Rock 3C RK3566 single board computer review, including demos running Debian and Ubuntu, and a Sysbench comparison with a Raspberry Pi 3B+ and Raspberry Pi 4.
The Rock 3C shown in this video was purchased in May 2023 from OKdo here:
https://www.okdo.com/p/okdo-rock-3-model-c-2gb-single-board-computer-rockchip-rk3566-arm-cortex-a55/
The board is also available from Allnet here:
https://shop.allnetchina.cn/collections/rock-3/products/rock3-model-c
The Radxa web page for the Rock 3C is here:
https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock3/3c
The Okdo Software Hub is here:
https://www.okdo.com/software-hub/
And we can also download Rock 3 SBC images from Radxa here:
https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock3/downloads
Please note that I have no business relationship with OKdo, Radxa or Allnet, although OKdo did provide me with some information.
My previous review of the Rock 3A is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn0FPHDdUoY
For additional ExplainingComputers videos and other content, you can become a channel member here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbiGcwDWZjz05njNPrJU7jA/join
More videos on computing and related topics can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/@explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: http://www.youtube.com/@explainingthefuture
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:56 Unboxing
03:43 Specification
07:40 Debian
13:03 Ubuntu & Interface Tests
15:05 Sysbench
18:41 Wrap
#Rock3C #RK3588 #explainingcomputers
I seem to have stumbled on an unauthorized copy of this video on someone else's channel. Not entirely sure how to go about informing you about this.
@SergioVerde-m7w Says:
Greetings, I would like your explanation regarding the Radxa Cubie A5E A527/T527
@jamiegossett Says:
why don't you buy the 8 gb models and max the ssd.
@makoado6010 Says:
5:42 but what if u cut those pins? them possible to use normal m.2 cards like 4 port sata?
@Alice8000 Says:
Why are yu so british? lol
@mariocanty6038 Says:
Thanks for the review. Is It possibile to install Kodi?
@raevod6361 Says:
At 10:49 they spelled "Supported" wrong Supoprted
@-validites- Says:
Could you review the Radxa Rock pi 4 Model C+? I wouldnt mind sending you my model as I also bought attn EMMC module with it!
@Drak976 Says:
LOL I wanted to be skeptical because the raspberry pi foundation burned me so bad but everyone seems happy and excited so hopefully things are looking up for sbcs it always sounded like a great idea.
@stand355 Says:
If you don't need GPIO, mini PCs are far better value. The N100 has same TDP as Pi4 and is so much faster.
@dr.g.eckert2409 Says:
Your channel is well known in Germany. Many thanks to Your good work!
@simonbyrd6518 Says:
Great, 2230 M.2s are 3X more expensive than 2280.
@ronaldglider Says:
Thanks Chris for this *very* informative video. You motivated me to buy the Rock3C and I have been playing with it. The SW support is actually impressive - documentation is somewhat harder to find. There is even the equivalent of raspiconfig, which is rsetup.
_What I find bizarre:_ The serial console output is set to 1.5Mbps, which is not working with most USB-serial adapters. The system has a predefined boot search order (mmc1 mmc0 nvme0 usb0 pxe dhcp sf0) and uses u-boot to select the linux image. u-boot is stored on the first (reserved!) 16MB of the storage medium (gpt partioned). It looks like the Balena-etcher does all that work when installing an OS-image. I ordered an M.2 2230 NVMe to try out next. Balena etcher is not available for ARM, which someone should fix (Windows: yes, Linux only X86...)
Indeed a very interesting board, iRadxa will cause headaches for the Raspberry team. With a better power meter I see it idles along at ~1.5 Watts running Debian 11 of the eMMC (Wifi connected). Not bad!
@frankn5216 Says:
I can confirm it is a AI Genine that can only grant 2 wishes due to cloud congestion and Genine is not available with all SFC so maybe you were unlucky.
🤣😆🤣🤣
@Mizai Says:
good vid
@whocares3132 Says:
what? 1 watt idle and ~2watt load power consumption? What!!! thats impossible
@steveplumbob41 Says:
will you be doing a utube framework laptops film
@CodeCharmer Says:
@13:34 Not quite understanding? Ubuntu won't work with an Nvme? OR You didn't have a 30mm card to fit? Both Micron and Corsair make a 1TB 2230 less than $100. Plus it seems a Rock 3A is only about $10 more than the 3C -- So wouldn't that make a pretty snappy Ubuntu 22.04 workstation?
@plankalkulcompiler9468 Says:
Looks good. Can you review Le Potato by Libre Computer? Its said to be a RPi 3 alternative.
@metaldetectingfun Says:
Did you try the Ubuntu Jammy version as I cannot get it to work. Debian version works as displayed. Thanks for the review.
