Tektronix DPO718AX pairs eight 25GHz channels with a 12-core AMD EPYC CPU

Tektronix has added an eight-channel model, the DPO718AX, to its flagship 7 Series oscilloscope line. Its main feature is eight synchronized 25GHz channels in a single chassis, which the company’s datasheet lists at 38.1kg.

The instrument also houses a 12-core AMD EPYC Embedded 3351 processor, an Nvidia T1000 graphics card, 96GB of RAM and a removable NVMe SSD with at least 1.6TB of capacity. Its 15.6-inch touchscreen has Full HD resolution. An optional secondary drive includes Windows 10 LTSC 2021, which supports the oscilloscope’s compliance and RF analysis software. The DPO718AX can output video at up to QHD resolution through DisplayPort, with a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz.

TechRadar reports that the computer hardware is not new. The EPYC Embedded 3351 uses first-generation Zen cores and was released in February 2018. Its PCIe 3.0 support suggests a limit on SSD speeds, while the processor supports DDR4 memory. It has 24 threads and a rated boost clock of 3GHz. The Nvidia T1000, a workstation-class GPU based on Turing, was released in May 2021.

CNX Software compared the instrument to a high-end PC running Linux or Windows 10 LTSC. The source notes that Windows 11 could theoretically run on the system because the AMD CPU supports TPM 2.0, but describes the oscilloscope’s aging hardware as a poor substitute for a PC.