The emergence of edge computing as a paradigm has expanded the marketplace for industrial PCs over the previous few years. Traditionally an ‘industrial PC’ was constructed with a deal with dependable operation in a rugged atmosphere – the emphasis on computing efficiency being secondary to the utility. This has modified just lately with the necessity to course of extra information on the edge.
OnLogic (previously, Logic Supply) has been servicing the embedded / industrial PC market with pre-configured small form-factor (SFF) programs since 2003. We have reviewed a number of programs from OnLogic earlier than, such because the Broadwell-based ML100G-30 and the Skylake vPro-based ML100G-50. Both fanless programs have been based mostly on Intel’s U-series processors configured with a 15 – 20W TDP.
In mid-2020, OnLogic launched the Helix line of commercial PCs. The 300-series (based mostly on Intel Elkhart Lake) caters to the IoT edge computing market with the standard CPU efficiency necessities. The Helix 500 and 600-series are based mostly on Intel Comet Lake, and companies the market opened up by the elevated demand for efficiency density in edge computing. This assessment takes a have a look at the efficiency and worth proposition of a high-end Helix HX500 configuration based mostly on the Intel Core i7-10700T.
Onlogic Helix HX500: Core i7-10700T at 35 W
Passively cooled computing programs are one of many high selections for industrial PCs, the place reliability and ruggedness are key necessities. The absence of noise, air flow slots, followers and related upkeep necessities, and so forth. function vital benefits in lots of deployments the place servicing is troublesome and a protracted life cycle is required. OnLogic’s Helix lineup of rugged industrial PCs was launched in mid-2020 to cater to this market.
OnLogic’s Helix line makes use of a board based mostly on Intel’s Q470 chipset. The HX500 is probably the most compact of the lot, coming in at 154mm x 210mm x 50.8mm. The HX600 roughly doubles the width of the system so as to add area for a GPU slot (utilizing a GPU makes the system an actively cooled hybrid – the motherboard remains to be passively cooled). The HX610 retains the HX600 form-factor, however makes use of the extra area for twin SATA drive bays.
The OnLogic Comet Lake Helix Series – HX500, HX600, and HX610 (from L to R)
OnLogic despatched over a completely pre-configured pattern of the Helix HX500 earlier this 12 months to place by way of our rigorous analysis routine for fanless SFF PCs. The specs of the assessment pattern are summarized within the desk under.
| OnLogic Helix HX500 Specifications (as examined) |
|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-10700T Comet Lake 8C/16T, 2.0 – 4.5 GHz Intel 14nm, 16 MB L2, 35 W |
| Memory | OkInnoDisk M4S0-AGS1O5IK DDR4-2666 SODIMM 19-19-19-43 @ 2666 MHz 2×16 GB |
| Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| Disk Drive(s) | Transcend TS256GMTS800 (256 GB; M.2 Type 2280 SATA III; MLC NAND) |
| Networking | 1 × GbE port (Intel I219-V) 1 × GbE port (Intel I210-AT) |
| Audio | 3.5mm Headphone Jack (Realtek ALC233) Capable of 5.1/7.1 digital output with HD audio bitstreaming (DP) |
| Miscellaneous I/O Ports | 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (entrance) 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (rear) 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (rear) |
| Operating System | No OS as shipped / default possibility, We put in Windows 10 Enterprise x64 21H1 |
| Pricing | $887 (base configuration) $1694 (as configured / No OS) |
| Full Specifications | OnLogic Helix HX500 Specifications |
It have to be famous that the $887 worth for the bottom configuration is just not a barebones one – it consists of the Intel Celeron G5900T dual-core 35W processor, a 4GB DDR4-2666 SODIMM, and a 64GB M.2 SATA SSD. Since our assessment configuration was shipped with the OS configured as ‘None’, we needed to obtain the drivers off OnLogic’s help web site to make sure that the system was up and working optimally after the Windows set up. A 120W…
