Radxa has unveiled their ROCK 3B, which was first teased in 2021 alongside the launch of the ROCK 3A. The design and specifications have now been finalized, featuring a "PI-CO ITX" form factor that is slightly larger than Pico-ITX size but includes a standard Raspberry Pi 40-pin GPIO and rear-facing I/O. The board measures 100 x 75 mm, making it incompatible with Raspberry Pi housings, but it may fit some Pico-ITX cases due to the aligned I/O. The ROCK 3B is similar to the already released ROCK 5B, but it is aimed at a lower performance and price point. The 2 GB variant starts at $45 USD, while the 8 GB variant is priced at $75 USD. Despite the lower price, the ROCK 3B is packed with features and expansion options to justify its larger size.
Key specifications of the ROCK 3B include:
- Rockchip RK3568 2.0 GHz quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A55
- Mali G52 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1
- VPU supporting 4K60 H.264/H.265/VP9 decoding and 1080p60 H.264/H.265 encoding
- AI NPU with support for TensorFlow, TF-Lite, Pytorch, Caffe, ONNX, MXNet, Keras, and Darknet
- LPDDR4 - 2 GB, 4 GB, or 8 GB
- M.2 E-Key PCI-E 2.0 for optional WiFi 6 module
- M.2 B-Key for 4G LTE/5G cellular, SATA, USB
- M.2 M-Key PCI-E 3.0 slot for NVMe SSDs
- Rear-side pluggable eMMC module
- MicroSD card slot
- HDMI 2.0 supporting 4K60
- 2x USB 3.0 (1x OTG, 1x Host), 2x USB 2.0 ports
- Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports with PoE via optional PoE HAT (one port)
- 40-pin GPIO R Pi 3 compatible header with SPI, I2C, PCM/I2S, CAN, PWM, ADC, USB 2.0 and 5 V/3.3 V, GND power pins
- 2x MIPI DSI ports - one 4-lane and one 2-lane
- MIPI CSI camera connector
- 3.5 mm audio jack
- eDP connector
- Touch Panel connector
- RTC with header for battery
- IR receiver
- Power and recovery buttons
- USB Type C port for 6-20 V power, USB PD 2.0 or fixed voltage
For more information about the Radxa ROCK 3B and available accessories, visit the Radxa wiki. The ROCK 3B is currently available from partnered retailers.
