Here’s a comparative technical-deep dive between Rockchip RK3588 and the newer RK3688 (and its sibling RK3668 / variants)
Overview
Rockchip RK3588 is high-end ARM-based SoC released circa 2021/2022. It targets edge computing, high-performance single-board computers (SBCs), media boxes, etc.
RK3688 is the upcoming/future-generation chip aimed at improving on RK3588, especially around AI / neural workloads, memory bandwidth, multimedia decoding, and overall computational throughput. Some sources also mention RK3668, a mid-variant.
Key Specs Comparison
What RK3688 Brings Over RK3588 (Strengths / Expected Improvements)
From what is currently known, RK3688 is designed to improve on RK3588 in several key domains:
AI / NPU capability: More TOPS, possibly more efficient, better throughput for AI/ML workloads. If your project involves inference at the edge, vision, or anything that uses ML frequently, this is a big win.
Memory bandwidth & throughput: Heavier workloads (large models, video, multi-stream processing) are often bottlenecked by memory bandwidth. Doubling (or significantly increasing) that helps reduce stalls and improves overall system fluency.
GPU / graphics improvements: For UI heavy tasks, rendering, gaming, or anything where frame rate / graphics quality matter, the newer GPU in RK3688 may deliver perceptible gains.
Multimedia decoding & resolution: Support for higher resolution decoding (possibly 16K in some modes), more codecs, more display outputs etc. Better for future-proofing media applications.
Better I/O / storage speed: With UFS 4.0, newer PCIe / UCIe, faster memory, the data path is expected to be less of a bottleneck.
Potential power/performance efficiency gains (if the process node is indeed smaller and design improved), though with higher peak performance comes more concern over thermals and power draw.
What RK3588 Still Does Well & Its Limitations vs RK3688
Strengths of RK3588, and where it might still be sufficient:
For many current applications (SBCs, media streaming, IoT devices, robotics, etc.), RK3588 remains very capable. If your tasks are not pushing the envelope of AI or ultra-high resolution video, the RK3588 could be “good enough” and more proven.
The software ecosystem, driver support, community knowledge, upstream kernel support is more mature for RK3588. If you prefer less “bleeding edge” risk, RK3588 is safer.
Cost, availability: newer chips tend to be more expensive / harder to source initially; boards using RK3588 are already in the market, with known cooling and performance trade‐offs.
Where RK3588 may struggle compared to RK3688:
Larger ML models / heavier inference tasks: lower TOPS, less bandwidth may limit performance.
Ultra-high resolution video decoding / encoding, or multi-stream video, especially for next-gen codecs.
Future needs: as more applications demand higher resolutions, more AI, more simultaneous I/O, there may be a ceiling sooner than with RK3688.
Considerations / Trade-offs
Thermal management: More cores / higher GPU / more memory throughput tends to increase heat and power draw. On RK3688, to fully utilize its advantage you’ll need good cooling.
Software maturity: If RK3688's drivers, SDKs, and open-source support are not yet fully polished, you may run into compatibility or stability issues. For projects that require reliability or long-term maintainability, RK3588’s maturity can be a plus.
Power constraints: For battery-powered or ultra-low-power environments, RK3688's improvements may cost more in power unless carefully managed.
Cost and board design: Newer SoCs may require newer board design (power delivery, thermal, memory layout etc.), which adds cost and time.
Availability / lead time: New chips sometimes have delays, supply chain constraints etc.
Use-Case Matchup / What To Pick When
The exact frequency / clock speeds of the new cores in RK3688, and how they compare in real-world benchmarks, especially under sustained load.
Thermal behavior and efficiency under high loads: how big is the jump in power consumption vs performance?
Full driver stack & software support for RK3688 (open source, kernel upstreaming, driver completeness for video codecs, NPU, GPU).
Actual availability of boards / modules using RK3688, and their cost / support ecosystem.
How much of the claimed performance gains (especially in bandwidth, NPU, GPU) translate into gains in real apps (not just synthetic benchmarks).
Bottom Line
RK3688 represents a generational improvement over RK3588 in many respects—AI/NPU, memory bandwidth, graphics, and multimedia support. If you’re working on or planning a project that pushes those domains (heavy inference, high resolution video, future proofing), RK3688 is very compelling.
RK3588, however, is still strong, proven, and may be more cost-efficient and less risky in many current embedded / SBC use cases. It remains very relevant, especially where “enough performance + stability” is more important than cutting-edge specs.
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