Crypta Posted January 18, 2018 Posted January 18, 2018 Hey all, I'm having a hard time choosing a board for my next SBC project. I've decided on the orange pi zero form factor unless someone can persuade me otherwise. Basically my options and reasons are as follows: Orange Pi Zero 512MB - H2+ - cheaper, half the cost of the others. - fast Ethernet on board. Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 - Better mainline support than H5 - smaller vertically than Pi Zero - hdmi - emmc on board Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 - faster dram speed (can't remember where I read that) - emmc on board - same small vertical size - seems more power hungry /sensitive? - hdmi Orange Pi Zero (H5) - faster dram -has gigabyte Ethernet. - missing emmc of the plus models So I guess what it comes down to is the performance differences.. The questions I have are as follows: What are the advantages of each processor over the last? Is the H3 really that close to the H2+ and what advantages does the H5 offer? Is mainline support for the H5 on the cards as much as the H3? How does the performance of the H5 compare to the H3?
chwe Posted January 18, 2018 Posted January 18, 2018 3 hours ago, Crypta said: Orange Pi Zero 512MB - H2+ - cheaper, half the cost of the others. buying a reliable fast SD-Card (randomIO) --> boom same price. I don't know how fast (randomIO the other boards eMMC is, maybe you'll find something by using the search engine, probably in one of @tkaisers thread about this topic). 3 hours ago, Crypta said: Hey all, I'm having a hard time choosing a board for my next SBC project. I've decided on the orange pi zero form factor you should decide on your needs... Do you need HDMI? Do you need Ethernet? Do you need wifi? 3 hours ago, Crypta said: Is mainline support for the H5 on the cards as much as the H3? There you go: http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort#Status_Matrix But mainline support != armbian support (it depends how good the board is supported, are the dts files written for the board or are there patches to get proper support, in case you need wifi --> does this work properly - in case of the OPi0, XR819 seems to be still a nightmare). 3 hours ago, Crypta said: Is the H3 really that close to the H2+ and what advantages does the H5 offer? To my knowledge H2+/H3 is more or less the same (except GbE opportunity for H3 SoCs). H5 is 64bit, does your project benefit from 64bit? Does your project need 'maximum performance'? What does performance mean? To keep it short, without describing your project a bit more, nobody can help you.. Nobody can say if it will benefit from a 64bit SoC, nobody can say if you need 'maximum performance' etc...
sgjava Posted January 21, 2018 Posted January 21, 2018 I really like the NanoPi Duo. I just ordered 4 more, but these are version 1.1 boards (512MB), so the OTG is supposed to be fully functional, so you can power off the rail and use the OTG port for cameras, etc. They came in at $15.74 each (AliExpress is $36 each!) which includes the DHL shipping (no slow China Post, epacket, etc.) from FriendlyElec. It only takes about a week to reach the US. One of the great things is you can buy the $10 mini shield if you need a lot of USB ports, Ethernet port, etc. I use them both ways. Also they drop right into a breadboard, so prototyping is easy without ribbon cables, etc. I just checked and the Orange Pi Zero 512MB comes in around $12.08 if you buy 4 (or $13.34 for 1) with crappy epacket shipping. The big difference I see is the GPIO/I2C/SPI, etc. ports require you to solder on a header and the form factor. I'll pay a little extra if I don't have to mess around a lot to prototype and deploy projects. If you really want to go low price/low power consumption and can code in C the look at https://www.pine64.org/?page_id=917. I just ordered 10 of these for creating low power projects (think sensor arrays). This is definitely more involved though
Crypta Posted January 21, 2018 Author Posted January 21, 2018 Hi guys, Thanks for the feedback so far! You are right I didnt really explain my use case at all... Sorry. What I am after is really just a basic linux board for general purpose development. Internet connection is a must, however whether that is wifi or ethernet I dont really mind. Most of the boards will never be stressed really... However one of them will be hosting my MySQL database, which I am expecting to reach sizes in excess of 80GB. So RAM speed will be important even if there isnt enough RAM in the first place. The reason I love the OPi Zero form factor is a perfect fit for all of my sensor/sdr/variuos project boards which I have standardized around a 50x50mm board. If these can stack it makes my life very simple! On 1/19/2018 at 4:19 AM, chwe said: buying a reliable fast SD-Card (randomIO) --> boom same price True, however regardless of which board I go with I'll be picking up the same SD card. Im looking at the Samsung Evo cards. On 1/19/2018 at 4:19 AM, chwe said: H5 is 64bit, does your project benefit from 64bit? To be honest the 64 bit benefit with this little RAM would be negligible... What I thought I had read (not entirely sure and havent been able to find the thread) is that the H5 was connected to the RAM differently which allowed for a higher clock on the RAM? 7 hours ago, sgjava said: I really like the NanoPi Duo That looks like an amazing board! I ahdnt really looked at NanoPi before.. I tried to order one once and couldn't because it was apparently export controlled? But found out thats not the case and it was just a dodgy seller...... The Duo doesn't really suit what I am after, however I'll keep it in mind for the future. What I have spied however is the NanoPi M1+ and NanoPi Neo Plus etc that have 1GB RAM. However they are all $20-$30 US. Where can I ask are you getting your NanoPis from so cheap? I was looking at the NanoPi site itself...