@chrisschembari2486 Says:
Sounds like a "tough little chip", to paraphrase an old sci-fi trope.
Google was not much help with the phrase "witting on", so I had a bit of a blank unscheduled nap come over me in the middle. Had to rewatch the last 3 chapters once I woke up again. Please do bear in mind what is easily defined when narrating.
@mgmorris6585 Says:
Hello sir, please explain, whether WaveShare CM4-IO-BASE-C for RPi CM4 would be able to boot and run
O/S from M.2 slot with NVMe . Thankyou sir.
@brucefrizzell4221 Says:
I did not know about sysbench .
Very useful .
Thank you .
@JLowe-uu8lr Says:
I need a drink I got too excited!=8)
@NightTracker-e4k Says:
Please retest/review the Rock 3A using the new releases of Debian. In your original video, the NVME drive slot did not work in Debian and the video playback did not have hardware acceleration. I would like to know if the updated Debian image fixed those issues.
@chrispappas3750 Says:
Where did you get the eMMc module? If you buy one, do you need the reader/writer for it?
@chromerims Says:
Stunning how much one can learn from you; thank you 👍
*chrome://gpu* is rather helpful indeed.
Kindest regards, neighbours and friends.
@erikkimani Says:
APPLE PIONEERED NOVA ESIMS AND VIRTUAL SIM CARDS FOR CASTLE AND PALACE CRYSTAL RESOLUTION AREAS.
@chrimony Says:
Not even 2 watts during a benchmark. Crazy.
@wojciechszmyt3360 Says:
Just wanted to let you know, Raspberry Pico W has *JUST* added support for Bluetooth in Micropython!! 🎉 Are you going to make a video on some simple Bluetooth project with it? I love your videos!
@johnwilliams7999 Says:
i really feel like i want to give you a proper haircut
@gelanghaarteweile3048 Says:
Funfact: my Ryzen embedded R1505G @ 2.4ghz (16gb RAM) is SLOWER than the Pi-4 on this benchmark!
@TomSmith-sr2br Says:
can you do a video on the computer case you have on your main picture, thanks.
@BanibrataDutta Says:
Great, enriching post as always. Stability, richness, quality, ease of use, and support over long period of time, in terms of the optimized OS distributions, drivers for peripheral functions - I think play a very important role, apart from price, when it comes to low per-maker volume use-case of SBCs. RPi took care of the above, and that IMHO played a huge role in the success of RaspberryPi (apart from the phenomenal, never-before pricing). I do not think just "low cost" alone can make a SBC popular, and we all know what happens to SBCs that are not popular, especially from a maker standpoint. My 2 cents.
@tommyvanpelt2408 Says:
Yours is one of the few channels I watch on a regular basis. You do a very good job of picking a variety of boards and topics. This is a board I may actually purchase for myself.
@kamolhengkiatisak1527 Says:
It's cheap enough for people to pay if they want to experience/learn Unix out of the box.
@squelchstuff Says:
Hi Chris, I hope you can revisit this board again in the near future. Disc IO for the M.2 slot could be tested with one of the riser cables you used on some other boards with the mad oriented slots perhaps? Also, a little play around with the GPIO on the 3C would be nice to see. Just to see how compatible it is against the Pi 3/4 - especially the serial interfaces that can be troublesome at times.
@Okurkaarrgghh Says:
The problem with these is software support.
@breebw Says:
Volume manufacturing to make the board available? Good to see an SBC maker trying something new.
@flowerpt Says:
Do we know if these can network boot off eth0?
@lorderectus1849 Says:
Oh it’s a genie 🧞♂️ trapped in an sbc open sesame!
@McTroyd Says:
Glad to see an SBC running proper Debian and Ubuntu. While I appreciate the efforts of the Armbian community, for me it was very much a hit-or-miss proposition where reliability was concerned.
@mysomervda Says:
Nice review Chris. Do you know if it is possible to host the OS on the NVME and skip the SD card? I'll try one of these when they are available in the US.
@Remigrator Says:
I do not like this board
@markspc1 Says:
Great video, Chris. Thank you 😊
@richardwernst Says:
I'm surprised you didn't put a fast(?) nvme drive that fits the board in for read/write testing.
And, you could remove the gpio header and solder it on the other side of the board to give room for a longer nvme.
@BillinSD Says:
This has a bunch of things I wanted, will have to try it out
@srvuk Says:
Not too bad and the onboard storage options add to making it more of a complete package out of the box. Whether it sitting between a Pi 3B+ and Pi4 will seem an attractive enough buy is where I see doubt.
@brianh.4185 Says:
Oh no. Stanley the knife wasn’t needed. How sad. 😢
@mlongval Says:
Thank you very much for another well made and informative review.
Cheers from Canada!!
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