Why Rock Pi S max. CPU freq is 816MHz instead of 1.3GHz?

#1

We bought some Rock Pi S boards recently. One of them runs at 1.3GHz, the other only at 816MHz.
I know that there is a RK3308B -> RK3308B-S transition at the SoC chip, which could be the source of this slow down.
But is it true, that the newer boards will be much slower than the older ones?
(The new speed is ~2/3 of the old board’s.)

#2

What OS are you using as some have Cpufreq running deliberately at low speed.

#3

I’m using this image on the SD card: rockpi-s-ubuntu-focal-server-arm64-20220308-0852-gpt.img

I’ve also tried the actual debos-radxa image with the same result: rockpi-s-ubuntu-focal-server-arm64-20220401-0451-gpt.img

With exact the same image I get different speeds on different hardware.

There is a mention about this change on the bottom of this page ( V1.3(2022)):
https://wiki.radxa.com/RockpiS/hardware/revisions

Does it really mean that we get much slower boards from now on?

#4

@jack Hi Jack whats the state with the new revision as the max voltage would seem to limit to 816MHz even though OPP tables exist?

Ps does the new chip solve the problems with noise on the analogue ADC?

#5

RK3308BS can be up to 1104MHz. We will update it after testing in the next two days.

#6

When will be expected the 1104MHz update? It is very important for us whether we can count on this board or not.

#7

I presume they have done all the necessary hardware changes listed in https://dl.radxa.com/rockpis/docs/hw/datasheets/RK3308_Series_S-version_Chip_Hardware_Design_Modification_Introduction_V1.0.1_20211019.pdf

So then from a first glance https://dl.radxa.com/rockpis/docs/sw/RK3308B-S&RK3308H-S_Software_Compatibility_Introduction_V1.0.0_20211016.pdf the opp table and a few things needs to be updated.
I guess they had to limit to be on the safe side before they pushed higher values.

# cat /sys/kernel/debug/opp/opp_summary
device rate(Hz) target(uV) min(uV) max(uV)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
cpu0
408000000 850000 850000 1200000
600000000 900000 900000 1200000
816000000 1000000 1000000 1200000
1008000000 1125000 1125000 1200000
1104000000 1200000 1200000 1200000

I have just ordered another from allnet as the codec and adc seems to of got some updates as the noisy ADC with the last really detracted from its value for me.
If anyone can test the ADC please do but will be doing so when it arrives.

PS the config parser is a bit ropey but I just did a portaudio delaysum beamformer, well melded two great repos together so its portaudio and not file based.

The load is all the TDOA (time difference of arrival) and really should be triggered by VAD or a model than running all the time.
But if the ADC is fixed when the 1104MHz update comes out the RockPiS starts to become a really interesting SoC again.

Especially if https://shop.allnetchina.cn/ can do something about there shipping as just payed $10.99 shipping on a $16.99 soc and its a tiny thing and surely they can get a better option than that?
UK Economy Express (5-15 working days) is great but when its near the price of the product I don’t care if it takes longer as its killing the cost effectiveness.