Video : Comparing RK3588 SBCs / NanoPi R6S - Khadas Edge2 - Radxa Rock5B - Mekotronics R58 mini + R58X-4G - Orange Pi 5

[NicoD]

My gathered info :
 

RK3588(S) comparison
--------------------
RK3588(S) 8nm LP process
4 x A55 @ 1.8Ghz + 4 x A76 @ 2.4Ghz (Not the same for all boards, between 2.2Ghz and 2.4Ghz)
Mali-G610 MP4 "Odin"
6TOPs NPU
Up to 32GB memory theoretically (haven't seen any 32GB yet)
                              RK3588                            RK3588S 
PCIE3.0 	                  2x2 Lanes PCIe3.0 	            N/A 	
PCIe2.0/SATA3.0/USB3.0 MUX 	  3x1 Lane PCIE2.0 	                2x1 Lane PCIE2.0 	
                              3x SATA 3.0 	                    2x SATA 3.0 	
                              1x USB3.0 (refer USB section) 	1x USB3.0 (refer USB section) 


     Board                 SoC                   Memory                       eMMC        SD-Reader     NVMe/PCIe/SATA       Network               USB2    USB3         USB-C (dp)      HDMI-out          HDMI-in          DP         Active cooling                Powered with 
1.   Khadas Edge 2 Pro     Rockchip RK3588S      16 GB LPDDR4X 2112 MHz       64 GB       xxx           xxx                  xxx                   1 x     1 x          1 x DP          1 x               xxx              xxx        xxx (Case not out yet)        USB-C PD
2.   NanoPi R6S            Rockchip RK3588S      8 GB LPDDR4X 2133 MHz        32 GB       yes           xxx                  2 x 2.5GbE + 1GbE     1 x     1 x          xxx             1 x               xxx              xxx        Metal case                    USB-C PD 
3.   Radxa Rock5B          Rockchip RK3588       16 GB LPDDR4X 2112 MHz       Module      yes           2 x M.2 NVMe         2.5GbE                2 x     2 x          xxx             2 x               1 x micro-HDMI   xxx        XU4 heatsink no sufficient    USB-C PD (Issue with PD, I'm using 5V 4A PSU)
4.   Mekotronics R58 Mini  Rockchip RK3588       16 GB LPDDR4X                64 GB       xxx           SATA ribbon          1GbE                  2 x     1 x          1 x (no DP)     2 x               1 x full size    1 x        Big heatsink sufficient ***   12V barrel jack                                *** Case could also be used to cool with a thermal pad
5.   Mekotronics R58X-4G   Rockchip RK3588       8 GB LPDDR4X                 64 GB       xxx           SATA/NVMe/mini-PCIe  1GbE                  2 x     1 x          1 x DP          1 x               1 x full size    1 x        Big heatsink sufficient ***   12V barrel jack 
6.   Orange Pi 5           Rockchip RK3588S      4/8 GB LPDDR4(x)             xxx         yes           NVMe                 1GbE                  1 x     2 x          1 x DP          1 x               xxx              xxx        No                            USB-C 5V 

Other specs
Khadas Edge 2 Pro also has 3 x CSI + 2 x DSI, and can have an I/O board for SD-card and uart
Radxa Rock5B has 1 x CSI + 1 x DSI 
OPi5 has 2 x DSI + 3 x Camera port 


Benchmarks 
----------
Board              | OS                            | Kernel         | Clockspeeds             | 7z b all cores     | 7z b core small core    | 7z b big core   | NicoD Blender    | Supertuxkart        | SBC-Bench
Radxa Rock 5B        Armbian Jammy cinnamon          5.10.110         1.8Ghz A55/2.4Ghz A76     15996                1533 (core 0)             2651 (core 7)     3m25s              65fps (panfork)       http://ix.io/4jOb
Radxa Rock 5B        Radxa Bullseye xfce4            5.10.66-27       1.8Ghz A55/2.4Ghz A76     16138                1522 (core 0)             2649 (core 4/7)   4m35s V2.83.5      xxx                   
Khadas Edge2         Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome              5.10.66          1.8Ghz A55/2.35Ghz* A76   16901                1766 (core 0)             2930 (core 7)     3m25s              110fps (wayland)      http://ix.io/4e8w ****SBC-Bench broken big cores at 408Mhz
NanoPi R6S           Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome Headless     5.10.110         1.8Ghz A55/2.3Ghz * A76   16385                1449 (core 0)             2493 (core 7)     3m27s              110fps (wayland)      http://ix.io/4gSl
Mekotronics R58      Debian Bullseye wayland         5.10.110         1.8Ghz A53/2.2Ghz A76     16803                1777 (core 0)             2879 (core 1)     4m35s              110fps (wayland)      http://ix.io/4j40
Mekotronics R58      Ubuntu 20.04 x11                5.10.66          1.8Ghz A53/2.2Ghz A76     16477                1765 (core 0)             2897 (core 1)     5m53s V2.82        4fps (llvmpipe)
Mekotronics R58X-G4  Armbian Jammy Gnome             5.10.110         1.8Ghz A53/2.4Ghz A76     16421                1767 (core 0)             2852 (core 1)     3m28s              75fps (panfork)       SBC-bench broken 


