N100 is faster performance, RK3588 is better power consumption and temperatures. Off topic: In light of Intel having some issues (earnings report, raptor lake snafu), I'm kinda wanting to see if AMD has anything going on in the low cost low power embedded space. Outside full blown mini PCs (or maybe beelink, NUC type stuff, etc), there aren't any pi-type AMD products.
Greetings from across the pond near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. With the appeal of mini PCs, it would be interesting to see a comparison with an N100 and/or N200 based machine. Thanks for yet another super-max groovy First-Class video. You make it look like so much fun. Wait ... it doesn't just LOOK like fun, it IS fun to build computers like this! Thanks for all your hard work to bring your viewers such interesting videos. It just doesn't get better than EC.
ditto the "SUPER-MAX GROOVY" too; I have visions tomorrow of row-upon-row of factory robots a/k/a Christopher Clones, building millions of these mini PCs to compete with WinTel. You may laf, but I shall laf last.
I did enjoy this video, very much. At less than 16w top-speed, this ARM PC offers many project opportunities where computing power is needed. I have such a work project in mind involving lots of temperature array data logging with ability to access that data from anywhere. It is easily up to that task and thank you as always for the many videos and ideas, Christopher!
Wow, Stanley the Knife, Mr. Scissors, AND Mr. Screwdriver in the same build video? Stuff has definitely gotten real! I am a bit sad that we didn't get to pay a visit to the WebGL Aquarium this time though. With that said, this was a fun build to watch and I'd like to see the RK3588 PC pitted against the N100 PC hopefully in the not-too-distant future. :)
@@JeffGeerling You and your channel!! You're insane, but you get results. A salute to your broadcaster dad and the rest of the overworked equipment in your lab.
I always enjoy unboxing and exploring new hardware vicariously through EC. Very nice ARM board with lots of connectivity options. Can’t wait to get my own!
Always fun to watch a PC build on EC. I don't think I will be building a PC in the near future, but if nothing else, it brings back memories of many hours spent on PC builds. Thanks for another video Chris. Take Good Care.
It is a joy to my eyes to see you engaging in those beautiful things. Am a man with a stressful life pattern. Watching your videos chills me down. Thank you!
I've had one of these little cases since about 2014'ish. They haven't changed in all that time (apart from PSU). Solid and great quality. It's had 4 different MoBo's fitted over that time. Great little media setup hidden in the tv cabinet. Quiet and cool. :) Might have to grab one of these ARM boards for a trial.
17:00 The desktop actually does not seem to be GPU-accelerated. The first indicator is probably the screen tearing, but when you go into the info center at 17:34, you can see that the GPU is listed as "llvmpipe", which is a software-render that runs on the CPU when there is no GPU-accelerated renderer available. The performance of RK3588's CPU probably makes up for it, but the GPU is not used at all. Though it's very interesting that Chromium says it does use hardware acceleration, but maybe it sees LLVMpipe as a hardware renderer. Maybe it's missing driver packages, maybe it's the old kernel, but it's kind of a shame that the Mali G610 can't be used properly yet.
@@igorpecovnik I suspect this is because Armbian uses a newer kernel and probably also packages. Afaik, the Debian KDE option uses Radxa's Debian fork, which is not that up to date.
"sudo apt install mesa-utils ligbles2" will give some 2d gpu acceleration. Radxa seems to need some vpu driver installed for more advanced acceleration, I still haven't figured that one out
@@Stridsvagn69420 generic distributions are not well adopted for custom hardware world ... Its tl;dr; stuff. Armbian will usually work (much) better then Debian, original or baked by HW vendor. Armbian makes & maintain kernel(s) (and related packages) not just download, mix and ship. Like (Debian) distribution(s) do. Eventually some things gets to Debian too, but much later. Armbian is Debian with optimisations for this custom hardware world ...
Correct me if I am wrong, but from the KDE Info page the video driver in use is llvmpipe which denotes only software rendering and no hardware acceleration at all. Basically, no driver has been loaded for the gpu. Although a powerful machine it does not stand a chance against a N100 comparison, basically due to the biggest problem that all these sbcs have, i.e. proper software support for the hardware. Thanks for the review!
Very much enjoyed this video. You see, my AMD daily driver machine is housed in a Chopin In Win case, same as yours. I smiled at your brief cooler challenge. I am on my third thin-profile Noctua fan in 4 years. 65W TDP CPU is a little much in such cramped quarters. Certainly not a blame on Noctua. The In Win now exists in a wider version for normal fans. Somewhat wish I had that case version. As for the RK3588, I have a SBC with the RK3588S and its runs multiple Docker containers 24/7. Not bad at all considering power draw.
Brilliant - it is just as beautiful as I initially thought - I really hope they make an upgrade of the RK3588 sometime soon. When my desktop dies I really hope I can replace it with something like this. The RPi5 I have replaced my Atom webserver with, about a month ago, has already impressed me plenty.
