Hardkernel releases Odroid N2 + singleboard computer with higher clock speeds

Hardkernel has released a new overhaul of its N2 single board computer. This N2 + uses an improved ARM chip, with Cortex-A73 cores at 2.2GHz. With the regular N2 this was 1.8GHz. Hardkernel supplies the SBCs with 2GB or 4GB ram for 63 and 79 dollars.

The South Korean company announces the new revision on its forum, CNX Software also discovered. There, the company reports that it is using an improved version of the Amlogic S922X chip. This chip was also used in the regular N2, but with lower clock speeds. Namely, the soc in the first N2 contained four Cortex-A73 cores at 1.8GHz and two Cortex-A53 cores at 1.9GHz. With the new revision of this S922X, this has been increased to 2.2GHz and 2.0GHz respectively.

However, Hardkernel reports that the company has tested ‘300 different N2 + devices’ with an overclock of 2.4GHz on the four A73 cores. The company states that they were all stable at this clock speed. With that, the clock speeds would be 33 percent higher than the regular N2, although this is not within the official specifications. In addition, active cooling is recommended with this overclock. Without such cooling, the system appeared to throttle.

These speed improvements should, among other things, improve performance when running emulators. For example, hard kernel shows in a video an N2 + at 2.4GHz running the Dolphin emulator. 64bit Android was used for this. Hardkernel reports that the company will release versions of Ubuntu and Android for the N2 + ‘within days’.

Hardkernel also provides the new N2 + with a standard cr2032 battery instead of its own 2-pin variant. The included heatsink is also smaller than before. The other specifications are the same as those of the N2. For example, the SBC comes with 2GB or 4GB DDR4 memory, the computer has four USB 3.0 connections and a micro USB connector, and the system has gigabit Ethernet. The prices of the N2 + also remain the same as those of the N2. The 4GB model comes with a suggested retail price of $ 79. The variant with 2GB of memory costs $ 63 and will be released on July 21.