ROCK 3B ideas and discussion

#61

Yes.

I personally prefer Marvell-based https://shop.allnetchina.cn/collections/rock-pi-4-accessories/products/m-2-pci-e-protocol-to-4x-sata3-0-expansion , out of stock on Allnet but can be sourced on Aliexpress.

You can add 2x such cards to Rock Pi 3A/3B with the help of appropriate m.2 risers. E.g. unless you’re mounting 3B sideways, you’ll want to use https://www.ebay.com/itm/323960733359 for bottom slot.

You can also use full-size PCIe cards with more SATA ports with this adapter https://shop.allnetchina.cn/collections/rock-pi-4-accessories/products/m-2-to-pcie-x4-adapter , will end up cheaper if physical space is not a concern.

1 Like
#62

@DIYprojectz I would go with a full size sata card in an old pc box with a atx power supply based on the amount of HDDs I have.

I think i would go with the rock pi 3b once it is available based on the i/o performance.

The question is how do you power power everything. I know the HDDs can be powered using the power supply but is it possible to use the atx power supply to power the board as well. Do you get a converter from one of the 12v connectors to 5.5mm barrell? Something like this…

Thanks

1 Like
#63

I know the HDDs can be powered using the power supply but is it possible to use the atx power supply to power the board as well.

Yes. I use Pico PSU and external 12V 120W brick, however - since I only have 2x 3.5" HDDs and 2x 2.5" SSDs/HDDs in my design. Have a power switch wired to pico PSU, too.

Do you get a converter from one of the 12v connectors to 5.5mm barrell? Something like this…

Exactly, and another cable or converter from DC barrel to usb type C. Cable is better since it puts less stress on the type c port. I ended up getting DC 5.5x2.1 female to Type C female adapter and a short type C male to type C male cable - because the cables I ordered prior turned out DC 5.5x2.5 despite being advertised as DC5.5x2.1 and didn’t match, and converters, while DC 5.5x2.1, put too much stress on Type C port as already mentioned.

#64

Hello, is there any new estimate for Rock 3B, please?

#65

@diyprojectz Since aliexpress is taking some time to arrive in US, I think this would work as well:



https://www.amazon.com/Faracent-Extension-Charging-Nintendo-Touchbar/dp/B071DMMW4J/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?
crid=2KD2C9L10653T&keywords=usb+c+cable+female+to+male&qid=1636385632&s=electronics&sprefix=usb+c+cable+female+to+%2Celectronics%2C142&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzNldFRExQMUxCNUZaJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTE1ODA3MjZKRkhDOEk1R0RTOCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMjM5MTUyMzhQRFpBUFQ1NERCTSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

1 Like
#66

@PEW yes indeed. Be aware that the second adapter puts quite a lot of stress on the type c port - consider reinforcing it with something in your final assembly.

#67

@DIYprojectz I was looking for a usb type c male cable to female barrel as described earlier but decided to add the usb type c extension instead. i was hoping this would reduce stress.

The next question is sata port chipset asm 1166 or jmicron 585. i was hoping to create a large nas since i have 8-12 drives. i was planning on not using raid and going with unionfs and snapraid with ssd drive caching. Does anyone have performance numbers or suggestions on sata controllers?

i know some people want low power…etc.

Thanks

#68

@PEW Radxa uses JMB585 in their Penta SATA HAT & RPi CM4 carrier board (Radxa Taco), possibly other products. I read that pretty common JMB585 m.2 2280 board is pretty thin thus fragile, and runs hot - but that does not seem to be a problem for bigger JMB585 boards with appropriate heatsinks. Be careful with cards that have over 6 SATA ports - they typically use port multipliers internally. When one drive sitting on a PM fails, all drives sitting on that PM might become inaccessible. ASM1166 looks good on paper, with 6 SATA ports vs 5 on JMB585, but I am not familiar with that at all. Hopefully someone will be able to provide meaningful feedback.

#69

@DIYprojectz @hipboi It looks like the radxa taco is a nice option. Looking at the board,[ https://wiki.radxa.com/Taco ] i am wondering if you can use https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/cards_storage/iocrest-jmb585-m2-sata.html in the nvme slot.

