Radxa X4: Perfect Raspberry Pi-Sized Mini PC?

[@makerbymistake]

The 12GB RAM version is now available on Arace Tech for $100. The documentation is now also referencing a 16GB version but there's no indication that this version is currently available.

[@zenith54]

The 16GB version is now listed on Ali Express as available.

[@jamiegossett]

@@zenith54 yeah, but can AliExpress be trusted? or how do we know it is really the 16 gb version and not a fake?

[@JeffGeerling]

Thanks for posting all your experience with the UART and RP2040, I used it as reference in my testing! It's good to know we have a lot of the same conclusions. I think the biggest takeaway is this is more a smaller Mini PC and less a Pi SBC replacement

[@makerbymistake]

Cheers Jeff! Yeah, it's a Mini Mini PC :)

[@whereisyoursaviournow5280]

I appreciate that you always mention about power consumption, which lacks in some Jeff's videos. I'm making a DIY laptop based on RPi5 and planning to make a x86 version, so this parameter is important for me.

[@makerbymistake]

@@whereisyoursaviournow5280 Thanks, and yeah, power consumption is definitely important for embedded devices!

[@JeffGeerling]

@@whereisyoursaviournow5280 Sometimes it's in the videos, sometimes not, but I always document all the technical and test details in the GitHub issue I link from my videos. It's especially helpful to have a separate dataset (like @makerbymistake also has a companion blog post) so we can compare numbers and make sure one of us doesn't get a fluke result!

[@apichartintarapanich2911]

I don't think it is a Mini PC since it includes RP2040. This MCU is good and the way Radxa design is very good. They connect USB of the RP2040 to the N100 USB and they also connect the hardware UART of the RP2040 to the hardware UART of the N100 CPU. The UART pins of the RP2040 can be set to be either hardware or software serial. However, in RP2040 , there is Programmable Input Output (PIO) which is a programable state machine and there is PIO UART for RP2040. Hence, you can use the PIO UART without using any CPU clock. Moreover, there are two cores in RP2040 and one can be used just for talking to the N100. For this price, It is very very good deal. For comparison, UP 7000 series with N100 and 8GB of RAM and 64GB EMMC will cost you $239 and it comes with an Altera CPLD for 40 Pin IOs instead of a MCU.

[@pavelperina7629]

You deserve more viewers, I found you today and this review is pretty honest. Some youtubers seem to always sell the stuff no matter how many compromises it has. I'm just surprised by idle power consumption of mITX and X4, i would expect that N100 uses less power than notebook or desktop CPUs, not more.

[@makerbymistake]

Thanks! Power consumption can be tweaked, o was using the default settings. Radxa might be able to optimize it also with a firmware update

[@Rushil69420]

There’s male-male M2 screws in some kits that would let you both secure the SBC to the base/heatsink and also accept the posts from the HAT.

[@makerbymistake]

Yeah, good point, they should provide that in the HAT package. Which they didn't with the PoE HAT

[@patrickmartin2116]

The sled side holes are perfect for coaxial antenna extenders. The included antennas use MHF4, so 5 cm to coaxial antenna is perfect.

[@LeonAnavi]

Nice video! Thank you! You have a new subscriber.

[@makerbymistake]

Cheers! Thanks for watching and glad you liked it!

[@antiKhaos]

The 12GB ram model just got pricing along with 3rd wave preorders its $100USD or $115 w/ 128GB eMMC.

[@makerbymistake]

Good to know. I'll add to the description

[@andrea25021974]

Great video, exactly the info I was looking for. BTW, did you perhaps ever measured the power consumption of a Raspberry Pi 4?

[@makerbymistake]

Thanks. Power draw on the Pi 4 is usually 2.5 to 3 watts on idle. Like all power draw tests, it depends what's plugged into the Pi

[@patrickmartin2116]

I will add that this isn't the first x86 Intel dive into embedded. The Intel Edison was a dual core throttled down to 500 MHz with 1 GB of ram, 4GB EMMC and at that time was an interesting server the size of a postage stamp that could fit with battery in a matchbox. So for me, the Radxa X4 makes an interesting step up. Interesting to see where it goes.

[@useredition]

THX for Review!

[@makerbymistake]

My pleasure!

