Hardware Overview

We will provide detailed hardware information for the ROCK 5B in this article.

Processor (1)

The SoC of the ROCK 5B is the Rockchip RK3588. The main CPU is a quad-core ARM Cortex-A76 MPCore processor and a quad-core ARM Cortex-A55 MPCore processor, Both are high-performance, low-power and cached application processors. The ARM Mali-G610 MP4 3D GPU makes the RK3588 fully compatible with OpenGLES 1.1, 2.0, 3.2, OpenCL 2.2 and Vulkan 1.2. The special 2D hardware engine with MMU will maximize display performance and provide very smooth operation. The built-in NPU supports INT4 / INT8 / NT16 / FP16 mixed operations with up to 6 TOPs of computational power. In addition, network models based on a range of frameworks such as TensorFlow / MXNet / PyTorch / Caffe can be easily implemented due to its strong compatibility.

Memory (2)

The ROCK 5B's memory is LPDDR 4x, which consists of two 32 bits LPDDR 4x chips making up 64 bits at a frequency of up to 4224 Mhz. The ROCK 5B is available in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB memory options.

USB-C Power Supply (3)

The Radxa ROCK 5 Model B is designed as a low power ARM desktop single board computer. It supports the following power inputs:

• Type-C 5V input with a recommended input current of 5A under high load.
• USB PD2.0 power adapter supporting 12V / 15V / 20V with 2A or higher output current.
• Power adapter with fixed 9V to 20V DC voltage and USB-C plugs
• 5V PoE power from GPIO PINs 2 and 4

HDMI outputs (4 / 5)

HDMI Input (6)

USB2.0 (7)

USB3.0 (8)

2.5GbE (9)

PoE (10)

M.2 E-KEY (11)

M.2 E key pin signal definition table:

Pin#	Name	Pin#	Name	Pin#	Name	Pin#	Name
1	GND	21	WIFI_WAKE_HOST_H_GPIO3_D5	49	PCIE20_REFCLKN	69	GND
2	VCC3V3_WF	22	UART1_RX_M0	50	WIFIBT_32KIN_1T1R	70	BT_WAKE
3	USB2_M2_DP	23	WIFI_REG_ON	51	GND	71	NC
4	VCC3V3_WF	32	UART1_TX_M0	52	PCIE_PERSTN	72	VCC3V3_WF
5	USB2_M2_DM	33	GND	53	PCIE_CLKREQN	73	NC
6	WIFI_LED	34	UART1_CTS_M	54	HOST_WAKE_BT_H	74	VCC3V3_WF
7	GND	35	PCIE_TXP	55	PCIE_WAKEN	75	GND
8	PCM_CLK/I2S_SCK	36	UART1_RTS_M	56	BT_REG_ON_H	76	GND
9	SDIO_CLK	37	PCIE_TXN	57	GND	77	GND
10	PCM_SYNC/I2S_WS	38	NC	58	I2C4_SDA_M1	78	NC
11	SDMMC2_CMD_M0	39	GND	59	NC	79	NC
12	PCM_OUT/I2S SD_OUT	40	NC	60	I2C4_SCL_M1
13	SDMMC2_D0_M0	41	PCIE20_RXP	61	NC
14	PCM_IN/I2S SD_IN	42	BT_REG_NO	62	NC
15	SDMMC2_D1_M0	43	PCIE20_RXN	63	GND
16	NC	44	NC	64	NC
17	SDMMC2_D2_M0	45	GND	65	NC
18	GND	46	NC	66	NC
19	SDMMC2_D3_M0	47	PCIE20_REFC	67	NC
20	BT_WAKE_HOST_H_GPIO4_B4	48	NC	68	NC

M.2 M-KEY (12)

eMMC (13)

Onboard Socket Interface Features
High performance eMMC modules are the best choice for ROCK 5B system storage. eMMC modules are available in 8GB / 16GB / 32GB / 64GB / 128GB. The eMMC socket pinouts are listed below:

Name	Pin#	Pin#	Name
GND	1	34	GND
EMMC_D5	2	33	EMMC_D6
GND	3	32	GND
EMMC_D4	4	31	EMMC_D7
GND	5	30	GND
EMMC_D0	6	29	EMMC_D1
GND	7	28	GND
EMMC_CLK	8	27	EMMC_D2
GND	9	26	GND
EMMC_D3	10	25	EMMC_CMD
GND	11	24	GND
EMMC_RSTN	12	23	VCC3V3_SYS
GND	13	22	VCC3V3_SYS
GND	14	21	VCC_1V8
EMMC_RCLK	15	20	VCC_1V8
GND	16	19	GND
GND	17	18	GND

TF Card Slot (14)

The TF card can be used as system storage or external storage.

When it is used as system storage, you should preferably choose one with more than 8GB of storage space.

When it is used as external storage, you can choose the storage space up to 128GB.

When the TF card is inserted into the TF card slot, the system will automatically recognize the device.

The interface pin specifications of the TF card are shown below:

Pin#	Name
1	SDMMC0_D2
2	SDMMC0_D3
3	SDMMC0_CMD
4	VCC3V3_SYS
5	SDMMC0_CLK
6	GND
7	SDMMC0_D0
8	SDMMC0_D1
9	SDMMC0_DET_L
10	GND
11	GND
12	GND
13	GND

Earphones (15)

MIPI CSI (16)

Please refer to MIPI camera compatibility.

MIPI DSI (17)

Please refer to MIPI screen compatibility.

