COM Express offers high scalability in a single-chip design

26th February 2014

congatec

Staff Reporter

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Based the Intel Atom E3800 series of processors, the conga-MA3 is congatec's first COM Express Mini Type 10 module with a size of 55 x 84mm. Features of the latest Intel Atom generation include its single-chip design, an L2 cache able to be shared by multiple cores, and a much faster Intel HD graphics engine than the previous generation. The highlights of the module include its ultra-dense design, onboard soldered memory and onboard eMMC support.

The conga-MA3 comes in four different Intel Atom processor-based versions (formerly codenamed “Bay Trail”) for high scalability. It ranges from the entry-level single-core Intel Atom E3815 with 1.46 GHz and a low power consumption of 5 watts, up to the quad-core Intel Atom E3845 with 1.91 GHz and 10 watts maximum power consumption.

The Type 10 module pinout is a refresh of Type 1 and uses the single 220 pin A-B connector. Type 10 COMs take advantage of modern display interfaces. The conga‑MA3 can support either TMDS (HDMI/DVI) or DisplayPort. In addition, it supports one LVDS channel.

"We are very excited about our first congatec design to come from the Americas’ design center in Boca Raton, Florida. The COM Express Type 10 specification is a popular module form factor throughout the Americas and truly helps to round out congatec’s global product offering," states Dan Demers, Director of Marketing for congatec in the Americas.

The conga-MA3 COM Express Mini module provides up to 8 GByte of fast DDR3L onboard memory with options for onboard eMMC as well. The eMMC supports an integrated wear levelling feature for high data security. The improved graphics supports DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.2, OpenCL 1.2 and high-performance, flexible hardware to decode multiple high-resolution full HD videos in parallel. Up to 2,560 x 1,600 pixels with DisplayPort and 1,920 x 1,200 pixels with HDMI are natively supported in the processor. It is possible to connect up to two independent display interfaces, including one via a 24-bit LVDS output.

Thanks to native USB 3.0 support, the modules achieve fast data transmission with low power consumption. A total of seven USB 2.0 ports are provided, and one USB 3.0 SuperSpeed port is supported. Four 5 Gb/s PCI Express 2.0 lanes and two SATA interfaces operating up to 3 Gb/s enable fast and flexible system extensions. The Intel Gigabit Ethernet Controller I210 helps with software compatibility. ACPI 5.0, I2C bus, LPC bus for easy integration of legacy I/O interfaces and Intel High Definition Audio complete the feature set.

The following CPU variants are supported by the module:

COM/Processor	Cores	Cache [M]	Clock [GHz]	SDP/ TDP [W]	Brand
conga-MA3/E3845	4	2	1.91	-/10	Intel® Atom®
conga-MA3/E3827	2	1	1.75	-/8	Intel® Atom®
conga-MA3/E3826	2	1	1.46	-/7	Intel® Atom®
conga-MA3/E3825	2	1	1.33	-/6	Intel® Atom®
conga-MA3/E3815	1	0.5	1.46	-/5	Intel® Atom®