NEW: spo-book NOVA Q170 – Our industry all-rounder 2.0

10.10.2018

The latest addition to the spo-comm product range is the spo-book NOVA Q170. It is the successor to our spo-book NOVA CUBE Q87, which is already more than suitable for industrial use, and once again impresses with its flexibility. The new Mini-PC was developed in close cooperation with the Taiwanese partner MSI IPC and comes equipped with an Intel® Pentium® G4400 CPU as standard. Depending on your preferences and requirements, the CPU can optionally be replaced with a sixth-generation Intel® Core i5 or a seventh-generation i7 CPU. Just like its predecessor, the NOVA Q170 is passively cooled and offers numerous connections as well as a PCI, a PCI Express and a Mini PCI Express slot. Digital signage enthusiasts will also get their money’s worth if the industrial PC is equipped with a high-performance graphics card such as the Nvidia P2000.

Industrial PC in digital signage thanks to Nvidia graphics card

The expandable NOVA Q170 is the perfect choice for anyone who wants high graphics performance and the advantages of a fanless mini PC. The industrial PC can be expanded with a graphics card, such as the Nvidia Quadro P2000, using the integrated PCI Express slot. This opens up completely new areas of application for the passively cooled NOVA Q170 with its robust metal housing.

Thanks to its DVI connection and the two DisplayPort interfaces, up to three screens can be used simultaneously with different content (see also "VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI - What's the difference between these multimedia interfaces?"). Even a maximum resolution of 3840 x 2160 @60Hz - i.e. twice 4K - is possible with the two DisplayPorts. With an optional dedicated graphics card, even more screens can be controlled; with an Nvidia Quadro P2000, a total of six times 4K would be possible.

NOVA Q170: 4K resolution & industrial monitoring

As the name suggests, the NOVA Q170 is based on an Intel Q170 chipset. Like its predecessor, the NOVA Q170 is ideal for monitoring applications and the logistics sector thanks to the combination of its robust metal housing and the extended temperature range of -10°C to +50°C.

NOVA Q170 as a server PC

Measuring 143 x 226 x 217 mm, the latest member of the NOVA family can no longer be described as a cube. This is due to a smaller number of slots than in the NOVA CUBE Q87. The NOVA Q170 is therefore slightly narrower than its little brother and still offers enough space for the installation of a x16 PCIe expansion card. Thanks to such an expansion card, graphics cards or network cards, for example, can be connected. Up to two 2.5" hard disks, whether HDD or SSD (see also "What is the difference between HDD and SSD?"), can be installed in the industrial PC and can even be connected to form a RAID if even more security is required. The CPU is also supported by up to 32 GB of RAM.

Internal USB port with security key

The NOVA Q170 has a wide range of different interfaces to offer. In addition to the DisplayPort and DVI video outputs already mentioned, the NOVA also has two LAN ports and five COM ports. There are also six USB 3.0 ports on the front and two USB 2 ports on the back. The third 2.0 port is located inside the Mini-PC and is equipped with an internal security key. This USB port can be used to create internal backups, for example.

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