A look at the Radxa ROCK 4C+: An Engineer's Review
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The Radxa ROCK 4C+ (249-3158) is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed by OKdo in collaboration with Radxa.
As we've recently introduced the low-power, high-performing ROCK single-board computers (SBC) into our range at OKdo, we have spoken to Peter Milne, an independent freelance engineer who's had a first look at the ROCK 4C+ board and shared his findings about the board's hardware and software specifications.
It’s no secret that makers and professionals in the industry were impacted by shortages of semiconductors; hence some manufacturers of single-board computers struggled with supply chain constraints and could not satisfy the rising market demand.
OKdo decided to tackle SBC shortages and brought you a flexible, new-to-market solution – the ROCK platforms, developed in collaboration with Radxa, formed with powerful hardware, as standard.
After we’ve recently met the special edition board, the ROCK 4 SE (220-9536) , we’re steadily approaching the launch of the next model, ROCK 4C+. It brings some incredible features packed in a compact board, ready to help you drive amazing industrial innovations.
Peter Milne had a first glance at the board and shared his findings about what gems are hidden on the board and what to expect from the ROCK 4C+ single-board computer. So, let’s dive into this engineer’s review of the technical features and capabilities of ROCK 4C+.
Peter Milne, engineer and Linux advocate with more SBCs than an Apollo 11 landing craft
This is a technical user perspective review focused on the ROCK 4C+ single-board computer developed by OKdo in collaboration with Radxa. The board has many similarities with other popular boards on the market, including the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, having the same form factor and similar hardware specifications.
In some areas, the ROCK 4 C+ SBC has some additional and superior features notable around storage options, as detailed below.
What are the hardware specifications of ROCK 4C+?
ROCK 4 Model C+ has a broadly similar hardware specification to the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, making the ROCK 4C+ a great Raspberry Pi alternative. Both boards are of almost the same size and layout. This should make ROCK a physical drop-in replacement for the Raspberry Pi in most use cases. This doesn’t mean that they are direct replacements. The camera connectors are in different locations, and there may be differences in power consumption, software, and firmware driver support on the ROCK.
Notable differences are:
- Processor – The ROCK 4C+ board has 6 cores, 2 Cortex®-A72 and 4 Cortex®-A53 - in some cases, may give better performance and lower power consumption than other existing alternatives on the market.
- Memory – ROCK 4C+ is initially available with 4GB SDRAM.
- Wireless - ROCK 4C+ has an external wireless antenna connector allowing more options for enclosures.
- USB OTG - ROCK 4C+ has true USB 3.0 OTG support.
- Storage - Storage – ROCK 4C+ has an SD card connector plus connectors for eMMC storage solutions giving ROCK a significant advantage in embedded designs due to the superior speed, reliability, capacity, and durability of eMMC over SD cards.
Several features are only available on the ROCK 4C+ single-board computer:
- SPI Flash - Mounting pads for 32MB SPI flash chip for Network boot.
- On / Off button – a major benefit of this board, as powering off correctly is usually a huge issue with SD card storage to avoid software corruption.
- Fan header - dedicated support for cooling fans.
