Not many computer enthusiasts were expecting to see standard ARM mainboards entering the market so soon. German company Kontron has just launched a new mainboard based on just that, an ARM processor.
The new addition comes in standard
miniITX format and features a quad-core A9 processor.
We were talking about a future ARM vs
x86 war for a long time now, but we were not expecting to see end-user ARM powered mainboards pop up so soon.
Just like most other miniITX mainboard powered by Intel’s Atom or
AMD’s Brazos processor, Kontron’s new addition is powered by a dual-core Cortex A9 ARM processor called Tegra 3.
Tegra 3 or Tegra “4+1” comes clocked at just 7 watts, but this practically beats any Atom or Brazos processor out now.
The board comes with DDR3L 2 GB memory and a CPU clocked at just 900 MHz.
On the connectivity side, the new mainboard
reportedly comes with Mini PCI Express × 3 (one used as mSATA and the other for the 3G adapter), a SIM socket, a HDMI output, SD card × 2, two USB 2.0 ports, one single Mini USB, two serial ports, Gigabit Ethernet, SATA and voice input / output.
The new model is called output KTT30/mITX and the manufacturer assures buyers that it will provide 7 years of support for this specific mainboard.
Unfortunately, there is no information yet about the pricing of the KTT30/mITX mainboard, but it shouldn’t be more expensive than any other Atom mainboard out on the market today.
We don’t exactly know why the processor has been downclocked so much, but considering that it also reduces the power consumption, we can accept it.
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