[@michaeldmorrison]

I like the optional heatsink, I have so many old heatsinks from CPUs and GPUs etc, that I'm curious if I can rig one up to work. I don't even have a real use for this thing, but at $60, no excuse not to tinker and learn. They got me with the $9 shipping, I had to buy 2 other SBCs so it would be worth it! (Zero 3W $22 and Rock 3C $28)

[@NoodlesTBograt]

The heatsink is useless and noisy

[@jamiegossett]

you weld brass stand-offs together with small metal washers

[@walkman1269]

How about this. Remote access to site that you maintain and environmental sensors for critical components. You could even control some stuff relays etc... I love my x2l's Never connected anything to GPIO though except an LED that I made blink just to show I could. Since I stopped editing video the x2l is fine for normal desktop stuff.

[@makerbymistake]

For sure!!

[@michaeldemers2716]

I bought a kit of Hat adapters. Little extension pieces. Some straight some ninety degrees and stuff like that. They come in handy.

[@makerbymistake]

Hey, those are handy but not sure how they would help here

[@PiMania]

Interesting Vid. Can i ask what temps you were getting and if you did a Prime95/CpuBurn test?

[@apichartintarapanich2911]

The holes are for wifi antennas

[@makerbymistake]

Interesting, but if that's the case, it's also a bad design. The provided antennae would have to loop around the SSD to fit through the holes

[@apichartintarapanich2911]

@@makerbymistake The holes will be used for SMA connectors for SMA wifi antennas. I think it is a good design. It does not mean to use with included antennas

[@makerbymistake]

@@apichartintarapanich2911 that make more sense

[@xSaVageAU]

I would love to see a mega cluster with these

[@fredbompard7097]

Thank you for your review. I order 2 of them to use one as dedicated firewall and the other as dev mini pc plateforme. Maybe use proxmox to share power inside the first one. I will see. I order also the cases and the POE HAT so thanks for the complete review.

[@makerbymistake]

Thanks, glad it was useful to you. They really need the heatsink to function properly

[@fredbompard7097]

@@makerbymistake i Hope Arace will ship soon my order. I want to play with these boards.

[@RickBeacham]

This is all very interesting to me. Do you think this will have long term support for drivers?

[@makerbymistake]

I don't see why it wouldn't. It's all mainline Linux

[@mireia3208]

Hi. Do you still have the board? I am looking at it for astrophotography, using Manjaro and Kstars/Ekos. But I would be powering it up from a powerbank, so I need to bring down the power consumption to as low as possible. Playing with the PL1 and PL2 values on a j4125 device (MeLe Quieter 2q) + powertop + TLP I got to around 1.3-1.4 W with the OS booted and in idle state. That was crazy ! I wonder if with this N100 device I could get anywhere close...

[@makerbymistake]

Yeah, I still have the board. Power consumption is hard to compare across devices, environments, OS installed, power supply, etc. So many variables

[@ДмитроЖигалкін]

A lot of n100 and amd ryzen based mini pcs are sipping on 6w in idle, so that radxa is looking disappointly odd especially in that form factor

[@terrorpup]

Ok, this a newest Raspberry Pi Format boad. One that comes to mind is the UP, that was using Atom X5. I know there were others. It's not fair to call an Intel CPU a Raspberry Killer. It's not Arm. That like compare a diesel engine to a car engine. Yes, they are both engines, but they are design and work different. I am using the X2L from Radxa as Proxmox server, with only 8 gigs no eMMC storange it works great. It's my carry with me server. It works great, but it's nice to have that 2280 M.2 slot. I see that 2230 M.2, which you didn't seem to cover is cost for storage. 2280 cost is better for most homelabbers, 2230 are still a bit expensive. Compare 1TB, 2280 is avg. $70 vs. $150, 2230. I don't see the slab to be an issue for most, because most folks that want to use the GPIO will probably 3D print a new one that works. Yes, for the avg. Joe that doesn't have a 3D Printer, so I get that.

[@makerbymistake]

Hey, a few counterpoints: I don't claim it's a Raspberry Pi killer. Diesel engines are car engines also but car comparisons are usually fallacies anyway. There are plenty of affordable 1TB 2230 as they become more popular. Yes, they are a little more expensive but not by much anymore.

[@kdietz65]

Can I install DOS 6.22 on it?

[@jamiegossett]

cut the flat part of the sled off and smooth the edges and it will stand on the four vertical pieces connecting to the sled. it just won't be as tall. you probably have a grinder for that anyway.