Thanks Chris for the video. Also looking forward to RK3588 N100 comparison. While I have 8 different ARM SBCs one thing I have noticed is that even though they play RU-vid videos quite well they won't play RU-vidTV or Amazon video. My H3 and X2L have no problem with either. Thanks for the channel. Keep up the good work. Hope you and yours are safe and warm. Dan
What a beautiful build, Chris. And hearing you say “let’s go and get started” always gets my heart beating a little bit faster. I guess it’s pavlovian by now... :D
Excellent content as always .. I would recommend showing the removal of the protective film from the thermal pad to ensure that those new to tech wont feel your advocating keeping it in place.. Thank You for sharing ... Cheers :)
@@ExplainingComputers Happy to see you reply. Don't often see RU-vidrs with a big following like yours responding to comments this frequently, I sure do respect that! P.S I recently watched your ryzen 5600G build video from last year. Did you put the GT1030 from the old AMD test rig into your editing machine, or did the editing PC have a 1030 already?
Excelent video! Seeing for all those sata connectors come to my mind that it would be great if you make a tutorial with this build to implement a home NAS. I think this ARM PC would be perfect for that kind of project.
A few years back, your PC build got me interested in building a PC. It’s my lucky day that this build was done. Now I have to convince my wife that we need another PC. Thank you for all your hard work, Chris.
Another beautiful PC build. Can’t wait to see the follow-up videos with different motherboards. Then I’ll follow the instructions and build one myself. :)
Thank you for this nice view of the Rock 5 ITX with an RK3588! I think it will be even more valuable when this CPU gets a fully upstreamed linux kernel. A comparison with the Intel N100 would be nice, even tho there are benchmarks for both CPUs out there already. A review of the just released Radxa X4 with N100 would be nice too!
about the SATA: at around 4:40, there is visble an 'asmedia ASM 1164' controller, which is PCIe Gen 3x2, providing 4 SATA Gen3 ports but only using 2- or 1- lanes upstream PCIe
Installed using ROOBI OS -- Debian with the KDE plasma desktop. Like all Arm boards, an image customized for the hardware is needed if thing like GPU acceleration are required. The Arm image from the Debian website could be made to work with GPU acceleration an peripherals, but it would take time! :)
Hi from Bosnia! excellent video, I really enjoyed it. Excellent machine. Excellent and clean build. I love ARM processors. I wish you lots of health and business success in the future and I look forward to new projects.
This video made me want to buy an arm motherboard just to experiment and maybe do something interesting with it. Thank you again chris for another amazing video! Keep it up❤
This is exactly what I needed for my Linux minipc with Windows on a virtual machine ❤ I will save a lot of money by not buying an intel nuc. Thank you so much!!!
Excellent video as usual! Thank you! Just a suggestion... could you make a 4K60 or 4K30 version of your test video perhaps? I don't think a 1080p30 video is a real test anymore.
I keep hoping that manufacturers will start selling parts so you can actually build an ARM desktop like we can build x86 ones now. I know there are custom machines out there, just surprised we don’t really have an ARM ecosystem like x86 does now.
I don't think I would ever buy one just because you can't remove the processor or RAM. I is good to see a ARM mini-itx and I hope other companies will come out with one as well.
The front panel button wires are bound together in a single connector, rather than being a bunch of fiddly individual connectors! That case is worth it just for that
In my In Win Chopin the front panel connectors are not bound together. Maybe this is a redesign? I got mine in 2021. Its a really good case. The PSUs fan is unfortunately a crap one, so out of warranty its recommended to replace with a Noctua fan.
I think front panel connections are almost becoming a somewhat-standard... so yeah, these connector blocks are becoming common. I say that but I think I remember it still not being quite standard. Ludicrous that this hasn't been worked out by now.
@@berjbedrosian4225 because you need the cable length to install the motherboard into the case. If you use those push in mounting coolers(like the stock Intel cooler), then you have easy time. You can plug the cables in after you installed the mobo into the case, bacause the cooler wont in the way. But if you need to pre install the cooler, like the stock AMD, Noctua L9a/L9i or Cryorig C1 LP, you need the extra cable length to play the mobo into the case. You need to plug in all the connectors before you place the mobo into the case. Ive already built 3 systems into the Chopin case.
I owned an original Chopin like this and used it for my media PC for several years. I couldn't use the included PSU because it was too loud: The fan on the PSU itself was actually nicely quiet, as I was able to test it outside of the case, but the air would flow around a few bends, as you can see with the exterior shroud, and that airflow got quite noisy. I went with a PicoPSU instead. Then on the upside, I had much more room for cable management without having the included PSU installed. I did have to figure out a janky way to mount the PicoPSU power input connector, and then block off the remainder of the PSU opening on the back. I was never truly happy with it--I always wanted to try to 3D print something, but never got around to it.
