RK3588 vs RK3568
RK3588 is the flagship (8 cores, 6 TOPS, 8K video, PCIe 3.0 x4); RK3568 is the cost-effective industrial workhorse (4× A55, 1 TOPS, PCIe 3.0 x2, dual GbE, CAN-FD). Choose by AI and video load: RK3568 for gateways and HMIs, RK3588 for vision, NVR and multi-display systems.
- 4× Cortex-A76 + 4× Cortex-A55
- 6 TOPS NPU (3 cores)
- 8K@60 decode
- PCIe 3.0 x4
- HDMI 2.1 ×2 + HDMI RX
- 4× Cortex-A55 @ 2.0 GHz
- 1 TOPS NPU
- PCIe 3.0 x2 + SATA
- Dual GbE
- ECC DDR, industrial grade
Specifications side by side
| RK3588 | RK3568 | |
|---|---|---|
| NPU | 6 TOPS | 1 TOPS |
| Process | 8 nm | 22 nm |
| Introduced | 2022 | 2021 |
| Architecture | ARMv8.2-A, DynamIQ big.LITTLE | ARMv8.2-A |
| CPU | 4× Cortex-A76 up to 2.4 GHz + 4× Cortex-A55 up to 1.8 GHz | 4× Cortex-A55 up to 2.0 GHz |
| GPU | Arm Mali-G610 MP4 (OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2, OpenCL 2.2) | Arm Mali-G52 2EE (OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, OpenCL 2.0) |
| Memory | LPDDR4 / LPDDR4X / LPDDR5, up to 32 GB | DDR3 / DDR3L / DDR4 / LPDDR3 / LPDDR4 / LPDDR4X, up to 8 GB, with ECC |
| Storage | eMMC 5.1, SD 3.0, SPI NOR/NAND, SATA 3.0 (combo PHY), NVMe over PCIe | eMMC 5.1, SD 3.0, SPI NOR/NAND, SATA 3.0, NVMe over PCIe |
| Video decode | 8K@60 H.265 / VP9 / AV1, 8K@30 H.264 | 4K@60 H.265 / H.264 / VP9 |
| Video encode | 8K@30 H.264 / H.265 | 1080p@60 H.264 / H.265 |
| Display | HDMI 2.1 ×2, DP 1.4 ×2 (via USB-C), eDP 1.3, MIPI DSI ×2; up to 4 displays | HDMI 2.0, eDP, MIPI DSI ×2, LVDS, RGB; up to 3 displays |
| Camera / ISP | 48 MP ISP, multiple MIPI CSI-2 D-PHY/C-PHY inputs | 8 MP ISP, MIPI CSI-2 4-lane (or 2× 2-lane) |
Interfaces side by side
| RK3588 | RK3568 | |
|---|---|---|
| PCIe | PCIe 3.0 x4 (bifurcation 1×4 / 2×2 / 4×1) + 3× PCIe 2.1 x1 (shared combo PHY) | PCIe 3.0 x2 (1×2 or 2×1) + PCIe 2.1 x1 (combo PHY) |
| USB | USB 3.1 Gen1 ×2 (Type-C/DP alt-mode capable), USB 3 host ×1 (combo PHY), USB 2.0 host ×2 | USB 3.0 ×2 (one OTG), USB 2.0 host ×2 |
| Ethernet | 2× GMAC (RGMII, 10/100/1000) | 2× GMAC (RGMII / RMII) |
| SATA | Up to 3× SATA 3.0 via combo PHY | Up to 3× SATA 3.0 via combo PHY |
| MIPI | MIPI CSI-2 inputs (D-PHY and C-PHY), MIPI DSI ×2 | MIPI CSI-2, MIPI DSI ×2 |
| HDMI input | HDMI 2.0 RX, 4K@60 | — |
| I2C / SPI / UART | I2C ×9, SPI ×5, UART ×10 | I2C ×6, SPI ×4, UART ×10 |
| GPIO / PWM | 5 GPIO banks, PWM ×16 | 5 GPIO banks, PWM ×16 |
| Other | CAN ×3, I2S ×4, PDM, SPDIF, SARADC, SDIO 3.0 | CAN-FD ×3, I2S, PDM, SARADC |
| Operating systems | Linux (vendor 5.10 / 6.1 BSP), Mainline Linux (growing support), Android 12 / 13 / 14, Debian, Ubuntu, Buildroot, Yocto | Linux (vendor 4.19 / 5.10 / 6.1 BSP), Mainline Linux (mature), Android 11 / 12 / 13, Debian, Ubuntu, Buildroot, Yocto, OpenWrt |
Choose RK3588 for
- Edge AI boxes and NVRs
- 8K signage and multi-display kiosks
- Robotics and machine vision
- ARM PCs, servers and NAS
- Industrial HMI with PCIe expansion
Choose RK3568 for
- Industrial gateways and PLC/HMI
- NAS and network appliances
- Commercial displays
- Light edge AI
FAQ
What is the difference between RK3588 and RK3568?
RK3588 is the flagship (8 cores, 6 TOPS, 8K video, PCIe 3.0 x4); RK3568 is the cost-effective industrial workhorse (4× A55, 1 TOPS, PCIe 3.0 x2, dual GbE, CAN-FD). Choose by AI and video load: RK3568 for gateways and HMIs, RK3588 for vision, NVR and multi-display systems.
Which has the stronger NPU, RK3588 or RK3568?
RK3588 (6 TOPS vs 1 TOPS).
Is RK3568 software compatible with RK3588?
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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