Pros+++
-------
Khadas Edge2 Pro           Small and USB-C PD powered, so great for my trips but needs a metal case for that. Having the extra USB-C is great. It is either a 2nd fast access to the SoC, and can be used for 2nd HDMI display. OOWOW is great to install new software, no need for RKDevTool. The Khadas software is pretty good. Khadas has a great team that's active on their forum.
NanoPi R6S                 Metal case makes it awesome. It is limited, but for what I wanted it's doing the job better than expected(fast NAS and even watching video). USB-C PD powered, so if I don't find a case for Edge2 I can also use the R6S on my trips. SD-Reader is great for booting and installing software.
Mekotronics R58 mini       Full sized ports. For home use it's good to have a device that's not tiny. Great to have the display ports on back and side and USB on the front. Case is nice, but not used for cooling. Great for digital signage with 2x HDMI + 1 x DP. 
Mekotronics R58X-4G        mini-PCIe, NVMe and SATA. Full sized ports. USB-C with DP. Nice case, can be used to cool the board with a thermal pad but not needed. 
Rock5B                     Armbian support. Has dual M.2 sockets. SD-card reader and eMMC socket. Full sized HDMI-out ports. 2.5GbE.

Cons---
-------
Khadas Edge2 Pro           No metal case yet(March). Missing SD-card, IO board can add that but then doesn't fit in the case. Seems designed for use in a small kiosk/digital signage, so all small special connectors for additional devices like displays and camera's. 
NanoPi R6S                 Designed for networking and so missing a lot of other features(NVMe, PCIe, extra USB-C with DP, multiple USB3 ports...).  
Mekotronics R58 mini       Not the best I/O. No sd-reader what makes the use of RKDevTool needed. Expensive. Wouldn't be as good for me if I didn't know great Armbian devs(MonkaBlyat). 
Mekotronics R58X-4G        No sd-reader what makes the use of RKDevTool needed. Expensive. Wouldn't be as good for me if I didn't know great Armbian devs(MonkaBlyat). 
Rock5B                     Software not ready for my daily needs, seems the worst supported board. USB-C PD has issue's. No good cooling sollution comes with the board. 


My opinion on available software 
--------------------------------
1.   Khadas Edge2           Ubuntu 22.04 works great with panfork. You can also use the blob GPU driver if you start with the Gnome image. Almost everything works as it should. 
2.   Mekotronics R58(X-4G)  Armbian Jammy Gnome works great with panfork. The Mekotronics images aren't perfect. Works well for desktop/video/gaming. 
3.   NanoPi R6S             Ubuntu 22.04 gnome works well, but panfork doesn't work with it. It's very stable, did my desktop tasks as a champ. But I'm missing gaming on it with x11. 
4.   Radxa Rock5B           Armbian Jammy Gnome is buggy as hell. Only Armbian runs ok on it. The Debian image from Radxa is a mess, Android is unusable. DTB file seems badly hacked together.