[@marcinmorun]

Should I wait for Radxa to make improvements over the x4 flaws or are there other interesting x86 sbc out there?

[@makerbymistake]

It will probably be a while for a major revision. I know they are launching the X4L but I don't know when

[@memori365]

Can’t decide whether to get Radxa X4 or Pi 5 for my first SBC. I’m wondering if dual boot is possible for Radxa X4 with 16GB of memory.

[@makerbymistake]

Memory shouldn't make a difference for dual boot

[@2010Edgars]

How to use for CNC? Need 5V not 3.3.

[@makerbymistake]

Using a level shifter

[@BrianThomas]

Why do people want to kill the raspberry pi? We wouldn't be here without it. Anyway, I'm curious if the ice tower cooler would work with this board

[@makerbymistake]

It's an expression, no one wants it to die

[@BrianThomas]

@@makerbymistake do you think an Ice tower cooler would work on something like this? That would be epic IMO.

[@jeffmoberley550]

Not die but become reasonably priced again.

[@BrianThomas]

@@jeffmoberley550 well said. the 2GB Pi 5 model is priced OK, but I'd like to see it a bit less TBH. I know the $35 Pi's are behind us with everything on the rise.

[@superangrybrit]

The perfect Intel CPU sbc/cm still has not seen the light of day. Valiant effort by Radxa but the N100 is gimped by its constraints. Too many drawbacks for me. I wish Intel would license out their IP to another company. Good video as usual! 👍

[@jamiegossett]

a Patriot sola-powered generator and a surge protector and that would solve the power problem.

[@mimo5383]

There's a 16gb version meow.

[@kiodiekin]

recheck your numbers using another os and you'll see the difference in your slides

[@makerbymistake]

Which OS do you suggest? Are you saying it will be lower at idle?

[@kiodiekin]

@@makerbymistake Debian

[@makerbymistake]

Just tested it, no change. 9W on idle

[@kiodiekin]

@@makerbymistake did u test your temps what os did u use

[@makerbymistake]

@@kiodiekin Debian, like you suggested. Why would the CPU temp matter for idle power usage?

[@farishanafiah8461]

The reason I buy an RPi SBC is because I want to have the full desktop Linux ARM experience. If I'm going to have an x86 CPU, I can easily buy any secondhand Windows laptop and made a Linux clean install in it. Heck, you can also buy any budget Windows mini PC with similar or faster CPU for less than $300. Sorry, but I really don't see the point of this SBC.

[@dj13579100]

Get cheap chrome books they can be unlocked for whatever os, and some have very small rectangle motherboards. There are lots that can be had for $9 or less per

[@makerbymistake]

The purpose of the video is not to tell you what to get. The purpose is to provide information so you can decide on your own what to get

[@betag24cn]

if you want used, great, if not, well, a pass

[@naveenjoseph6561]

It have 16 GB variant.

[@makerbymistake]

Although that is implied in their docs, I haven't seen it confirmed or available anywhere.

[@Garageland16]

dude where did you scoop that at?

[@artemplatinoff1185]

better learn develop end train with arm solutions cose they will be hybrids soon with good emulation of x86 x64

[@christopher480]

we know you content creators are going to milk the whole "raspberry pi killer" line just to get views for eons......after all you are still doing it and the pi 5 came out well over a yr ago......but seriously why bother.......cuz if you know anything at all you know its not always about the specs......sometimes its about the support and community afterwards.....

[@makerbymistake]

It's a hook. It's something to get your attention, which looks like it might have worked. It was posed as a question. You can translate it to "how does it compare to the main product in this category?"

[@dhruthidhar7026]

Yea this have opengl and better than raspberry pi. I think it is a killer

[@makerbymistake]

Yeah, for some applications

[@you166mhz]

I'm assuming he's anti raspberry pi ....

[@makerbymistake]

Nope, not at all. Check my social media profiles for more info on my background.

[@이건개발-p8n]

와 엄청 싸다

[@AprilChan-i3f]

Great video!! Can i have your contact information to have a cooperation opportunity?

[@makerbymistake]

Thanks. You can contact me through my website

[@danielpicassomunoz2752]

No MIPI, no camera. No computer vision, no use

[@betag24cn]

what is computer vision, why does people need pcs to see, it is a pc, stop gathering information for creepy ai projects