Blackbird

Blackbird™ is an adaptation of Raptor Computing Systems' next-generation POWER9 platform to the microATX form factor. Focusing on the desktop use case, it is a single socket PowerNV system.

Mainboard

Specifications

• MicroATX form factor.
• One socket accepting a 4-core or 8-core POWER9 Sforza CPU.
• Two DDR4 memory channels (ECC memory required).
• Three Gigabit Ethernet ports provided by a Broadcom BCM5719 chip.
• Four SATA ports provided by a firmware-free Marvell SATA chip.
• 5.1 audio supporting analog and S/PDIF outputs.
• HDMI output via BMC (2D framebuffer).
• One x16 PCIe Gen4 slot.
• One x8 PCIe Gen4 slot.
• AST2500 BMC.

Notes:

• CPUs with more than eight cores are not supported due to power delivery limitations.
• CPUs with eight cores will have a slightly lower all-core-turbo frequency. Nominal frequency is unaffected.
• CPUs with four cores function normally.

Links:

• https://twitter.com/RaptorCompSys/status/1048373354695208960 - a thread on twitter with various Q and A
• https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Raptor-Blackbird-Announced