40 PIN GPIO (18)

GPIO Voltage

GPIO	Voltage	Max.
All GPIOs	3.3V	3.63V
SARADC_IN4	3.3V	1.8V

GPIO Interface

The ROCK 5B is supplied with a 40pin pin GPIO cradle that is compatible with most sensor applications on the market.

Hint: Actual compatibility is subject to use.

• The ROCK5B has a 40-pin expansion connector. Each pin is color coded.

GPIO number	Function8	Function7	Function6	Function5	Function4	Function3	Function2	Function1	Pin#	Pin#	Function1	Function2	Function3	Function4	Function5	Function6	Function7	Function8	GPIO number
								+3.3V	1	2	+5.0V
139			I2S1_SDO2_M0	I2C7_SDA_M3	UART8_CTSN_M0	PWM15_IR_M1	CAN1_TX_M1	GPIO4_B3	3	4	+5.0V
138			I2S1_SDO1_M0	I2C7_SCL_M3	UART8_RTSN_M0	PWM14_M1	CAN1_RX_M1	GPIO4_B2	5	6	GND
115		SPI1_CS1_M1		I2C8_SDA_M4	UART7_CTSN_M1	PWM15_IR_M0		GPIO3_C3	7	8	GPIO0_B5			UART2_TX_M0	I2C1_SCL_M0	I2S1_MCLK_M1			13
								GND	9	10	GPIO0_B6			UART2_RX_M0	I2C1_SDA_M0	I2S1_SCLK_M1			14
113		SPI1_CLK_M1			UART7_RX_M1			GPIO3_C1	11	12	GPIO3_B5	CAN1_RX_M0	PWM12_M0	UART3_TX_M1		I2S2_SCLK_M1			109
111		SPI1_MOSI_M1		I2C3_SCL_M1				GPIO3_B7	13	14	GND
112		SPI1_MISO_M1		I2C3_SDA_M1	UART7_TX_M1			GPIO3_C0	15	16	GPIO3_A4								100
								+3.3V	17	18	GPIO4_C4		PWM5_M2				SPI3_MISO_M0		148
42		SPI0_MOSI_M2			UART4_RX_M2			GPIO1_B2	19	20	GND
41		SPI0_MISO_M2						GPIO1_B1	21	22	SARADC_IN4
43		SPI0_CLK_M2			UART4_TX_M2			GPIO1_B3	23	24	GPIO1_B4			UART7_RX_M2			SPI0_CS0_M2		44
								GND	25	26	GPIO1_B5			UART7_TX_M2			SPI0_CS1_M2		45
150		SPI3_CLK_M0		I2C0_SDA_M1		PWM7_IR_M3		GPIO4_C6	27	28	GPIO4_C5		PWM6_M2		I2C0_SCL_M1		SPI3_MOSI_M0		149
63					UART1_CTSN_M1	PWM15_IR_M3		GPIO1_D7	29	30	GND
47	SPDIF_TX_M0				UART1_RX_M1	PWM13_M2		GPIO1_B7	31	32	GPIO3_C2		PWM14_M0	UART7_RTSN_M1	I2C8_SCL_M4		SPI1_CS0_M1		114
103						PWM8_M0		GPIO3_A7	33	34	GND
110			I2S2_LRCK_M1		UART3_RX_M1	PWM13_M0	CAN1_TX_M0	GPIO3_B6	35	36	GPIO3_B1		PWM2_M1	UART2_TX_M2					105
								GPIO0_A0	37	38	GPIO3_B2		PWM3_IR_M1	UART2_RX_M2		I2S2_SDI_M1			106
								GND	39	40	GPIO3_B3			UART2_RTSN		I2S2_SDO_M1			107

SPI NOR Flash (19)

RTC Batteries (20)

The RTC connectors are designed to follow standard connector types.

You can tell '+3.3V' and '-' from the silkscreen on the board.

Pin#	Name
1	GND
2	+3.3V

Recovery button (21)

The ROCK 5B supports loader mode, which is a special operation mode in which the CPU waits for commands from the USB OTG port.

The Recovery button is used to upgrade the image of SPI NOR Flash or eMMC on the board.

The following are the steps to boot the device into loader mode.

• Ensure that the U-Boot image has been pre-installed on the SPI NOR Flash or eMMC.
• Press and hold the Recovery button
• Plug the USB-A to C cable into the Type-C port of the ROCK 5B and the other end into your computer.
• Wait for about 5 seconds
• Make sure the ROCK 5B is in loader mode.

#For macOS host:
    lsusb result
Output:Bus 000 Device 004: ID 2207:350b Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd. Composite Device

#For Linux host:
    lsusb result
Output：Bus 001 Device 030: ID 2207:350b Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Company

#For Windows host:
Open RKDevTool and you would see the device is in Found One MASKROM Device.

Power button (22)

The power button is used to turn the device on or off. A short press on the power button turns the power of the device on/off. This is what we call power on/off via software. The power button also provides hardware power on/off of the device. You can turn off the device in this way when the system crashes. Press and hold the power button for at least 6 seconds. Then release the power button. After that, a short press on the power button will power on the device.

RGB LED (23)

Consult [LED Guidelines] (../os-config/rsetup#leds).

Fan (24)

You can check rsetup: thermal-governor for fan settings. Definition table (top to bottom in the image):

Pin#	Name
1	+5.0V
2	GND

Maskrom Button (25)

The ROCK 5B supports Maskrom mode, a special mode of operation in which the CPU waits for commands from the USB OTG port.

When you need to write an image to the SPI NOR Flash or eMMC board, you need to use the Maskrom button to enter the Maskrom mode.

WIFI

Please refer to the supported WIFI models