My favorite ranking for now
---------------------------
1. Mekotronics R58X-4G            It has it all. Good cooling, nice it's not tiny, NVMe and SATA and mini-PCIe. 1 less full sized HDMI vs R58 but USB-C DP works too. Armbian thanks to MonkaBlyat brings this on top.
2. NanoPi R6S                     Limited but works well for what I wanted from it. The case is a big plus. Panfork not working. But the Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome image is great for desktop tasks. Stable, great video playback. Performs well as NAS too. Love that it has an SD-reader. I do not need dual 2.5GbE, so could have been better having NVMe instead of 2nd 2.5GbE port.
3. Khadas Edge 2                  Missing of a metal case brings this down, waiting for the case to be released. The software from Khadas is the best of all. No SD-card is also a big minor. Best board for travel laptop.
4. Mekotronics R58X               Works well. But has a lot less I/O than R58X-4G. Then again has 2 x full sized HDMI-out vs 1 x on R58X-4G. 
5. Radxa Rock5B                   Bit dissapointed by the software. It does have all the bells and whistles I want. But it isn't ready for daily use yet. Armbian is the only ok-working image for it. And that is a lot more buggy than all the others. 
 
***Don't have the OPi5*** 

 

[balbes150]

Alpha version of Armbian for Khades EDGE 2 (rk3588s).

Launch. Download, unpack, burn to USB media (you can use an SD card if there is an additional module with a card reader for an SD card). Connect to any USB port on EDGE 2 and turn on the power. The system starts automatically. It would be interesting to run tests on this version. I pay attention - there is no 3D acceleration yet, general performance tests for the Armbian image are interesting. Wi-Fi is not working yet,  need to use USB-LAN, this will be fixed in future versions.

 

https://disk.yandex.ru/d/QMgdvGqF3jpgJw

[NicoD]

2 hours ago, balbes150 said:

Alpha version of Armbian for Khades EDGE 2 (rk3588s).

Great job. Nice to be able to run it from USB.
I tried the Jammy Gnome image. CLI works but once it boots into desktop the display stops working. Keyboard also not reacting(numlock).
Cheers.

[balbes150]

11 часов назад, NicoD сказал:

Great job. Nice to be able to run it from USB.
I tried the Jammy Gnome image. CLI works but once it boots into desktop the display stops working. Keyboard also not reacting(numlock).

By default, wayland is enabled, you need to switch to x11 or use XFCE.

[balbes150]

@NicoDVersion 20230211 Armbian for khadas edge2 - added support for HW 3D . The result of gnome3+wayland+arm-blob gave about 3800 parrots. For details on how to install HW and testing, see this topic.

 

 

[NicoD]

@balbes150 I tested Armbian_23.02.0-trunk_Kedge2_jammy_legacy_5.10.110_gnome_desktop.img
Didn't work with Android installed on eMMC. So I installed ubuntu-server and then it runs.
I installed the blob. Wayland runs normal. But the other benchmarks perform a little worse than others.
SBC-bench seems broken. If there's something you want tested, let me know.

I'll see to make a video about it next week. Nice to be able to boot from USB. Just too bad can't mix Android and Armbian.
 

Board              | OS                            | Kernel         | Clockspeeds             | 7z b all cores     | 7z b core small core    | 7z b big core   | NicoD Blender    | Supertuxkart     | SBC-Bench
Khadas VIM2          Ubuntu 20.04 Gnome              5.18.0           1.4Ghz A53/1Ghz A53       7728                 900 (core 7)              1235 (core 0)     18m26s 2.79b       5fps              http://ix.io/4b4d
Khadas VIM2          Armbian Kinetic server          6.1.0-meson64    1.4Ghz A53/1Ghz A53       7867                                           1252 (core 0) 
Khadas VIM3          Ubuntu 20.04 Gnome              5.18.0           1.8Ghz A53/2.2Ghz A73     10300                1636 (core 0)             2417 (core 5)     9m38s  2.79b       19fps             http://ix.io/4b4S
Khadas VIM4          Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome              5.4.125          2.2Ghz A73/2Ghz A53       14138                1775 (core 7)             2299 (core 0)     5m46s              52fps             http://ix.io/4bkv
Khadas VIM4          Debian 10 xfce4                 5.4.125          2.2Ghz A73/2Ghz A53       15113                1830 (core 7)             2334 (core 0)     7m15s  2.79b                         http://ix.io/4blv
Station P1           Armbian Jammy xfce4             5.18.19          1.4Ghz A53/1.8Ghz A72     7607                 1248 (core 0)             1843 (core 5)     10m10s             7fps              http://ix.io/4b9f
Odroid N2+           Armbian Jammy xfce4             5.10.139         2Ghz A53/2.4Ghz A73       11755                1761 (core 0)             2518 (core 5)     5m53s              18fps             http://ix.io/4b9V
Odroid N2+           Armbian Kinetic server          6.1.0-meson64    2Ghz A53/2.4Ghz A73       11807                1764 (core 0)             2520 (core 5)     xxx                18fps
Odroid C2            Armbian kinetic server          6.1.0-meson64    1.5Ghz                    5173                 1320 (core 0)                           
Khadas Edge2         Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome              5.10.66          1.8Ghz A55/2.35Ghz*** A76 16901                1766 (core 0)             2930 (core 7)     3m25s              110fps (wayland)  http://ix.io/4e8w ****SBC-Bench broken big cores at 408Mhz
Khadas Edge2         Armbian Jammy Gnome             5.10.110-media   1.8Ghz A55/2.4Ghz A76     15424                1524 (core 0)             2589 (core 7)     3m56s              110fps (wayland)  

