Several mini PCs have been claimed to come with 2GB RAM (e.g. S21H, MK812), but it turned out the sellers simply made a mistake, or possibly lied to sell a few more sticks. To date, the only HDMI TV dongle which you can buy and expect it to really come with 2GB RAM is the PQ Labs iStick A200, but we’ve now got another option with the CX-803 II (aka CX-803B or FX5) powered by Rockchip RK3066 with 2GB RAM, 8GB flash and a short external antenna. If the picture below looks similar, it’s because it’s an upgrade of CX-803 / AVS-TV603 with more RAM, more flash and built-in Bluetooth.
Here are CX-803 II specifications:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3066 @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU
- System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM
- Storage – 8GB NAND flash + micro SD slot (up to 32GB)
- Video Output – HDMI 1.4
- Connectivity:
- Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n (Realtek 8189 module)
- Bluetooth – Built-in
- USB – 2x micro USB port (OTG + power) + 1x USB host port
- Audio I/O – Built-in microphone
- Power consumption – Main unit + 2.4G remote ≤ 700mA@5V
- Dimensions – 101.2 x 48 x 9.5 mm
- Weight – 36g
The device currently runs Android 4.1, but should be upgradeable to Android 4.2 in the near future, and comes with a micro USB cable, an HDMI cable, a power adapter, and a user manual.
2GB of RAM won’t make that much of difference compared to 1GB of RAM in Android, unless you run a lot of Apps simultaneously. Android will simply close some of the apps to free memory in the 1GB device, but keep them open with 2GB RAM. I’ve found a video comparing the performance of 2 mobiles phones powered by a Snapdragon processor @ 1.5 GHz: one with 1GB RAM (HTC EVO 4G), and the other with 2GB RAM (Samsung Galaxy S3), and I personally don’t really see the advantage of having 2GB RAM currently. But let me know if you have use cases where more RAM can really make a difference.
However, if you are going to run PicUntu on the device, 2GB would certainly make a difference because Linux support real multi-tasking. I’m not sure Realtek 8189 / rtl8189 is supported in Linux, as a quick search did not yield interesting results, but it may be supported via the drivers available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/rtl-wifi/. That means an external Wi-Fi or Ethernet USB dongle may be needed for connectivity.
CX-803 II can be purchased on Geekbuying for $69.99 including shipping (I could not find it in other online stores for now), and you can see more pictures and screenshots on Geekbuying Blog, including one clearly showing 1.5 GB RAM available.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
WHen using a mini pc its nice with lots of ram. I remember when the MK802 was released (512mb version), when i started multitasking data got lost because android automaticly shutdown “sleeping” apps.
@tore andre
I agree that the most between 512 MB to 1GB RAM has clear benefits, because the apps would be closed to often, but there’s not really that much of a benefit moving from 1GB to 2GB in Android, for me anyway. I all depends what you do with your device I suppose.
It’s not possible RK3066 SOC not support 2GB RAM !!!!
@2dark4u
This is from the datasheet:
“DDR3/LVDDR3, 16/32bits data width, 2 ranks, 2GB(max) address space per rank”
So as I understand it, in theory, RK3066 could even support 4GB RAM.
RTL8189ES (as well as RTL8188EUS,RTL8188C and RTL8192C) Linux driver source code is available in wlan_ko.zip file @ https://www.telechips.com/technical_support/kor/opensource/opensource_list.asp