Radxa ROCK 3 Model B, or ROCK 3B for shorts, is a “PI-CO ITX” SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3568 SoC that combines the benefits of Pico-ITX and Raspberry Pi form factors in the sense that the 100x72mm board features all main ports on the rear side and supports expansion through a 40-pin Raspberry Pi-compatible GPIO header and several M.2 sockets for storage and wireless modules.
The ROCK 3B is the younger, but bigger brother of the ROCK 3A business card-sized SBC introduced in 2021, still with an RK3568 CPU and up to 8GB LPDDR4, but the board features two gigabit Ethernet ports, an M.2 B Key socket for 4G LTE/5G cellular modules, an M.2 PCIe 3.0 x1 socket for an M.2 2280 SSD not necessitating an expansion board, besides the M.2 Key-E socket for WiFi 6.
ROCK 3B specifications:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3568(J)
- CPU – Quad-core Cortex A55 processor at up to 2.0 GHz
- GPU – Mali G52 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1
- VPU
- 4Kp60 H.264/H.265/VP9 video decoder
- 1080p60 H.264/H.265 video encoder
- AI accelerator – 1 TOPS NPU; INT8/INT16/FP16/BFP16 MAC hybrid operation; support for TensorFlow, TF-lite, Pytorch, Caffe, ONNX, MXNet, Keras, Darknet
- System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, 8GB LPDDR4
- Storage
- Pluggable eMMC module
- MicroSD card slot
- M.2 M key socket for NVMe with PCIe 3.0 x2
- Video Output
- HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60
- 2x MIPI DSI connectors, one with 4-lane MIPI DSI, one with 2-lane MIPI DSI
- eDP connector
- Touch Panel connector
- Camera – 1x MIPI CSI connector
- Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, digital audio via HDMI
- Connectivity
- 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports, one with PoE support through optional PoE HAT
- WiFi 6 via an M.2 E key socket with PCIe 2.0 x1/SDIO/UART
- 4G LTE/5G cellular via an M.2 B key 3042 socket with PCIe, SATA, USB interfaces, and a SIM card socket
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports, 2x USB3.0 (1x OTG+1x HOST) ports
- Expansion – Color-coded 40-pin GPIO header mostly compatible with ROCK Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 3/4 exposing 5x UART, 1x SPI, 2x I2C, 1x PCM/I2S, 1x CAN bus, 6x PWM, 1x ADC, 6x GPIO, 1x USB 2.0, and 5V, 3.3V, and GND power signals
- Misc
- RTC with connector for backup battery
- IR receiver
- RGB LED
- Fan header
- Power and recovery buttons
- Power Supply
- 6V to 20V DC via USB-C port with USB PD 2.0 (9V/2A, 12V/2A, 15V/2A, or 20V/2A), QC 3.0 (9V/2A or 12V/1.5A), or fixed voltage (6V to 24V) support
- 5V via GPIO pin 2 or 4
- Dimensions – 100 x 75 mm (~Pico-ITX and PI-CO ITX form factors)
- Certifications – CE/FCC
Radxa currently provides Debian 11 “Bullseye” and Ubuntu 22.04 “Jammy” images for the Rock 3B board, but Android 11 should also be officially supported, plus third-party from Armbian and others should eventually be released. You’ll find a getting started guide, OS images for download, additional hardware information, and instructions to use a 4G LTE module, a MIPI DSI display, the PoE HAT, and more in the wiki.
The Rock 3 Model B was first unveiled in 2021 with a slightly different design which Radxa then modified based on feedback from their users, and the board has only become available now for $45 with 2GB RAM, $55 with 4GB RAM, and $75 with 8GB RAM on Arace Tech. They have not made it easy for potential customers to purchase accessories, as they’d need to navigate the accessories section and it’s not always clear which one is compatible with a specific SBC, and some are simply missing…
Thanks to Geoffrey for the tip.
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
