The Rock 5B Just Killed the Raspberry Pi 4 (Almost) 

The community and support from the foundation is what makes the pi so good. Doesn't matter how fast your processor is if you leave it's libaries and repo's to collect dust.

Like what others keep saying code support is what it will take to kill the Pi, but at the moment "IN STOCK" may just do it. Good video. Thanks.

Just being available to buy makes it a Pi killer

Thanks for the review.. The underlying question is how long will your Distro take to get drivers, apps, packages etc to catch up with the Pi distro?

Rapberry pi killer, we have heard that many times before, but the RPI succes is not about the hardware alone, so we will see how this will end.

Great video, it’s so good to see platforms like Rock and even better to see the community embracing them and getting excited at the next generation of single board computers.

at that price point, its a wallet killer too

The addition of an M.2/NVMe interface is a great feature, especially at gen 3/4 lane speeds. That should be enough for most people. NVMe ssds offer the best of all worlds; capacity, speed and reliability. It's a killer feature, for sure. Gary, do you think that an M.2/NVMe interface will make its way onto the raspberry pi in its next iteration (as a boot device)? Or is it not a priority for the rp foundation? Is there a significant cost involved in integrating this into a pi? The other thing that I don't understand is this issue of drivers for the gpu integrated into the arm processor. It is not unreasonable to expect to get a usable driver for hardware that one has paid for - so why is this a recurring issue for sbcs? At the very least, arm themselves should provide a generic gpu driver that works with the main Linux arm distros. What is the issue here? Is it a firmware/bios issue? Or is it a Linux issue? I don't understand this at all. Also, does this thing actually have a bios ROM chip on the board? I understand that the raspberry pi doesn't, and I wonder how much of a disadvantage that is (?) ....

Useful review Gary. Thanks. Two queries I have - How does the Model A version compare to the Orange Pi 5 in terms of performance and software support? Also, how to use that HDMI input?

Nice Video. Btw: I had No problems with RebornOS @1080p here and i'm using a Pi4 Power Supply with 1TB NVME + USB WIFI dongle no problems.

Nothing more infuriating when something does not work, that should. Pi 4 is old in the tooth but is well polished and if you do not need blistering speeds and of course if you have one, it is the better choice. Pi 4 shortages are due to its excellent support and is used in commercial applications. You can not get better endorsements than that. As Rock B software is work in progress it could end up as a paper weight for ever waiting for things to be fixed.

Its not gonna kill anything. Radxa has soo many half cooked boards its kind of ridiculous. If they actually stuck with fewer boards and properly supported them they would have a chance, but the msrp is too high and knowing pi supplies will get back to normal this year it's kinda moot. Doesn't matter how fast it is if the support and community isnt there.

Give Armbian a try, the latest version is working really well on my Devterm A06 which is the rk3399 6 core processor. They say that the 5b is supported.

Great that it boots from nvme, but so does the ~5 year old FriendlyARM NanoPC T4, based on an earlier RockChip SoC. Thanks for the comprehensive review...

7:20 with 4k random being faster than sequential write i suspect the drive might be QLC nand which can slow to as little as 60MB/s once the cache runs out

It is the proverbial story of the Tortoise and Hare, The Hare speeds away saying bye bye only to find the Tortoise waiting at the finish line. Manufacture and Community support are both needed. That's where the Raspberry Pi shines. So as for the Rock 5B being the PI killer, as the old James Bond American Spoof show GET SMART Maxwell Smart used to say "Missed it by that much" whenever he tried to kill the bad agent....:). I have a Raspberry Pi 4 and a Mekotronics 58X both are nice, but I can usually find software for the Pi.

Thanks for the review, would you be able to find out what the power efficiency is like? What's the power draw at idle and under load compared to the RPi4?

How about to make comparison of SBC's for usual usage: you can take USB-C docking station with power, display, network and keyboard/mouse connected to make only one cable plugged and then test such things like browsing, youtube, geforce now.

I was lucky to buy the last R.pi 4B 8gb and 400 available on the shelf, directly at a local store. How does the Rock 5B perform as an arcade machine, compared to a R.Pi (Retropi/Batocera)? I would be interested only if it can emulate SEGA model 2 arcades (Top skater, Daytona USA, Sega Ski Super G, Sega rally, etc).

