ClearFog ARM Workstation Speed Even More Compelling But Now Called HoneyComb LX2K

ClearFog was the name for that 16-core mini-ITX workstation development board/platform that we've been eager to learn more about with its $500~750 USD price point, extensive networking connections, M.2, SATA, socketed DDR4 memory support, and other features we've been long desiring to see out of an affordable yet powerful ARM workstation. It turns out that dream board is being renamed to the HoneyComb LX2K and its performance is increasingly competitive with AMD/Intel x86 enthusiast offerings.

A few days ago we relayed some initial performance figures for that SolidRun prototype when it was known as the ClearFog-ITX for this yet-to-ship workstation product. In response to that, one of the SolidRun developers involved in this exciting product attempt has been answering questions in the forum comments.

From there we've now found out the product will now be called the HoneyComb LX2K rather than ClearFog-ITX. We've also learned that in their labs they at least could achieve an overclock of the SoC to 2.5GHz (while voiding the warranty and unofficial, it does look like they will make available overclocking support for the product) and it's yielding rather intriguing performance stats with their benchmarks from the Phoronix Test Suite and compared to some of our own Intel/AMD CPU reference data.

pts/rodinia-1.2.2 [Test: OpenMP LavaMD]
Core i9 7980XE ........... 46.64 |===============
Threadripper 1950X ....... 45.95 |===============
HoneyComb LX2K 2.5GHz .... 40.93 |==============
EPYC 7601 ................ 31.58 |==========

pts/john-the-ripper-1.5.1 [Test: Blowfish]
Core i5 8400 ............. 6998|===================
HoneyComb LX2K 2.5GHz .... 7917|=====================
Xeon Silver 4108 ......... 8275|======================

pts/x264-2.3.0 [H.264 Video Encoding]
Xeon Silver 4108 ...... 32.75 |===================================
Core i7 4770K ......... 37.64 |========================================
HoneyComb LX2K 2.5GHz . 38.28 |=========================================
Core i7 7740X ......... 49.95 |=====================================================

pts/c-ray-1.1.0 [Total Time]
Core i7 8700K ............ 12.78 |===============================
Ryzen 7 1700 ............. 11.23 |===========================
HoneyComb LX2K 2.5GHz .... 10.39 |=========================
Ryzen 7 1800X ............ 9.70 |=======================

We certainly can't wait to get a HoneyComb LX2K in our labs for independent testing of this most promising ARM workstation board we've seen to date. I haven't been excited about an ARM single board computer attempt like this since the days of AMD's short-lived Arm efforts with Le Cello and Husky Board albeit that several years old attempt only offered a fraction of the features and potential of what HoneyComb LX2K is aiming to provide. Hopefully the SolidRun HoneyComb will remain on track for hitting production status later this calendar year and at their $500~750 USD target price.