sgjava Posted January 22, 2018 Posted January 22, 2018 @Crypta I have ordered several times from http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=197. I've dealt with the sales person directly to get a custom order (some items like the the mini shield have to be ordered with the Duo on their site and cannot be ordered separately). The sales guy always gives me different prices (higher) for shipping, etc. so I stick with the web site if possible. They have a US distributor, but they only allow 2 Duos at a time. You can find them on ebay for $20 with free shipping. I have received every order so far from FriendlyElec, but I use Amex with my paypal, so if I do get ripped off they will strip it off the vendors account and get my money back. I've ordered M1s, M1+, and batches of Duos.
chwe Posted January 22, 2018 Posted January 22, 2018 3 hours ago, Crypta said: True, however regardless of which board I go with I'll be picking up the same SD card. Im looking at the Samsung Evo cards. I prefer SanDisk A1 cards at the moment.. I have fast Samsung Evos but i also got some lousy ones (no idea if they are fake or samsung changed something, card size is OK sectors are OK but randomIO sucks... ) 3 hours ago, Crypta said: To be honest the 64 bit benefit with this little RAM would be negligible... What I thought I had read (not entirely sure and havent been able to find the thread) is that the H5 was connected to the RAM differently which allowed for a higher clock on the RAM? have a lock inside dts files and patches armbian provides - you should see how fast ram is clocked... 3 hours ago, Crypta said: However one of them will be hosting my MySQL database, which I am expecting to reach sizes in excess of 80GB I'm not really the server guy (maybe a much more experienced one can comment on this).. But randomIO on the connected SSD/HDD might also be important for such a big database? The SATA USB bridge might slow down this too? e.g. HC1 with a good USB3 sata bridge is slower in randomIO than other boards with a good native sata, just have a look in @tkaisers content, he did a lot of reliable benchmarking in this topic..
Igor Posted January 22, 2018 Posted January 22, 2018 3 hours ago, chwe said: But randomIO on the connected SSD/HDD might also be important for such a big database? The SATA USB bridge might slow down this too? Having a proper SSD in place will make benefits random IO while you won't meet the top sequential speed of the SSD which is less important for this/most use case(s).
Crypta Posted January 24, 2018 Author Posted January 24, 2018 On 1/22/2018 at 1:57 PM, chwe said: I prefer SanDisk A1 cards at the moment. I might have a look at that. Evos have always worked for me until now and I suspect one of them is faulty and is giving me grief... On 1/22/2018 at 1:57 PM, chwe said: have a lock inside dts files and patches armbian provides - you should see how fast ram is clocked... Now that I write this reply I have forgotten the exact number but yes the H5 is clocked quicker at 648MHz? and the H3 at somewhere around 400... This speed boost would be nice to have but I am having issues with my H5 board atm (ordered a H5 and a H2+ to compare) Though still trying to figure out why.. I in the end ordered an OPi Zero Two Plus (H5) and an OPi Zero (H2+) which I have been playing with for a couple of days now. Im about to order another 2x OPi Zero (H2+) and 2x OPi Zero Plus (H5). So will see how they all go.... On 1/22/2018 at 5:04 PM, Igor said: Having a proper SSD in place will make benefits random IO Yeah I have a USB SSD plugged in to keep randomIO up. It does feel like a waste but at the same time worth it.
chwe Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 5 hours ago, Crypta said: Yeah I have a USB SSD plugged in to keep randomIO up. It does feel like a waste but at the same time worth it. Did you ever thought about a HC1/HC2 (have one) or an espressoBIN (no personal experience) for your database? both go for ~50$ over the table, both have GbE, the espresso native- and the HC1 a reliable USB-sata. Both can be powered reliable powering (barrel plug). 5 hours ago, Crypta said: I might have a look at that. Evos have always worked for me until now and I suspect one of them is faulty and is giving me grief... most of mine run also on EVO sd-cards, most Important is to check them before using them (f3, h2testw). 8 hours ago, Crypta said: Now that I write this reply I have forgotten the exact number but yes the H5 is clocked quicker at 648MHz? and the H3 at somewhere around 400... to my knowledge it also depends on the board.. OPi0 is @408MHz, other H3 boards are at higher clock speed..
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