Dual 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports and three M.2 expansion slots on a board measuring just 148 x 102 mm (5.8 x 4.0 inches) make Biostar's new BIWCL-PAT a compelling option for compact networking, self-hosting, and edge computing builds. The 3.5-inch industrial single-board computer runs Intel's Core Series 3 "Wildcat Lake" SoCs, spanning from the penta-core Core 3 304 up to the hexa-core Core 7 360, all at a 15 W TDP. Every SKU pairs performance and low-power efficiency cores with Intel Xe3 integrated graphics, and most include an on-chip NPU rated at 15 to 17 TOPS for local AI inference workloads.
The board takes a single DDR5-6400 SO-DIMM up to 64 GB and drives three independent displays simultaneously through HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, and an internal LVDS header (up to 1920 x 1200). Its three M.2 sockets are split across an M-key slot for PCIe 4.0 NVMe storage, an E-key slot for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a B-key slot paired with a nano-SIM tray for 4G LTE or 5G cellular connectivity. Networking comes from a pair of Intel i226 controllers delivering 2.5GbE on two RJ45 ports, and the I/O roster rounds out with two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two USB 2.0 ports, four serial interfaces (two RS-232 and two configurable RS-232/422/485), an 8-bit digital I/O header, and onboard TPM 2.0.
Linux support on Wildcat Lake has been steadily maturing. Ubuntu 24.04 is officially listed as compatible, and Biostar provides Windows 11 IoT Enterprise drivers on the product page. On the kernel side, audio support landed in Linux 6.16, display enablement arrived in Linux 6.17 and 6.18, and Intel's NPU driver 1.35.0 officially added Wildcat Lake to its verified configuration table in July 2026. That means anyone running a recent mainline kernel should have functional graphics, networking, and AI acceleration out of the box. On the distro side, Phoronix benchmarks of Ubuntu 26.10 against Ubuntu 26.04 LTS on Wildcat Lake hardware showed roughly a 4 percent gain, mostly in storage and graphics workloads, thanks to the newer kernel and Mesa stack, a modest but welcome uplift for anyone tracking newer Ubuntu releases on this SoC family.
The BIWCL-PAT enters a growing field of Wildcat Lake boards. Advantech's MIO-5356 offers a similar 3.5-inch footprint with triple display output, ASRock Industrial's NUC 300 series squeezes comparable specs into a smaller chassis, and AAEON's credit-card-sized UP-WCL targets the ultra-compact end of the spectrum. Biostar differentiates with its four serial ports, LVDS header, and dedicated M.2 slots for each connectivity type. The board accepts 9 V to 24 V DC input and operates from 0°C to 60°C (32°F to 140°F). Pricing and availability have not yet been announced.
