R-Box Pro is just another Amlogic S912 TV box, except it comes with up to 3GB RAM, against 2GB for most other models on the market. Kingnovel sent me a sample with 3GB RAM to check it out, and today I’ll start by taking photos of the devices, and perform a teardown mostly to find out how the 3GB memory design is implemented.
R-Box Pro Unboxing
The retail package is minimal black box with “OTT TV Box Amlogic S912” and “R-Box Pro” markings and Kodi logo. A sticker on the side will also indicate whether you have received to 2GB or 3GB RAM version.
The device ships with an IR remote control with learning function, a 5V/2.5A power supply, an HDMI cable, and a user’s manual in English.
The day I received the sample the top cover looked to have many scratches, but after removing the plastic film on the top it will look as new.
One side has two USB 2.0 ports and the firmware recovery/reset button, the other side two more USB 2.0 ports, and a micro SD slot, while the rear panel comes with a Gigabit Ethernet port, optical S/PDIF, HDMI 2.0 output, AV output (composite + stereo audio) and the power jack.
R-Box Pro Teardown
Let’s get to the fun part of this post with the teardown. The bottom of the case confirms I got the 3GB DDR3/16GB flash version of R-BOX PRO, but there’s nothing under the rubber pads.
That means instead I had to take out the top cover that is glued on the top of the case using a flat and sharp tool. An old credit card would also do. You have to work your way slowly around the device to push the glue around in order to remove the top cover.
But what do I see on the plastic cover? Some transparent plastic tube? Is it for liquid cooling? Nope… The tube is connected to two LEDs. That looks fun, so I could not resist and had to power the device up…
That’s pretty, but let loosen the four screws to get a better look at the board.
An heatsink covers Amlogic octa-core processor. The top of the board (CZ-S32-V2.1) also features a 16GB Samsung KLMAG2GE4A-A001 eMMC flash, two SpekTek PE025-125 F1622 RAM chips, Pulse H5007NL magnetics and Realtek RTL8211F transceiver for Gigabit Ethernet, as well as Ampak AP6255 wireless module for WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0.
The serial console should be accessible through the pin between the two USB ports on the bottom of the photo above. We can loosen three more screws to have a look at the bottom of the board.
We have two SpekTek PE039-125 TP RAM chips, so I looks like they used two 1GB RAM chips, and two 512 MB chips from the same company (I forgot the name of the company behind “Superman” logo). There’s also a Genesys GL850G USB 2.0 hub, as well as Dioo Microcircuits DIO2133 audio driver. The MAC address prefix (78:C2:C0) looks up to “IEEE Registration Authority”, so it does not seem to have been assigned to any company yet.
Kingnovel provided the box for review, and resellers & distributors can contact the company via their website if they want to purchase the box in quantities. They also appear to sell the device (3GB version) on Amazon US for $90.99, but it can be found on various other website such as GeekBuying,and Aliexpress for $80 and up, and around $66 if you select the 2GB RAM version.
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.
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