating it into a Network Attached Storage (NAS) motherboard. The Topton N9 NAS motherboard features the Intel Core i7-8705G processor, a unique chip that combines Intel CPU cores with AMD's RX Vega M GL graphics. The Intel Core i7-8705G, initially released in 2018, is an unusual choice for a NAS system. This 14 nm processor features four cores, eight threads, and a boost clock of up to 4.1 GHz. What sets it apart is the integrated AMD RX Vega M GL GPU with 20 Compute Units and 4 GB of HBM2 memory.
The Topton N9 NAS motherboard is designed for the 17×17 cm ITX form factor and offers a range of features like maximum support for 64 GB of DDR4 RAM, M.2 NVMe/SATA and SATA 3.0, eight Intel i226-V controllers for 2.5 Gbit networking, USB 3.0, USB Type-C, and HDMI 2.0 connectivity. While the Intel Core i7-8705G may not be the most obvious choice for a NAS system, the Topton N9 motherboard demonstrates how this unique processor can be repurposed to provide affordable computing power. The integrated AMD RX Vega graphics offer capabilities beyond typical NAS requirements, making this motherboard suitable for various applications, such as home firewalls and routers. The collaboration between Intel and AMD in creating the Kaby Lake-G processors was a rare occurrence in the industry. The Topton N9 starts at $288.56 without a fan/cooler, and adding another $20 bumps the price to $308.46.
Sources:
Aliexpress, via VideoCardz
The Topton N9 NAS motherboard is designed for the 17×17 cm ITX form factor and offers a range of features like maximum support for 64 GB of DDR4 RAM, M.2 NVMe/SATA and SATA 3.0, eight Intel i226-V controllers for 2.5 Gbit networking, USB 3.0, USB Type-C, and HDMI 2.0 connectivity. While the Intel Core i7-8705G may not be the most obvious choice for a NAS system, the Topton N9 motherboard demonstrates how this unique processor can be repurposed to provide affordable computing power. The integrated AMD RX Vega graphics offer capabilities beyond typical NAS requirements, making this motherboard suitable for various applications, such as home firewalls and routers. The collaboration between Intel and AMD in creating the Kaby Lake-G processors was a rare occurrence in the industry. The Topton N9 starts at $288.56 without a fan/cooler, and adding another $20 bumps the price to $308.46.
19 Comments on Chinese Company Revives AMD Vega GPU in a Unique NAS Motherboard
www.aliexpress.us/item/1005006385120608.html?spm=a2g0n.detail.1000014.2.6cbe294eLXviVv&gps-id=platformRecommendH5&scm=1007.18499.332340.0&scm_id=1007.18499.332340.0&scm-url=1007.18499.332340.0&pvid=bd7d541a-7b90-4e97-bb46-bd8fec938693&_t=gps-id:platformRecommendH5,scm-url:1007.18499.332340.0,pvid:bd7d541a-7b90-4e97-bb46-bd8fec938693,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238115%232000&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21INR%2127329.52%2127329.52%21%21%212300.00%212300.00%21%40210308a717115370355771847edfe0%2112000036979293180%21rec%21IN%21%21AB
apphardware for that...(M2 KEY-M NVME PCI-E To SATA3.0)
Ryzen embedded or Intel N100/N300 is the way to go for SOHO router or NAS.
Given this comes from a Chinese company selling on Aliexpress, this is very likely a mashup of either used or old-stock parts, combined into a shoddy product with questionable build quality and BIOS support. This is not newsworthy at all. There are several youtubers creating videos about all these obscure products Chinese companies are making from E-waste, like desktop motherboards with embedded laptop CPUs, or combinations of server chipsets and consumer sockets. This may be entertaining, but it's not worth spending your money on.
Those who want to build a proper router+switch or file server should get proper server-grade hardware instead (even used quality hardware is better than this). But I would not combine a file server and a switch, that latency will be horrible.
The thing that differs are enabled software features and fused I/O, SATA ports that most boards, especially this one does not use.
It even could be not recycled, you buy chips in bulk and reels. There are loads of leftovers. It is enough for limited run for them.
Second, I'm not sure what everyone else is running, but I only need 1 E-Sata to attach my 56TB storage so it'll work for that.
My main concern is there is no mention of a compatible OS. Will it run Linux and if so What flavor? Ideally I would like to setup something like this with Aria2, Adblock, VPN, SSH, VNC and Python with some custom software.