Trying to decide between P3509-a02 board and P3768 board

Hi,

I’m looking at purchasing some 3rd party carrier boards for Orin NX modules. I have several options, but I have noticed that some have boards of the P3509-a02 type, while others are the P3768 type. I know the P3509-a02 is based on the Xavier NX dev. kit board, but has compatibility with the Orin NX modules. Similarly I know the P3768 is based on the Orin Nano Dev. kit board. I am trying to understand the difference between the two better in order to decide whether there are any advantages/disadvantages of going with one over the other. Mainly, I’m wondering if we would be losing anything in terms of functionality by going with a P3509-a02 type board. I do all my flashing with the l4t_initrd_flash.sh tool and not the SDK manager, for what it’s worth.

Any information that you could provide about the differences between these two board types would be appreciated. I’m sure it’s all there in the detailed documentation, but I don’t have time to go through that in too much details and I’m hoping you can give me a high-level summary to help guide my purchasing decision.

Thanks.

Jetson Orin NX & Jetson Orin Nano series modules are not pin-compatible with Jetson Xavier NX series modules, So you must be sure the 3rd party design carrier board for the I/Os they have in common, such that both modules are supported.

In the Jetson Download Center there is a document “Jetson Orin Nano Series, Jetson Orin NX Series, and Jetson Xavier NX Series Interface Comparison & Migration Application Note” Please read and understand this.

I strongly recommend only buying carriers that are designed for Orin NX/Nano. Remember: you will need an extra SSD. If you need another M.2 Key M slot maybe for a frame grabber you are screwed with Xavier NX carriers.

My favorite carrier board for Orin NX is this one:

This board exposes nearly all interfaces of Orin NX/Nano, and for a good price. And no, I’m not related to them.

1 Like

Thanks! – I hadn’t come across that document in my search.

When you say carriers that are designed for Orin NX/Nano, in your mind would that disqualify carriers based on the P3509, provided that they have been adapted to work with the Orin NX/Nano? For example these boards:
JNX42 for NVIDIA® Jetson Orin Nano™ or Jetson Orin NX™ – Auvidea
reComputer J401 Carrier Board for NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX/Nano module - Seeed Studio
Both of those are designed (adapted?) for Orin NX, but are based on P3509 from what I can tell. I’m just trying to understand if one of those two options would be fundamentally lacking vs., say, the basic Orin Nano dev kit board (board quality aside).

I appreciate the Forecr recommendation – they have been on my radar for a while. How do you like their documentation and support?

It all comes down to the module’s interfaces being exposed. One big advantage of Orin Nano/NX ist the addition of an third PCIe x2 bus (or two x1 busses). Since you always need a NVME SSD this is a nice addition. I use the first bus (x4) for a camera interface (either Camlink or direct connection to a Ximea PCIe Camera), the second one (x1) for a 2.5G Ethernet card, and the third one (x2) for the SSD. Your needs may vary, but you don’t get any money back for not using available interfaces. So my approach is to enumerate all the interfaces on the module and look whether I can use them through the carrier or not.

Regarding the Forecr board: Right now I’ve got nothing to complain. Works as advertised.

1 Like