Tech

ROC-RK3588S-PC: ARM DIY computer with 32 GB RAM as a Raspberry Pi alternative






If you are looking for a powerful handicraft computer with a lot of RAM, you could find it in the ROC-RK3588S-PC.

Single-board computers are often limited in the amount of usable RAM. For example, the Raspberry Pi 4 B is only available with a maximum of 8 GB RAM. The manufacturer Firefly wants to score here with its ROC-RK3588S-PC handicraft computer. The board relies on a 64-bit ARM processor called RK 3588S with eight cores. There is also a Mali G610 GPU that also supports 8K encoding.

Comparison: single-board computers and mini-PCs

M.2 slot and HDMI 2.1

There is an M.2 2242 slot with a PCIe 2.0 1x interface on the board. SSDs or other modules can be connected for this purpose. However, top speeds cannot be achieved due to the outdated standard. Alternatively, a micro SD card can be used as mass storage. The dimensions of the ROC-RK3588S-PC are 90 x 60 millimeters, so the board is only slightly larger than a Raspberry Pi. Nevertheless, the manufacturer can accommodate an HDMI 2.1 port for 4K-120 or 8K-60 video signals. There are also four USB-A ports, one of which works as USB 3.2 Gen1, the others are rather slow with the USB 2.0 standard. A USB-C port can also serve as a video source. In addition to a WiFi module based on the AC standard, a Gigabit Ethernet port is also installed.

Version with 32 GB RAM will come later

According to the manufacturer, in addition to Ubuntu, Debian or RTLinux, Android 12 or Windows on ARM are also suitable as operating systems. The starting price for the 4 GB model with a 32 GB SSD is 220 US dollars. The model with 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage costs $300. A version with 32 GB RAM should follow in the coming weeks. Their price has not yet been determined. The ROC-RK3588S PC could provide a basis for exciting projects for resourceful hobbyists.

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