RK3588 vs RK3399
RK3588 roughly doubles to triples RK3399 CPU throughput, adds a 6 TOPS NPU, 8K video and PCIe 3.0. RK3399 remains relevant for its excellent mainline support and existing product lines; new designs should normally start on RK3588/RK3588S or RK3576.
- 4× Cortex-A76 + 4× Cortex-A55
- 6 TOPS NPU (3 cores)
- 8K@60 decode
- PCIe 3.0 x4
- HDMI 2.1 ×2 + HDMI RX
- 2× A72 + 4× A53
- PCIe 2.1 x4
- Mature mainline
- Dual ISP
- Long-term availability
Specifications side by side
| RK3588 | RK3399 | |
|---|---|---|
| NPU | 6 TOPS | None |
| Process | 8 nm | 28 nm |
| Introduced | 2022 | 2016 |
| Architecture | ARMv8.2-A, DynamIQ big.LITTLE | ARMv8-A big.LITTLE |
| CPU | 4× Cortex-A76 up to 2.4 GHz + 4× Cortex-A55 up to 1.8 GHz | 2× Cortex-A72 up to 1.8–2.0 GHz + 4× Cortex-A53 up to 1.4–1.5 GHz |
| GPU | Arm Mali-G610 MP4 (OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2, OpenCL 2.2) | Arm Mali-T860 MP4 |
| Memory | LPDDR4 / LPDDR4X / LPDDR5, up to 32 GB | DDR3 / DDR3L / LPDDR3 / LPDDR4, up to 4 GB |
| 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 flash, NVMe over PCIe |
| Video decode | 8K@60 H.265 / VP9 / AV1, 8K@30 H.264 | 4K@60 H.265 / VP9, 4K@30 H.264 |
| Video encode | 8K@30 H.264 / H.265 | 1080p@30 H.264 |
| 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 1.3, DP 1.2 (via Type-C), MIPI DSI ×2; dual display |
| Camera / ISP | 48 MP ISP, multiple MIPI CSI-2 D-PHY/C-PHY inputs | Dual ISP (13 MP each), MIPI CSI-2 ×2 |
Interfaces side by side
| RK3588 | RK3399 | |
|---|---|---|
| PCIe | PCIe 3.0 x4 (bifurcation 1×4 / 2×2 / 4×1) + 3× PCIe 2.1 x1 (shared combo PHY) | PCIe 2.1 x4 |
| 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 Type-C ×2 (with DP alt mode), USB 2.0 host ×2 |
| Ethernet | 2× GMAC (RGMII, 10/100/1000) | 1× GMAC (RGMII) |
| SATA | 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 ×2, MIPI DSI ×2 |
| HDMI input | HDMI 2.0 RX, 4K@60 | — |
| I2C / SPI / UART | I2C ×9, SPI ×5, UART ×10 | I2C ×9, SPI ×6, UART ×5 |
| GPIO / PWM | 5 GPIO banks, PWM ×16 | — |
| Other | CAN ×3, I2S ×4, PDM, SPDIF, SARADC, SDIO 3.0 | I2S, SPDIF, PWM, SARADC, SDIO 3.0 |
| Operating systems | Linux (vendor 5.10 / 6.1 BSP), Mainline Linux (growing support), Android 12 / 13 / 14, Debian, Ubuntu, Buildroot, Yocto | Mainline Linux (mature), Vendor Linux 4.4 / 4.19, Android 7–11, Debian, Ubuntu, Buildroot, Yocto, ChromeOS |
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 RK3399 for
- Legacy products & long-tail maintenance
- Chromebooks and ARM laptops
- Mainline-first projects
FAQ
What is the difference between RK3588 and RK3399?
RK3588 roughly doubles to triples RK3399 CPU throughput, adds a 6 TOPS NPU, 8K video and PCIe 3.0. RK3399 remains relevant for its excellent mainline support and existing product lines; new designs should normally start on RK3588/RK3588S or RK3576.
Which has the stronger NPU, RK3588 or RK3399?
RK3588 (6 TOPS vs no NPU).
Is RK3399 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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