Mini PCs with Blackwell combo processor from Nvidia, Asus, Dell and HP
Nvidia's GB10 processor ends up in mini PCs from several major manufacturers. It combines fast ARM CPU cores with a Blackwell GPU and a thick AI unit.
The inner workings of Nvidia's DGX Spark and other GV10 mini PCs.
(Image: Nvidia)
Nvidia's Project Digits is being launched as a mini PC called DGX Spark. Deliveries are due to start in May – Nvidia is asking 3689 euros in this country with a 4 TByte PCI Express SSD. Taxes should be included in view of the US price.
If you want something a little cheaper, you can opt for a mini PC from a third-party provider. Asus, Dell and HP also offer their own devices with Nvidia's GB10 processor, called Ascend GX10, Dell Pro Max with GB10, and ZGX Nano AI Station. According to our information, other manufacturers will soon follow suit. Asus' Ascent GX10 with 1 TByte SSD costs 2760 euros – Other differences than the smaller SSD and its own housing are not known to us. Dell and HP have yet to name prices.
(Image:Â Asus)
Focus on AI development
The GB10 processor uses ten Cortex-X925 and ten Cortex-A725 ARM cores. This makes it one of the fastest ARM processors for private users. The CPU part was developed in collaboration with Mediatek.
Nvidia remains tight-lipped about the integrated graphics unit. What is clear is that, like the GeForce RTX 5000 graphics cards, it is based on Nvidia's Blackwell architecture. How many shader cores are slumbering in the GPU, however, is unknown.
Nvidia is rather focusing on the AI capabilities of the GPU tensor cores. Nvidia claims one quadrillion computing operations per second for the four-bit data formats INT4 (integers) and FP4 (floating point values), i.e. one petaops or petaflops.
(Image:Â Dells)
The 128 GByte LPDDR5X-8533 memory, which is accessed by all computing units (unified memory), is helpful for AI applications. However, the speed, especially compared to graphics cards, leaves a lot to be desired: the DRAM achieves 273 GByte/s on 256 data lines. Apple uses the same configuration with 273 GByte/s in the M4 Pro, but limited to a maximum of 64 GByte.
Nvidia and Asus install a ConnectX-7 network chip in their Mini-PCs, which can be used to connect two GB10 devices together. We assume that other manufacturers will also solder on the network chip.
So far, only Nvidia has revealed the remaining features: four USB4 ports, one 10 Gbit/s Ethernet port, Wi-Fi 7 and HDMI 2.1. The company puts the total power consumption at up to 170 watts.
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DGX Base OS based on Ubuntu
All manufacturers pre-install a basic version of Nvidia's DGX operating system (DGX Base OS), which is based on Ubuntu. Included: Nvidia's software stack including (proprietary) drivers to get AI projects up and running quickly. Whether Windows on ARM will ever run on the mini PCs remains to be seen. An exclusive deal between Microsoft and Qualcomm for Windows on ARM is due to expire in the next few months.
Interested parties can put their names on a waiting list for a Mini-PC at Nvidia, Asus and HP. As soon as the sale starts, you can then place an order. So far, Dell only offers a reminder when sales start.
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