Mekotronics R58      Debian Bullseye x11 xfce4       5.10.110         1.8Ghz A53/2.2Ghz A76     16241                1758 (core 0)             2839 (core 1)     4m50s V2.83.5
Mekotronics R58      Debian Bullseye wayland         5.10.110         1.8Ghz A53/2.2Ghz A76     16803                1777 (core 0)             2879 (core 1)     4m35s              110fps (wayland)  http://ix.io/4j40
Mekotronics R58      Ubuntu 20.04 x11                5.10.66          1.8Ghz A53/2.2Ghz A76     16477                1765 (core 0)             2897 (core 1)     5m53s V2.82        4fps (llvmpipe)
Mekotronics R58      Manjaro Gnome                   5.10.66-28rk     1.8Ghz A53/2.2Ghz A76     16153                1572 (core 0)             2568 (core 1)
NanoPi R6S           Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome Headless     5.10.110         1.8Ghz A55/2.3Ghz *** A76 16385                1449 (core 0)             2493 (core 7)     3m27s              110fps (wayland)  http://ix.io/4gSl

Great job.

[balbes150]

These are the test results for Khadash EDGE 2 with performance mode enabled in XFCE with panfork - 1092 parrot installed.

 

Below is a link to the general test from the @tkaiser page
I'm not a test specialist, so I don't know how well the test went.

http://ix.io/4nUy

 

 

@NicoD Version 20230213 . added support for Wi-fi. I don't use Wi-Fi, can you check if it works or not?

[thc013]

well about hacked together they all use the same bsp to get their precompiled libraries and they all use the same dowmstream kernel .

 

there is just some diffrences from wich date they based their kernel from the dowmstream one , and some drivers for khadas edge2 the mcu or small difrent lcd's screens in their shop or other wifi or net (opi5)

 

and 1 use the "not official" panfork mod and the other the default mali blob

 

and pd issue 5B i dont know use a xiamo charger wich got free with a phone and happy does 20V and the sd reader is crap

 

and the nanopi kernel is the most modded one with their openwrt things etc

 

and for the OS it is just how you configure it and if you like the khadas ubunutu more as stock raxda os then use khadas ubuntu on a 5B

 

how is the av1 and avs streaming is going on other distros as armbian or wich board has it supported ?

 

[NicoD]

@balbes150Wifi works.
I'm starting to make the video about your Armbian image on Khadas Edge2. Good work. It's a great experience.

[balbes150]

14 часов назад, NicoD сказал:

I'm starting to make the video about your Armbian image on Khadas Edge2

Please note - DO NOT install on eMMC yet, this mode is not fully ready and tested yet.

[NicoD]

7 hours ago, balbes150 said:

Please note - DO NOT install on eMMC yet, this mode is not fully ready and tested yet.

Good you say it. I was planning to do this when I had a good configuration.
Still searching for the best result. I think I'll start with server image, then install the panfork drivers and multimedia with kodi. Then reboot and install ubuntu-desktop for gnome with wayland. The blob does work well, but I'm unable to make some things work with it.
I'm running it like that on my Mekotronics R58X-4G. I love it.

[balbes150]

16 часов назад, NicoD сказал:

The blob does work well, but I'm unable to make some things work with it.

What exactly is not working ?

[NicoD]

10 hours ago, balbes150 said:

What exactly is not working ?

Games with the blob driver. I've been told it should work, but it doesn't. Wine works, so box86/64 also work. But nothing GPU accelerated works. PPSSPP is using llvmpipe software render.

So I'll do the same configuration as I'm using on the R58X-4G with Jammy Gnome + panfork driver and multimedia repo.

