DFI AL170-CB-E3950 Intel Atom x7-E3950 Mini-ITX Mainboard with Dual GbE and Triple Display

Control rooms and production lines increasingly put more than one screen on a single controller: an LVDS operator panel, plus a second display for trends or a camera view. The AL170-CB-E3950 is the Atom x7-E3950 build for standard temperatures in the DFI AL170 series of Mini-ITX mainboards, with LVDS and two DP++ outputs for that layout.

The Intel Atom x7-E3950 (Apollo Lake) runs four cores at 1.6 GHz with bursts to 2.0 GHz inside a 12 W TDP. It is the most capable Atom in the series and suits an HMI running visualisation, alarms and logging at once. Two DDR3L 1866 MHz SO-DIMM slots take up to 8 GB. Intel HD Graphics drives three independent displays: two rear DP++ outputs at up to 4096 x 2160 at 60 Hz and a dual-channel 48-bit LVDS header at up to 1920 x 1200.

Two GbE ports on Intel I211AT controllers, four rear USB 3.0 ports and six internal USB 2.0 headers cover networking and peripherals. Six COM ports (two RS-232/422/485 on rear DB9, four RS-232 on headers) and 8-bit DIO connect PLCs, readers and alarm outputs. Two SATA 3.0 ports and an M.2 M-key (2242/2280) take a PCIe or SATA SSD, a full-size Mini PCIe slot takes Wi-Fi, and a PCIe x1 Gen2 slot adds an I/O card.

The AL170-CB-E3950 runs from a 24-pin ATX supply and operates from 0 to 60 °C on a fanless heatsink, with a watchdog and an optional TPM 2.0. If the enclosure faces sub-zero or high temperatures, AL170-CT-E3950 carries the same processor with a -40 to 85 °C rating. For a lighter workload at 9.5 W, AL170-CB-E3940 keeps the same LVDS and DP++ layout.