I just ordered what I think will be the perfect case for my Rock5b - "KKSB Rock 5B Case with Heatsink" allows fan installation, unlike the case created by RADXA. If you dig out your Rock5b to play around with could you include doing a "Gary Explains" video on getting the Rock5b to boot from the NVME card, step by step for people like me...?

Gary old boy, what can the Rock Pi 5 do while powered by PoE?? PoE is my preferred way to power an SBC

Are there any development updates on the Rock5b since you made this video in Feb? I have one sitting on my desk, collecting dust waiting for some community input... it seems to have so much potential, what happened? I can't even get the wifi/bt module from the distributor Ameridroid...

Anything you can actually buy could be a Pi killer. The suppliers have had 2 years of Pi-free time to get their software and support up to scratch. Yet none have. The price of this OK but what I saw says it isn't available yet. Only on pre-order. If it's software isn't compatible with Pi's then it has given itself a huge disadvantage.

Radxa has a wholly underwhelming history of software support of their hardware. That's the biggest issue with anything they make.

Sounds like it would be nice as a node in a cluster where you just want the CPU cores, ram, disk, and network, but don’t necessarily care about the host OS at all.

What use is a fast CPU if you don't get hardware acceleration on real power-hungry tasks? Also, I want to get this on a rock-solid software basis. There are only two things I really dislike about the RPIs that I have, both of them are complaints on software implementation and I doubt any other pi-wannabe solves these either: 1) USB and the over-sensitive power input due to it, complaining about any slight drop in the 5v rail, even though the SoC runs on much lower voltage and hence has a voltage regulator that can keep going way below that 5v mark. The reason is clearly the power to the USB slots and possibly internal switch, which also becomes visible when running the PI for extended time. Every time a PI crashed on me (or otherwise became unreachable over the network), USB had its hand in it. And sure, you can keep blaming this on flaky power-supplies, but even the best PSU seems to then glitch over long periods and handling that more robustly in the software - resetting the entire USB system if needed, would be much better than the current behavior. 2) Ubuntu or Debian LTS versions not being what *I* call LTS. I tend to update packages regularly, BUT I dread upgrading from one version of an OS to the next after having had too many headaches. I just want an OS which you install, configure and the never have to run the risk of having to start over just because someone decided to make such major changes that your config is no longer correct. Especially on systems that are only accessible over the network, having to upgrade the OS is always a big risk. Seldom have I had problems just upgrading packages, but even more rare have been the occasions when a system upgrade finished without having to get the device hooked up to a monitor and keyboard to see why the remote access (and often much more) was broken by that upgrade. So, if it were up to me, Ubuntu would now stop any new release and just focus on getting things up to date in the current and hence final version. I'm sure there's some reason why this is impossible but for me Long Term should be something like 20 years, not the 4 or 5 years an OS is now getting updates. And every time I have moved to a newer Ubuntu version I have felt as if I lost something (some old tools) than that I considered it a real step forward (for my needs).

can you suggest a power supply that it will actually work without rebooting?

I got one of these boards. I got Ubuntu going, performance is pretty good.. Ubuntu wanted to do a major update which I did allow. Unfortunately Firefox would no longer start, bpf problems. Ubuntu also uses snaps, ugh, not crazy about that. I still have to experiment with Debian next, and the firmware update to boot from nvme. Software support seems reasonable, but I didn't really do a lot with this board yet. The rock 5b does not come with a screw to hold down the nvme drive. The heatsink case is ok, but I had to supply my own thermal compound. I used some leftover squares from my pi stuff, a bit of an awkward thickness (1.5 times the thickness of the material). It is workable. I'll try the firmware update, and putting Debian on the nvne and booting that. The performance of the hardware is pretty good.

Not listed in your review but one of the biggest asset to me: the Mali-G610 which should completely outperform any other SBC ARM GPUs. Of course it is only a "should" for now as driver support is mostly a WIP. Also the lack of mainline kernel support is really frustrating when you know the hardware capabilities of this board.

Where will I get a 10"/13" tablet screen for this? What is the worth if I compare to market rates for tablet

People forget that they can also get an ITX motherboard with an embled CPU or even better a "nuc like" PC at this price. Arm based DIY boards are overrated and way over priced.

