The user asking for "Rock64" may mean either. They come from different companies, use different SoCs, and need different OS images.
Pine64 ROCK64
| ROCK64 | |
|---|---|
| SoC | Rockchip RK3328, quad-core Cortex-A53 up to 1.5 GHz |
| RAM | 1 / 2 / 4 GB LPDDR3 |
| Storage | microSD (bootable), optional eMMC module (bootable) |
| Network | gigabit Ethernet |
| USB | 1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0 |
| GPIO | 2x20-pin "Pi2" header plus a 2x11-pin "Pi P5+" header |
An older, low-power board. Good for simple gateways, DNS/VPN appliances or USB 3.0 storage. Pine64 lists broad community OS support (many Linux distributions, Android, BSDs).
Radxa ROCK 5B
| ROCK 5B | |
|---|---|
| SoC | Rockchip RK3588: 4x Cortex-A76 up to 2.4 GHz + 4x Cortex-A55 up to 1.8 GHz |
| NPU | up to 6 TOPS |
| Storage | eMMC module connector, M.2 M Key with PCIe 3.0 for 2280 NVMe (no M.2 SATA) |
| Network | 2.5G Ethernet with PoE support (PoE HAT required) |
| Other M.2 | E Key for Wi-Fi 6 modules |
| GPIO | 40-pin expansion header |
A high-end board for NVMe storage, NPU inference and fast networking.
Practical tips
- Download images and read docs from the right vendor (Pine64 wiki vs docs.radxa.com). Images are board-specific; an image for one does not boot on the other.
- Radxa documentation covers several ROCK 5 variants (5A, 5B, 5B+, 5C, ...) with different RAM and I/O; check the exact variant printed on the board.
- For NVMe, buy an NVMe SSD: M.2 SATA drives fit the slot but don't work on the ROCK 5B.