O my goddd =;-o iTotally get it now = this whole 'ARM PC' thing is not about efficiency or power saving or whatever else, but a hobby thing like clowns trying 2 get ridiculously high frame rates at gigantic resolutions on their ugly video games that would look better on a 720p TV with a bit of motion blur =)) Yes iKnow some have 'lag' but 4 instance an old 'krap' Vizio can B fast = just need 2 look up the 'charts'. But 3D printing something 2 accomodate a piece of $hit CPU that won't even run regular windows so none of yor 'oddball' utilities work = it's a horror show, not a computer. Stick 2 'file server' maybe LOL!! If iWant 2 spend literally decades getting $hit 2 work on 'ARM' that has already worked fine on Windows on free PCs off the street for decades, then this is your ticket 2 new levels of masochism =D The whole 'ARM PC' thing is (((Clot $hot))) level #FullRetard ~> justpaste.it/367w8 'Let's turn this jigsaw into a hammer' kind of thing = that is Linux, ARM, etc. =))
So many of the SBCs that you present are solutions looking for a problem. I can't wait until the software catches up so we can pick our OS and desktop.
Agreed. I think Mint will become more popular over the coming year since its most similar to Windows 10 for the Linux variants and Windows 10 support ends in a year.
What an interesting Mini ITX case it looks fairly tight for all the knitting, I’m glad to see the IO shield went in first time or did it? Nice to see Stanley, Mr Scissors & Sid the screwdriver helping out. It’s a shame that Radxa couldn’t make a thinner back plate to fit the case, you’d think there’d be a standard for it! This would make a great media PC with an N100 fitted, would the 150 watt PSU be enough? I’m looking forward to seeing more Mini ITX projects in the future using that lovely case. I’d also be interested in seeing a comparison video of the Radxa Rock 5 & N100. Thanks for the video Chris & I hope all is well with you. :)
Appreciate the video, and seems like a nice machine, its really nice to see this sort of of board format, will be nice to see these sorts of SOC's in low cost tablets and laptops, will be interesting if we see a future version of Windows for arm running on them as well.
And it's pronounced "show-PAN". It's always funny and vaguely annoying to me as a classically trained pianist to hear people mess this up (this isn't the first time).
A PCIe port would have been interesting. Not that there is support for any GPUs anyway, but other stuff could be added. In the end, it's yet another ARM SBC with terrible software support, that will basically be abandoned in 12 months.
There are 2 Gen3 lanes on the M.2 port. You just need an OS smaller than 8 GB to fit into the eMMC, or install another SSD or SATA adapter into the WiFi M.2 slot.
Very true. As I've experimented with in the past, it is possible to run Arm Windows 11 on an RK3588, but the current (totally unofficial) images lack SATA and PCIe support. :(
It will be interesting to see the comparison of the two systems. I am intersted to see what the final use of tthis system will be. Great build as usual.
Thanks Chris for another awesome and exciting ARM build mini ITX computer. Nice to see Stanley the knife and gang being gainfully employed…😊! This setup looks to be very budget friendly and reasonably fast for an Arm system so I would like to see a video of it in action, please. Have a great week!
When I build a PC system I always use modular PSU's. Back in the day they weren't available and I ended up with so many wires jammed into a Midi case it meant I had sod all space, if I wanted to do any upgrade it looked like I was delivering an electric octopus, I saw an advert for a modular PSU and bought one the next week. I actually cackled with joy with all the space and airflow I had.
I'd love to see the comparison with the N100. You extract very interesting data from these tests. There are very few RU-vidrs I've encountered who are as thorough with testing and recording performance data while keeping the explaination of the results accessible. I also have to say that the RK3588 is a remarkably well equipped board. This really does look like a landmark product. With the inevitable updates and upgrades of future software this will be quite the contender in the mini pc market.
I would like to see a comparison video between this and the N100, providing they are aimed at the same 'space' in the market. That and possibly a third machine.. maybe if a mini ITX RISC 5 machine appears on the horizon.
I would love to see the comparison video, I find all your work intriguing, educating, and entertaining. You put a whole new spin on rock-paper-scissors:-)(I love all your name your tools)
I would be more interested in a ITX sized carrier board, that could be upgraded with newer compute modules in the future. This way I could reuse the old compute modules for other projects.
@@mikespangler98 the Intel solution was the processor only, right? I'm talking about a carrier board only for external ports, everything else is on the compute module.
@@SkepticalCaveman So Slot 1 with CPU and RAM, and maybe space for a M2 slot? The Compute module would be bigger than the carrier board which would be down to USB and Ethernet plus the graphics card. I'm really not seeing a huge advantage over the conventional ITX standard. Now you disconnect cables, possibly move the video card and install a new computer while moving the old one to its new job. With the new system you move the compute module to a new system and install a new compute module in its place assuming the existing power supply can handle it, and you still might be changing the video card, and you'll still likely have to reinstall the OS.
17:00 Clearly this is NOT a gpu accelerated desktop. 17:35 This shows us it is using llvmpipe aka Software Renderer. The only stable Mesa (hardware) renderer for now for RK35xx is Gnome and Cinnamon, not KDE.
It's nice to see his desk so well ARMed for compute. The arena of numbers (compile time, load times,scores, and stats for nerds and more!). The board like like it might have NAS service as a possible use case with all that SATA connectivity and m.2 .
