RK3568 vs RK3566
Same CPU cluster, GPU and video engines. RK3568 adds PCIe 3.0 x2, a second GbE MAC, more USB 3 and SATA, ECC and industrial variants. RK3566 is the cheaper consumer part for tablets, handhelds and simple SBCs.
- 4× Cortex-A55 @ 2.0 GHz
- 1 TOPS NPU
- PCIe 3.0 x2 + SATA
- Dual GbE
- ECC DDR, industrial grade
- 4× Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz
- 0.8 TOPS NPU
- 4K@60 decode
- Low cost
- Great mainline support
Specifications side by side
| RK3568 | RK3566 | |
|---|---|---|
| NPU | 1 TOPS | 0.8 TOPS |
| Process | 22 nm | 22 nm |
| Introduced | 2021 | 2021 |
| Architecture | ARMv8.2-A | ARMv8.2-A |
| CPU | 4× Cortex-A55 up to 2.0 GHz | 4× Cortex-A55 up to 1.8 GHz |
| GPU | Arm Mali-G52 2EE (OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, OpenCL 2.0) | Arm Mali-G52 2EE |
| Memory | DDR3 / DDR3L / DDR4 / LPDDR3 / LPDDR4 / LPDDR4X, up to 8 GB, with ECC | DDR3 / DDR3L / DDR4 / LPDDR3 / LPDDR4 / LPDDR4X, up to 8 GB |
| Storage | eMMC 5.1, SD 3.0, SPI NOR/NAND, SATA 3.0, NVMe over PCIe | eMMC 5.1, SD 3.0, SPI flash, SATA / NVMe via PCIe 2.1 combo PHY |
| Video decode | 4K@60 H.265 / H.264 / VP9 | 4K@60 H.265 / H.264 / VP9 |
| Video encode | 1080p@60 H.264 / H.265 | 1080p@60 H.264 / H.265 |
| Display | HDMI 2.0, eDP, MIPI DSI ×2, LVDS, RGB; up to 3 displays | HDMI 2.0, eDP, MIPI DSI, LVDS, RGB; dual display |
| Camera / ISP | 8 MP ISP, MIPI CSI-2 4-lane (or 2× 2-lane) | 8 MP ISP, MIPI CSI-2 |
Interfaces side by side
| RK3568 | RK3566 | |
|---|---|---|
| PCIe | PCIe 3.0 x2 (1×2 or 2×1) + PCIe 2.1 x1 (combo PHY) | PCIe 2.1 x1 (combo PHY) |
| USB | USB 3.0 ×2 (one OTG), USB 2.0 host ×2 | USB 3.0 host ×1, USB 2.0 OTG + host |
| Ethernet | 2× GMAC (RGMII / RMII) | 1× GMAC (RGMII) |
| SATA | Up to 3× SATA 3.0 via combo PHY | SATA 3.0 via combo PHY |
| MIPI | MIPI CSI-2, MIPI DSI ×2 | MIPI CSI-2, MIPI DSI |
| I2C / SPI / UART | I2C ×6, SPI ×4, UART ×10 | Same controller family as RK3568 (package limits availability) |
| GPIO / PWM | 5 GPIO banks, PWM ×16 | — |
| Other | CAN-FD ×3, I2S, PDM, SARADC | I2S, PDM, PWM, SARADC |
| Operating systems | Linux (vendor 4.19 / 5.10 / 6.1 BSP), Mainline Linux (mature), Android 11 / 12 / 13, Debian, Ubuntu, Buildroot, Yocto, OpenWrt | Linux (vendor & mainline), Android 11 / 12, Debian, Ubuntu, Buildroot, Yocto |
Choose RK3568 for
- Industrial gateways and PLC/HMI
- NAS and network appliances
- Commercial displays
- Light edge AI
Choose RK3566 for
- Low-cost SBCs
- Tablets and e-readers
- Handheld gaming
- Smart home hubs
FAQ
What is the difference between RK3568 and RK3566?
Same CPU cluster, GPU and video engines. RK3568 adds PCIe 3.0 x2, a second GbE MAC, more USB 3 and SATA, ECC and industrial variants. RK3566 is the cheaper consumer part for tablets, handhelds and simple SBCs.
Which has the stronger NPU, RK3568 or RK3566?
RK3568 (1 TOPS vs 0.8 TOPS).
Is RK3566 software compatible with RK3568?
Both use Rockchip's BSP stack (U-Boot, vendor kernel, RKNN where an NPU exists), so application code ports easily. Device trees, DDR init blobs and some drivers are SoC-specific and must be adapted.
More comparisons
Specs summarised from public sources; verify against official datasheets. Disagree with the verdict? Discuss it in the community.
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