Can radxa provide some insight on this board if this is possible? Also, can the cm3+ or cm3 work with this board(radxa taco)? Will any of the rockpi 3A or B or cm3,+ have ecc memory in future designs?

Thanks

#70

Hi, @PEW

CM3 can work with the Taco. The Radxa Taco is designed primary for the Raspberry Pi CM4.

Yes, CM3+ which is RK3568 based will have ECC ram support.

3A or 3B using LPDDR4, which doesn’t have ECC option.

#72

Still looking forward to 3B when it comes out.

I think it’s gonna be a great work horse for NAS and DIY firewalling > 1Gb

#73

I much prefer the Rock3b format than pseudo Pi format but would really like to get a single native sata so that with a JMB585 the total of x6 ports offer more RAID options than just x5 which really is a x4 with the symmetrical raid types.
Also a molex for a sata power chain would be even better but guess with a few cable hacks that can be done anyway.

When I looked at the Rockchip RK356x SoCs I thought they had some extremely strong unique features of NAS and Router specific configs and was quite confused at the release of a general purpose board in a Pi like format.

1 Like
#74

Given the CPU performance of RK3568 is not really a lot slower (like 10% at most?) than Pi 4, I am really interested in a Rock 3B as well, in addition to the Rock 5B. And if possible, making it accepting DDR4 SO-DIMM would be great :slight_smile:

1 Like
#75

You can make some comparisons using geekbench results. Pi4 (depending on clock speed) is rated at about 250/650 (1500Mhz) and up to 310/810 (2200Mhz). Best scores for Rock3A are those at 168/533 (and most are 130/450). This is 80% of performance and 70% for those lower scores, and up to 50% compared to overclocked pi. Of course it’s just benchmark and I don’t expect all results is directly comparable, but You can get some idea how big cores compares to little.
The real strength of RK3568 lay somewhere else - it’s newer&faster i/o with pcie 3.0.
I don’t think sodimm are ok here, it’s just better and cheaper to put onboard memory. Please note that RK3568 supports up to 8GB and You will not get anything better than rock3a with it’s memory (which is $75 for 8GB version)

#76

You do realize you can just put another controller for 2x or more additional SATA ports or, if you absolutely insist on single native SATA port, use this cheap board in m.2 b-key 2242 that has both PCIe & SATA wired to it?

#77

No you can not as the pcie lanes are already used with the 1st so all bandwidth is taken even if you could find a m.2 splitter as there is a single pcie3.0 x2 .
Or go to all the expense of a splitter and pcie bifurcation to get 0.5 x bandwidth whilst a single on board would mean x6 @ full speed.
The other m.2 is a+e
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003839974544.htm
It was just a bad choice of format and i/o for that SoC if you look at alternative devices built on that SoC that are almost all either router or nas devices.
By the times you have hacked in extender boards and convertors it becomes massively less cost effective the compute modules where more like it should of been but even then still some curious choices and even less cost effective.

I am not going to do anything as I didn’t purchase one or would as don’t think it makes a great SBC at that price for what it offers.

#78

We are talking about Rock 3B, right?

@stuartiannaylor JMB585 will indeed occupy lower m.2 m key slot with PCIe 3.0 x2, but you still have PCIe 2.1 x1 muxed with SATA in upper m.2 b key slot, and can choose to use either. How is it bad? You can just put this without any adapters in upper slot, instead of messing with A E card you linked. Or a 4-port Marvell controller, again without riser or adapter. And again, for single SATA you can use this.

#79

The upper pcie2 is a+e and no I can not use one of those cards as said, I am not going to do anything as I didn’t purchase one or would as don’t think it makes a great SBC at that price for what it offers.

#80

If you check the update from @hipboi, the upper PCIe2 on Rock 3B will be B key, not E key.

That’s entirely up to you. I just pointed out that you are wrong about SBC capabilities, and provided examples how you could solve the problem described in your earlier post.

#81

Its more feedback than anything as usually give whatever Radxa is offering a go but always felt the rk356x SoCs where extremely application focussed whilst the big dog rk3588 is the general purpose desktop.

I prob could use if b key thought it was a+e but still undecided as that port would be sataII as opposed to the others being sataIII which guess all would drop to the lower port speed or at least be queing and waiting for it.
I just don’t like the idea or the Pi like format.