// open-hardware carrier board

A tiny node with
serious I/O.

A 100 × 100 mm carrier board for the Radxa CM5 — 8-core RK3588S2, dual 2.5 GbE, native NVMe, and optional PoE. More power than a Pi 5, smaller than your palm.

See the specs Get notified
  • 100mmBoard size
  • 8-coreRK3588S2
  • 2×2.5GEthernet
  • $99Target price

// killer features

Why NodePad exists

The Pi 5 is great. This is better for homelabs. More cores, more Ethernet, native NVMe, and PoE — all on a 100mm square board.

⚡

Dual 2.5 GbE

One built into the CM5, second via RTL8125BG. Run it as a router, K3s node, or dedicated cluster interconnect.

💾

Native NVMe

M.2 M-key 2280 slot on-board. Real SSDs, no microSD lottery, no HAT required.

🔌

PoE+ Optional

Populate the MP8007 PD circuit for 802.3at 25W. Leave it off for cheaper builds. One cable does power + data.

🔋

USB-C PD Input

CH224K negotiates 12V/15V/20V from any PD charger. No barrel jack, no wall wart.

🧠

6 TOPS NPU

The RK3588S2's built-in NPU for edge AI, object detection, and local inference workloads.

📐

100 × 100 mm

Cheapest JLCPCB tier. Fits in a 3D-printed cube smaller than a Pi 5. Stack four of them.

// the pitch

NodePad vs Pi 5

Buy 4, stack them, run K3s on PoE.

Feature Pi 5 NodePad (CM5)
CPU 4× Cortex-A76 @ 2.4 GHz 8× (4×A76 + 4×A55) @ 2.4 GHz
GPU VideoCore VII Mali-G610 MP4
NPU — 6 TOPS
Max RAM 8 GB 16 GB
Ethernet 1× 1 GbE 2× 2.5 GbE
NVMe Via HAT Native M.2 on-board
PoE HAT (~$20) On-board (optional)
Boot microSD eMMC on module

// two SKUs

Pick your NodePad

Same 100×100mm 4-layer PCB scaffold. Different I/O composition.

NodePad

Base

The general-purpose homelab node. HDMI, 4× USB 3.0, WiFi slot, and a single 2.5GbE uplink.

  • 1× 1 GbE + 1× 2.5 GbE
  • 1× M.2 M-key NVMe (2280)
  • 1× M.2 E-key WiFi/BT (2230)
  • 1× HDMI 2.0
  • 4× USB-A 3.0
  • 40-pin GPIO (Pi-compatible)
  • PoE footprint (DNP)
Empty board $99
+ CM5 4GB / 32GB $169
+ CM5 8GB / 64GB $199
+ CM5 16GB / 128GB $249
Get notified
Networking

NodePad-Net

Pro

The network appliance. Triple Ethernet, SFP cage, headless — built for routers, firewalls, and K3s clusters.

  • 1× 1 GbE + 2× 2.5 GbE
  • 1× SFP cage (1G SGMII)
  • 1× M.2 M-key NVMe (2280)
  • No HDMI (headless)
  • 2× USB-A 3.0
  • PoE footprint (DNP)
Empty board $129
+ CM5 4GB / 32GB $199
+ CM5 8GB / 64GB $229
+ CM5 16GB / 128GB $279
Get notified

// cost breakdown

Built to be affordable

Every part picked for JLCPCB's assembly service. No hand-soldering, no exotic components.

Base Board

No PoE, fully assembled

4-layer PCB (100×100mm)$2.50
JLC PCBA assembly$8.00
Components (qty 10)~$26.00
Empty board total$36.50
+ Radxa CM5 8GB$89.00
All-in cost$125.50

Sell target: $99 empty / $199 with CM5

Full Board (PoE)

With PoE+ PD circuit populated

4-layer PCB (100×100mm)$2.50
JLC PCBA assembly$9.00
Components (qty 10)~$32.00
Empty board total$43.50
+ Radxa CM5 8GB$89.00
All-in cost$132.50

Sell target: $129 empty / $219 with CM5

// progress

Where we are

Design phase — schematic & PCB not started yet.

Design brief locked

Board outline, stackup, design rules, BOM with LCSC part numbers.

KiCad project scaffold

100×100mm outline, 4× M2.5 mounting holes, 4-layer stackup, net classes.

Schematic capture

Power tree, CM5 connectors, RTL8125 NIC, M.2 slots, USB hub, HDMI, GPIO.

PCB layout & routing

Placement, high-speed routing (PCIe, USB3, 2.5GbE), DRC clean.

Prototype & rev 2

Order 5 from JLCPCB, bring-up, fix bugs, sellable rev 2 spin.

// questions

Frequently asked

The Radxa CM5 module already has the CPU, RAM, eMMC, and GPU designed in. We skip the ~$1000-per-chip BGA design effort and focus purely on I/O: Ethernet, NVMe, USB, PoE. Faster to market, cheaper to manufacture.

That's the entire point. Buy 4 NodePad-Net boards, connect them via the 2.5GbE ports, power them all with PoE, and you have a 32-core K3s cluster the size of a paperback book.

~3 months part-time to a rev-2 sellable board. Schematic capture and PCB layout are front-loaded in the first 2–3 weeks. Expect at least one rev-2 spin to fix prototype bugs — every serious hardware product does this.

Planning CERN-OHL-P v2 (permissive open-hardware license). KiCad files, gerbers, BOM, and case CAD will all be public. You can manufacture your own or buy pre-assembled.

Those benefit massively from human review before spending money on prototypes. The schematic can be generated, but differential-pair routing for 2.5GbE and PCIe Gen 2 needs careful impedance control. Plan for at least one rev-2 spin.

Turing Pi 2 is $260 for a 4-node CM4 carrier. NodePad is $99 for a single node with better I/O (2.5GbE, NVMe, PoE). Different niches: Turing Pi is a pre-built cluster board; NodePad is a cheap, flexible single node you compose yourself.

// design phase

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