@1:40 HDMI IN!!!! That's awesome The hardware capability looks great. But the software makes it practically limited use. Was almost thinking it would been nice to use it as a capture/streaming box. But the graphics driver and support looks even worst than fglrx on Linux back in 2003.

You can only connect if via USB, but you can boot a Raspberry Pi 3b+ and a Pi 4 from SSD instead of SD card too.

Perhaps starting with the price differential would be a service to your community.

I am a believer that the software will catch up, the hardware is great for what it is on paper, just need to get transcoding working!

What more could you possibly want? *a case that's designed in Cupertino California, with a power supply @inside.*

Excellent vid. Thanks! I like the features of the Rock 5B. However, I'm not into in innovator's cycle. I'll let the pioneers get the arrows and wait until it is populated with software libraries and resolved the majority of any issues. RPi4 works well enough for my needs at this point and I boot from an NDMe attached externally and works well enough.

Thanks for the excellent video. Appreciate! 1. For GPU, seems that there are OpenGL and WebGL support now. 2. For FFMPEG and OpenCV, same with Jetson Nano and Pi4B, need to re-compile for GPU support. 3. J4125 is too old, can get a N6000 or N6005 for around $200. Is that possible to compare the RK3588 with N6000? 2 cents~

Rock 5B is fantastic. But mine GPU accelerator stuck every 2 seconds

Looks to be a great board but not yet market ready. Perhaps this time next year but who knows what else will be available then. For me, NVMe is not a decider as Pi4 will boot from a USB SSD but the lack of wi-fi is. I don't have wired ethernet available.

Some facts about RebornOS were misleading, I think you should take the time evaluating an ARM SBC device and the OS's before getting into conclusions.

Where are you purchasing your boards from as I paid £128 or $158 for the 16GB version? Also there was no mention of PoE (out in April) or the M2 e slot which you can either use for WiFi or a TPU. You mention power supply issues... There are lots of people who think you can just use a phone charger as that's what most SB's support, but perhaps people should RTFM haha People should also consider that this is a development board and all current software is WIP and on an early kernel version, but give it time and I'm sure V6 kernel will become available on due course

The reason that it's ALMOST a Raspberry Pi killer, is because the Raspberry Pi 4 has been dead for years now.

The PI is over 2 years old and the RockPI is less than a year old. From a hardware standpoint of course it's better. But, from the software, support, variety of uses and worldwide spread the PI beats it hands down.

If the base Pi 35eur keeps the same, the Pi5 should have base 4gb ram(up to 16), AMD mobile gpu chip and a PCIe x4 (boodable). Any other is a bonus but overall IO is ok (the 2x usb 3 to usb4 would be fantastic but not not a must be).

First I was confused, there are so many "Fruit Pi'' on the market, unlike say Odroid which is one of the original Pi competitors has its own name. Then there are "Rock", but not like the RockPro64 from a different company, I don't know who got the patent first or has a patent, the most important to me is the long term support like others have already mentioned, many chinese products simply vanished a short while after release.

What about wireless connectivity?

So by any used computer and then add GPIO Pin headers. I'm so kind of surprised people are using Chromebooks for this purpose more often

Rock 5B beats the Raspberry Pi hands down because you can actually *get* one.

No WiFi and Bluetooth. Do these boards leave them off in order to save time and cost on getting them certified to show they comply with local laws? In fact, has this

those cons stopped me from getting this. I hope they address all of it soon

For all that go rpi is king, it used to be the no1 choice, the unavailability and absurd prices makes it well nothing atm. You cant buy it and when you can its 200$. Maybe next pi...

One point you totally skipped over is that the Rock 5B has no onboard WiFi! That's a bit of a killer for me.

Great video as usual, can you please do a s22 ultra exynos vs s23 ultra speed test. Your speed test was the best and most reliable.

Are there any OSS GPU drivers for these other ARM boards besides Broadcom?

