[Hardware] ODROID-H2+ An x86 Board to Challenge Raspberry Pi?

[. PREDATOR]

 

HARDKERNEL, makers of the Raspberry Pi alternative ODROID boards have announced an upgrade to the ODROID-H2, an Intel Celeron based single board computer.

The ODROID-H2+ has a surprising amount of power in a board measuring only 110x110x43mm. 

 

Specifications

Intel Celeron J4115 Gemini Lake quad core CPU 1.8 GHz, turbo to 2.3 GHz.

Intel UHD Graphics 600 up to 700 MHz

Dual-channel SO-DIMM Memory DDR4-PC19200 (2400MT/s) supporting up to 32GB RAM

M.2 PCIe 2.0 x4 slot for one NVMe storage, 2x SATA 3.0 ports, eMMC flash support

HDMI 2.0 up to 4K (4096×2160) @ 60 Hz

DisplayPort 1.2 up to 4K (4096×2160) @ 60 Hz

Dual 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) via RTL8125B chipset

24-pin header with I2C, UART (3.3V), USB2.0 and HDMI CEC signals

14V to 20V DC power input

 

The Intel Celeron J4115 may not be a powerhouse but it does provide a decent desktop experience or as the basis for a low power home server setup. The RAM choice, fast 2.5 Gigabit ports and the plethora of built in storage options mean that this is an all round great single board computer and desktop replacement.

As the ODROID-H2+ is basically a small format x86 board, it is compatible with Windows 10 and many Linux distributions including Ubuntu 20.04. Dual 4K 60Hz outputs is a welcome feature, the nearest competitor is the Raspberry Pi 4, which can output 4K and 60Hz to a single output and 4K 30Hz to dual outputs. A 24 pin peripheral expansion port header offers basic GPIO access, limited to I2C and UART. There is an additional 16Port I2C GPIO Board which can be used to offer more GPIO access. 

From the starting price of $119 we need to add the cost of RAM and storage, which can easily add another $100 so when thinking about purchasing the ODROID-H2+ it would be wise to factor in these costs versus other single board computers. If you need a little more power than what the Raspberry Pi can offer, then the ODROID-H2+ should be on your list.