GPU on a Rock 2

#1

This is a completely useless project but it may be fun.

I want to put a GPU the Rock 2F. The plan is to purchase a 1x PCI-E HAT, (like this one: https://a.aliexpress.com/_EQpgiQQ), convert to an x16 slot (either with a riser or by brute force cutting) and mount a GPU.
I heard that AMD cards are somewhat better because they have more compatible open source drivers.

I don’t want to spend a lot of money and the card should not draw a lot of power, so the most optimal so far seems to be Geforce 1030 (up to 20 W or 30 W, depending on the version). But it’s NVidia so a blob driver will need to be used. It’s from the Pascal generation so no NVK, just Nuveau. Which is less compatible.

So the question is: is it worth even trying out geforce, or should I try to get an old AMD card? And how to power it? So far I wanted to use a simple 12 V barrel charger (the HAT linked above can use it) but the less hungry AMD cards can still draw up to 50 W,

#2

you can just use a cheap powersupply. To power it on, you simply need to short out two pins, where it connects with the motherboard (the really big cable).
atx-connector-20-24pin-246820487
if I’m not mistaken, you just need to connect COM to PS_ON and it will give you power.

PS: if you go the riser route don’t buy a exp-gdc. They have a histroy of static isolation issues.

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#3

Also for the gpu I have a few ideas.
Istead of the 1030 I’d go with a 1050ti or 1650, since they cost basicly the same and don’t need aditional connectors.
If you really wanna go with and or NVK you could look at a rx 6400 or rtx 3050 lowprofile.
They are all below 75W so they are pci-e powered. But ofcource the latter two are far more expensive.

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#4

Thanks. Geforce 1650 looks promising (NVK would also work with it, it’s the same architecture as the 20 series). But a bit expensive already.
What about Radeon 550? (I omit the letters between the brand and the number on purpose, they are stupid)

Are there any disadvantages to using a 12v barrel power supply?

#5

I decided to play it safe and procured a second hand RX 550.
As for the GPU driver, it is a bit difficult now. I tried compiling Armbian with amdgpu and the rockchip kernel 6.1. The compilation failed. However, when I tried to compile the Armbian mainline kernel with the amdgpu module, it finished successfully. The catch is now that Rock 2F now won’t boot with the mainline kernel, and even if it did, I don’t know if PCI is enabled.
There is no mainline device tree for now, an initial one can be found here: https://github.com/Kwiboo/linux-rockchip/commits/next-20250319-rk3528/ but I am not proficient enough to apply it.

Any suggestions?