Its a bit funny that people always think its characteristics like high CPU and disk performance, a lot of RAM and diskspace, a fast network connection etc. what makes SBC (SingleBoardComputers) successfull. If I really need that, I use my desktop or notebook and not my Raspberry.

wow very impressive Rock 5B; at ameriDroid $220?? ROCK 5 Model B 16GB RK3588 LPDDR4x RAM 🧐 Gary do you have a comparison benchmark between these two PCB-SBCs? aliexpress $120?? Orange Pi 5 Single Board Computer 16GB RAM RK3588S,PCIE Module External WiFi+BT,SSD 8K Orange Pi5 Development Board Run Android 😎 Thank you, nice video.

Why not just run the dd command on your computer to begin with? Write the image straight to the nvme, rather than going by the sd and using a probably slower cpu in the meantime...

What about WiFi? Did I miss the discussion on this capability?

Very difficult to imagine. So many Raspi-Killers came and went. Nobody can match the community and software support of the RPi 🙏

Eh, being up to 4 times faster than the rpi 4 is enough "pi killer" for me, thank you very much.

Raspberry Pi 4 WHEN can we expect one???????????

I suppose the Rock 5B is also physically larger, and doesn't come as a compute module. I've been trying to decide between the Rock 5B and Orange Pi 5. The Orange Pi is smaller, though larger than a Pi 4, the NVMe drive is 1/4 as fast and only supports smaller drives, but it's supposed to have a version with 32GB of RAM...not that I can buy the 32GB version anywhere, it only mentions it on the product page. I'm looking forward to the Raspberry Pi 5 whenever they do another update. Hopefully they'll add an NVMe drive.

I wonder what the thermals look like on this thing. That additional performance comes with a few caveats not the least of which is you might need additional cooling. Is it actually more efficient?

Me thinks an M2 would make a good addition to the benchmarks.

Please do a video about orange pi 5 🙂

No more SD cards!

Paper weight (software support)

It's time for raspberry pie to release a more powerful board with better I/O. Raspberry pie has the best support and best community, The new raspberry pie should have 2.5Gbps ethernet, maybe even 2 ethernet, pcie nvme m.2 support, usb3, type C pd power

It can be from a hardware side point. However, if we look in the software, Orange Pi is behind. But, something is better than nothing. So, Orange Pi killed Raspberry Pi for me for 3 more years. Perhaps, we will see new Raspberry Pi 5 in 2028, then situation may change.

why does everyone want to kill the raspberry pi. all the pi killers I've seen have poor support and IO and use WAY to much power for embedded projects. should be called power killers.

plz compare same price segment items. who cares about Rock 5B if its price is 2? 3? times more than RPI?

But isn't the cost 2 or 3 or 4 times the cost of a Rasb Pi?

Does it have wifi and Bluetooth?

It's 3 times more expensive than equivalent (and obsolete) RPi4, not worth it.

It beats a J4125! wow!

Too expensive. Orange Pi 5 looks better than it one.

Never will beat RPi. Software support sucks. It baffles me these Chinese companies put out nice and powerful SBCs but then don't focus on the software side. Sad!

Wi oh Wi no WiFi?

A «job in progress» SOC has no interest to me. I seek challenges in how to use these systems, not fixing them such that they might one day become useful. Here Raspberry is shining, strange that hardware developers seem to ignore the importance of decent documentation.

Lol good luck getting a raspberry pi 4, even at inflated prices

RebornOS has full gpu support.... it also has c++ and other libraries just cause you havent installed them doesnt mean it doesnt have it

it hasnt broken the pi its to expensive

I programmed quite an extensive system (about 3000 lines of bash script code) for controlling the opening and closing of the window roller shutters for my house (to make thieves believe there is someone at home) on a Raspberry PI (3+). I used the same method to access the GPIO pins as what your small script uses. I just didn't want to get involved in the Python crap.

Your “facts” are highly inaccurate on RebornOS and need checking.

Nice clickbite. Nice to know that you do anything for clicks. Price isnt even similar. What is next video - cluster os Xeon servers is Rasperry Pi 4 killer

Nonsense. That thing is 4 times more expensive as the pi

Nice video 👍

with 2x the price and software and features that "might work in the future", this thing although spec-wise seems impresive, cannot even kill a corpse, let alone a rpi4. why do you have to lie in the title when you know the truth? are you so desperate for views? just make an honest review of the product without bold claims and ppl will watch it. and don;t even mention the "almost". this thing is almost a rpi killer, by a mile.