Hardware Specifications Comparison
ROCK 4C+ vs Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
| ROCK 4C+ | Raspberry 4 Model B | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Rockchip RK3399-T, Hexa-core 64-bit SOC - Dual Cortex®-A72, frequency 1.5GHz with quad Cortex®-A53, 1GHz with separate NEON coprocessor | Broadcom BCM2711, Quad-core Cortex®-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz |
| Memory | 4GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM | 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM (depending on model) |
| GPU | Arm Mali™ T860MP4 GPU, OpenGL ES 1.1 /2.0 /3.0 /3.1 /3.2, Vulkan 1.0, Open CL 1.1 1.2, DX11. | OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan 1.0 |
| Wireless | 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 5.0, BLE External uFL antenna connector | 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 5.0, BLE |
| LAN | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
| USB 3.0 | 1x USB 3.0 HOST x1 1x USB 3.0 OTG port | 2x USB 3.0 HOST ports |
| USB 2.0 | 2x USB HOST ports | 2x USB HOST ports |
| GPIO | 40 pin GPIO header | 40 pin GPIO header |
| HDMI | Micro HDMI 2.0 up to 4k@60 (Type D), H.265 /HEVC 4Kp60 decode, H.264 1080p decode, 1080p encode | 2 × micro HDMI ports (up to 4kp60 supported) |
| Power | Power adapter with USB type C port mininum (%V3A) 15W | 5V DC via USB-C connector (minimum 3A) |
| Display MIPI DSI |
MIPI DSI 4 lanes display via FPC connector Dual HDMI/HDMI2/MIPI DSI can work at the same time, supporting mirror or extended mode. |
2-lane MIPI DSI display port |
| Camera MIPI CSI | MIPI CSI 2 lands via FPC connector, support up to 8MP camera | 2-lane MIPI CSI camera port support up to 12MP camera |
| Audio |
Audio 3.5mm jack with microphone support HD codec that supports up to 24-bit/96kHz audio Output can drive 32Ω headphones directly |
4-pole stereo audio and composite video port |
| Power over Ethernet | Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled header | Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled header |
| USB Storage | uSD Storage Micro SD card slot supports up to 128GB uSD Card | Micro SD card slot for loading operating system and data storage |
| eMMC Storage | Optional industrial level high-performance eMMC module, 16G/32G/64G/128G available (click on module bottom side) | N/A |
| SPI Flash |
SPI Flash (optional) 32Mb SPI flash can be mounted - Network boot via SPI supported - If the SPI flash is mounted, the DSI is still 4 lanes, but the SPI function on the 40P GPIO header will be occupied. |
N/A |
| Power button | Power button | N/A |
| Fan Header | Dual pin PWM fan header (controller chip on board) | N/A |
| Dimensions | 85mm x 54mm | 85mm x 56mm |
It is important to note that although the ROCK 4C+ board has been designed to a standard and popular form factor, you should always check before embedding it into an existing project if swapping out an alternative board.
The board has a USB-C connector for power supply and can be powered by a power delivery power supply. ROCK 4C+ requires a 5V 3A power supply to operate properly.
The board dimensions are: 85mm x 54mm x 18mm
What Operating Systems run on ROCK 4C+?
Since its inception, ROCK 4 has been supported by multiple operating systems and firmware to support engineers and enthusiasts in implementing their designs. You can expect the same support for the ROCK 4C+ computer.
The currently supported operating systems include:
- Debian / Ubuntu – maintained by the Radxa team
- Armbian - maintained by the open-source team.
- Android - maintained by the Radxa team
Operating system comparison
| Radxa ROCK 4C+ | Raspberry Pi 4 Model B |
|---|---|
| Debian 11 Bullseye | Raspberry Pi OS (Debian 12 Bookworm) |
| Android 11 | Not officially supported |
| LibreELEC | LibreELEC |
Each board has its wiki maintained by Radxa – allowing the open-source community to develop firmware and port additional software distributions to the board. This is a similar experience to Raspberry Pi. The Android version has been specifically designed to run media applications that require features such as Hardware Decoding of 4K video.
OS images are available from the OKdo Software & Downloads Hub.
One thing to note is that Rockchip SoCs do not have the same upstream support as Broadcom SoCs used in Raspberry Pi. This is largely due to the much lower user base of ROCK boards compared to the Raspberry Pi ecosystem.
For the best user experience, using the Debian-based distribution maintained by Radxa is recommended.
There are downloadable firmware images that should make the first experience with the ROCK 4C+ board very similar to using Raspberry Pi boards.
Radxa ROCK 4C+ Strengths
- Hexa-core Arm-based processor – can offer faster performance than other popular boards on the market
- Compatibility with a wide range of existing SBC products and accessories on the market (cases and HATs)
- Superior storage options - uSD and eMMC
- Choice of 64-bit Linux operating systems plus support for Android
- Documentation Wiki in English / German / Spanish / Portuguese / Chinese
- Active community forum and Discord channel
- Open-Source software via GitHub
- Supports Android
- Extra features (On / Off button / SPI flash pads / Fan header).
Conclusion
In conclusion, having reviewed the ROCK 4C+, I can say it is a fast board with many positives, including a Hexa-core processor, light, fast and responsive desktop, external antenna, on/off button, eMMC storage option, great YouTube performance, minimal pre-installed software (I prefer this but it doesn’t suit everyone) and SSH enabled by default.
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