I wonder how much they are charging and how the R4 will handle this:
This is great news, though it doesn’t have a price or a way to buy. Looks like something good is close by.
Ha, so there is still a chance for people to get their 14 antenna design. I’m not one of them though.
I wonder if the plug in the bottom left is for external power. Since the 12V minipcie on the R4 is sinovoip only. I guess to have it easier with the power supply of the card?
It says you can call or email their sales department. Since their singular m.2 and minipcie cards are 50€/$, I would assume at least 100 for that big card. Both theirs and sinovoip’s.
I checkt the picture:
Yes, there are possibilities to solve this, but it would cause an additional contact transition.
Because of heat dissipation, I was thinking to mount the BE14 board on the metal downside of the case and connected with flex connector. But I do not feel good with that kind of solution …
I think the designer of the ASIA RF board passed the moment for an universal connection solution .
Just saw that the module is available now for 99$. Wi-Fi 7 Module AW7256-P01 M.2/MiniPCle MediaTek MT7996AV
They have an option for m.2 and minipcie.
Not sure if either Asia RF or sinovoip is to “blame” here. I guess there is no standard for double connectors?
I really thinked about this Board. The 2x PCI-E 3 interfaces (2-lanes) matching with the WIFI 7 board from PananaPI for R4.
But BananaPI has a matching motherboard for his WIFI 7 board.
I’m relly surprised about this board. Last weeks I was often on the site of ASIARF and looked for a single PCI-E interface board for WIFI 7.
I was expecting something like this (with a meditahek chip):
I love the package of this board → naked silicon chip and a good cooling solution :
But instead of that, ASIA RF released the big solution … this is really something I do not understand. They had to have a target by designing this board. Proven the board has no flexible PCI-E connector like this:
So, the purpose was something else … ? Anyway …
May be, they will also release “normal” PCI-E boards during this year.
My “thinking” is about the question, do I really have to sacrifice both PCI-E 3 slots for a good WIFI 7? In the end I will buy the BE 14 and be happy with that .
In the turris chat the people also talking about the boards:
Yes, this is the way… There is a reason why they made it like this. Look for those chips and wifi 7 specification - hint : mlo
Could you explain that a little bit less cryptic?
Now it is clear what the Wifi 7 modul is for:
They released a router board which is the direct competitor for BPI’s R4!
500 USD? this is not a competition
… I think it may be a interesting competitor - but …
… keep in Mind this WiFi-Module is more complex/has more antennas than the one planned for your mainboard.
… AsiaRF has only a draft of their router mainboard design - no final sample. We don’t know the complete specs.
… and we don’t know the price of the WiFi module for our router-mainboard - what if it is priced 300+ USD?
Therefore - lets judge about the platforms as soon as all details are available
I think the specs are something we can talk about:
"
What I agree with, is the fact, that they want 500$ and have no picture of the board. That is really strange! But they selling this …
My questions would be about the “coincidence” that Asia RF released BE19 and Banana PI BE14. If you read the last commnts of banana pi → they thinking about to release the BE19 too … . Yes it is not sure they will do that … .
This are exciting times
Wanted to say the same. At that price it is no competition.
Plus, I don’t see them developing (Github?) and supporting (forum?) their board like sinovoip does. I would even assume, that they silently benefit from the work that people like Daniel, Frank and the sinovoip devs are doing here and over on the openwrt forums.
Still hoping that the R4 BE14 Wi-Fi NIC costs less than 100€/$/× plus taxes and shipping. And that it will release soon!
Because while the AsiaRF AW7915-NPD or AW7916-NPD are just 40€ (50€ with antennas and connectors), you have to pay another 30€ for shipping.
Just the idea of using two connectors like that must have been a “Don’t really wan’t to but see no way around it” situation.
One member asked about the ‘straight traces’ between SoC and memory chips. This board has the same pattern as BPI R4. Hence, I conclude it’s likely from reference design/recommended design by MediaTek.
So indeed nothing to worry about.