Infrastructure / Edge AI hardware

Radxa ROCK 5B

Single-board computer built on the Rockchip RK3588, pairing a quad-core Cortex-A76 at up to 2.4 GHz with a quad-core Cortex-A55 and a built-in 6 TOPS NPU, in a 100 by 75 millimetre form factor. It is offered with 4GB to 16GB of LPDDR4X, and up to 32GB of LPDDR5 on the Plus variant.

Made by Radxa. The openness axis weighs downloadable schematics, mechanical files and a published board support package against Rockchip binaries and editable PCB source that is not released. Verified 2026-08-13 via the Radxa download and introduction pages, the radxa-repo/bsp repository and the rkbin repository.

Openness

4 high confidence

4.0

schematics: published (PDF + SMD maps + DXF + 3D STP + CE/FCC public)
toolchain: open (open BSP/kernel/U-Boot)
blobs: required (Rockchip rkbin/DDR/TF-A required)
retail: open_market (global)

Schematics and mechanical files are publicly downloadable and the BSP is open, but the RK3588 needs proprietary Rockchip blobs and editable PCB source is not released.

https://docs.radxa.com/en/rock5/rock5b/download recorded 2026-08-13
Hardware Design section listing "v1.3 Schematic pdf", "v1.42 Schematic pdf", "v1.3 SMD pdf", "v1.3 2D Top&Bottom dxf", "v1.42 3D Figure stp" and a Quality certification section with CE EMC test reports; no editable PCB source offered
https://github.com/radxa-repo/bsp recorded 2026-08-13
"bsp - Radxa BSP Build Tool" under a GPL-3.0 license, 1,163 commits
https://github.com/rockchip-linux/rkbin recorded 2026-08-13
Rockchip's own "Firmware and Tool Binarys" repository - prebuilt SPL/DDR/UsbPlug/BL31/BL32/OPTEE boot binaries distributed as binaries rather than source
https://ameridroid.com/products/rock5-model-b recorded 2026-08-13
ROCK 5 Model B listed for sale at an authorized US distributor at $289.95 across three RAM variants

Adoption

5 high confidence

5.0

One of the most popular RK3588 SBCs, sold globally through authorized distributors with 15+ third-party OS ports and an active community. The ameriDroid listing is live at $289.95 though every RAM variant currently reads "Sold out" at that distributor, which is one distributor's inventory rather than a discontinuation; Radxa's own docs list the third-party OS ports (Armbian, Arch, DietPi, openFyde, Batocera, RebornOS and others).

https://ameridroid.com/products/rock5-model-b recorded 2026-08-13
ROCK 5 Model B listing live at an authorized US distributor, $289.95, with "Sold out" against the RAM variants
https://docs.radxa.com/en/rock5/rock5b/download recorded 2026-08-13
third-party OS images listed for ROCK 5B including Armbian, Arch Linux, DietPi, RebornOS, openFyde and Batocera

Capability

4 high confidence

4.0

6 TOPS INT8 plus up to 16-32GB RAM runs quantized small/mid LLMs and real-time vision via RKNN, strong for an edge SBC. The introduction reads "up to 6TOPs" with INT4/INT8/INT16/FP16/BF16/TF32 support and 4/8/16 LPDDR4X on the 5B and 4/8/16/32 LPDDR5 on the 5B+. The 32GB ceiling is what places it a step above the other 6 TOPS RK3588 boards here (orange-pi-5, khadas-edge2, both at 3), and still below the Jetson Orin NX.

https://docs.radxa.com/en/rock5/rock5b/getting-started/introduction recorded 2026-08-13
"NPU supports INT4/INT8/INT16/FP16/BF16 and TF32 acceleration with up to 6TOPs of computation power"; 4/8/16 64-bit LPDDR4X and 4/8/16/32 64-bit LPDDR5

Verified 2026-08-13