Supermicro E102-13R-H Review: A Raptor Lake-P 3.5-inch SBC System for Embedded Applications

Setup Notes and Platform Analysis

Our review sample of the Supermicro SYS-E102-13R-H came with all necessary components pre-installed - we only had to load up the OS to start our evaluation process. Prior to that, we took some time to look into the BIOS interface. It must be noted that the processor used in the system is vPro-enabled, and the Intel Management Engine BIOS Extensions can be used to set up AMT for remote management. As is typical for systems targeting the embedded market, the main BIOS interface is a vanilla one. It does provide plenty of configuration options. The video below presents the entire gamut of available options.

The block diagram for the internal board below presents the overall high-speed I/O distribution.

The key takeaway from the block diagram is the extensive support for embedded applications, while also sporting an aggressive outlook in terms of bandwidth allocation. Two separate x1 lanes are allocated to each Intel I226-IT controller for the dual 2.5 GbE LAN ports. There are plenty of serial and digital I/O ports connected to the SMBUS and eSPI pins o the SoC. Hardware TPM is available on board, and a SIM slot is also integrated - particularly useful for cases where the system gets deployed with 4G / 5G connectivity. The USB ports in the rear are all Gen 2 (10Gbps), and there are plenty of USB 2.0 headers for hooking up legacy equipment. Unfortunately, things are limited by the case used in the SYS-E102-13R-H.

One of the Type-C ports is serviced directly from the Type-C output of the main processor (usually used for Thunderbolt support in systems targeting the consumer market). All the other ports are from the PCH in the package.

In today's review, we compare the Supermicro SYS-E102-13R-H and a host of other systems based on processors with TDPs ranging from 15W to 35W. The systems do not target the same market segments, but a few key aspects lie in common, making the comparisons relevant.

The next few sections will deal with comparative benchmarks for the above systems.