Processors bring compute power to industrial fields

Featuring the Intel Core i5-8365UE, only 4 GB out of a possible 64 GB of RAM, and running Windows 10 Pro, the tested version of the new congatec 3.5-inch SBCs reached the 85th percentile in the overall UserBenchmark comparison. This means it came 15th out of 100, averaged over the results of thousands of other computers - including those with much more power-hungry processors. 

The key indicator for the excellent board design is the fact that the CPU itself obtained only a score of 73.1%. This confirms that the better overall score derives from excellent implementation, including all components such as chipset and external controllers.

"Everyone knows, even the greatest performance improvements of a processor can get lost if the final board design cannot render the compute power loss-free to the various industrial fields. So we are very proud that our new conga-JC370 3.5-inch SBCs proved their outstanding computing performance in these tests. Plus, the test results underline that congatec knows how to design best-in-class boards," says Martin Danzer, Director Product Management at congatec.

The test further shows that the CPU also does very well with its TDP of 15 W when power consumption is taken into account. Consequently, the conga-JC370 was found to offer an extremely good power-per-watt ratio as well as excellent thermal behaviour. When running a stress test on the SBC for almost an hour with an overall CPU utilisation of 98.7%, no throttling was required for cooling down the CPU. This is important for all applications that depend on getting full performance at all times. 

Still, the overall power consumption remained below 15W and the average temperature was as low as 39.2°C, with a maximum of only 61°C. One reason for these exceptional results, beside the processor's microarchitecture, is the advanced and tailored cooling that congatec provides for the conga-JC370 3.5-inch SBC. 

Cooling solutions for the new 3.5” SBC include a heat spreader, a passive design without moving parts for rugged applications as well as an active cooler for high-performance use cases. Application-ready cooling solutions are a huge benefit for all OEMs looking for an easy-to-use, application-ready platform off-the-shelf.