For the gnome desktop it's a little more buggy because of flickering mouse pointer. But I gladly take that for having my games/PPSSPP working. I'll probably make the video tomorrow. I'm done testing.
Only issue is it doesn't boot when other USB drives are connected. And no eMMC install as you said.

[balbes150]

11 часов назад, NicoD сказал:

Only issue is it doesn't boot when other USB drives are connected.

The order of connected devices is important, the startup works from  USB-0 device. If you are using  USB hub, try changing the ports where the media with the system is connected. The installation on eMMC works, but in its current form it overwrites u-boot to the test version, which still lacks some of the elements for USB operation from u-boot. I.e. if you install the system, you will lose the ability to run systems from USB. Temporarily, this can be solved - after installing on eMMC, overwrite boot to the previous version (before installing, dd  copy of u-boot from eMMC and return it back after installation).

[balbes150]

11 часов назад, NicoD сказал:

Games with the blob driver. I've been told it should work, but it doesn't. Wine works, so box86/64 also work. But nothing GPU accelerated works. PPSSPP is using llvmpipe software render.

Have you installed all the components ? Look at the topic, there are links to additional packages for ARM-blob. And look at the packages and settings that are used in the Ubuntu image from khodas, maybe you are missing the correct settings.

[balbes150]

20 часов назад, NicoD сказал:

And no eMMC install as you said.

Version 20230217. Added support for installation on eMMC. Important. After installation on eMMC, to enable support for starting the system from USB, you need to copy the file /boot/dtb/rockchip/rk3588s-khadas-edge2.dtb to /dtb.img (that's right, in / the first partition). Initially, I made the system without the need for manual copying, but by default, this option is used in official versions (/dtb.img), and I have not yet decided which option is preferable (for subsequent compatibility with the main kernel and official versions of the system from khadas).

[NicoD]

@balbes150I already made the video. I did say in it the sollution for eMMC install is in this thread.
 

 

[balbes150]

2 часа назад, NicoD сказал:

I already made the video. I did say in it the sollution for eMMC install is in this thread.

There are two options for how to implement USB startup support. The first is to do everything automatically, i.e. the user does nothing manually (minus - there will be no compatibility with the official versions). The second option is that some of the operations need to be done manually (copy DTB to the root of the first section), there will be compatibility with the official versions of khadas images. The question is - which is better ?

 

 

https://users.armbian.com/balbes150/kedge2/

[balbes150]

@NicoDVersion 20230219. No manual copying of dtb is needed anymore, all support is included in u-boot, i.e. after writing the image to USB\SD, you can use it immediately. The installation on eMMC has been checked.

 

ps All the necessary changes will automatically get into the official relise version, you can build your own version of the images  

[balbes150]

@NicoDVersion 202303 for EDG2. Updated the kernel. If you decide to build your own version, use my GIT, the official git is broken. p.s. there is a little surprise for you in Test.mp4.  

 

By the way, for Rock 5b there is also support for direct launch from USB, as well as for Station M3.

[NicoD]

3 hours ago, balbes150 said:

@NicoDVersion 202303 for EDG2. Updated the kernel. If you decide to build your own version, use my GIT, the official git is broken. p.s. there is a little surprise for you in Test.mp4.  

Ha. I'll check it out. I'm waiting for them to sell the case. I hope it's soon.
I'm now working on the Mekotronics devices. Got the R58X-Pro now. The same as R58X-4G but added sd-cardreader, 10GbE (that doesn't work yet), front display, 2 extra USB2 ports and a programmable volume knob. I like it a lot.
Tho M.2 is used for 10GbE NIC, bit a shame since now no storage device can get the 1GB/S speed of the 10GbE. Still an amazing board to play with.

[balbes150]

@NicoD   add image 20230323-edge for khadas edge2 (and rock5b , station m3) use kernel 6.2 pancsf-midstream 

info

 

[Bas]

Great video Nico. I must say I fell in love with the nanopi R6C form factor, it reminds me of my aluminium RPI4 case (GREAT passive cooling). With 8Gb I have a bit more leeway than my current 4Gb plastic Meko box. Well ideally I would like 16Gb, but it's not there for the R6C. And it has a nice nvme slot. Could be an awesome server/NAS combo for me. The price of 125EUR including metal case is perfect. But this time I will wait for official Linux support.

 

(In the meantime still using the plastic 4Gb Meko R58, still doing great with the Monka armbian!)

 

Bas