Recently, I received something quite interesting, a set-top box. There’s not much to say about the set-top box itself, but the chip it features is something I’m very curious about. It uses the RK3528A SoC, equipped with four Cortex-A53 cores, with a frequency of up to 2.0GHz, and a Mali 450 MP2 GPU.

After testing, it outperforms the Allwinner H618 in various aspects.

Many people know about the Allwinner H618, which is used in the OrangePi Zero3 that costs just 99 yuan. Both are quad-core Cortex-A53, so what advantages does the RK3528A have? The first advantage is that it has a higher frequency, 0.5GHz more, which makes a significant difference for a chip that originally has low performance. The Mali 450 MP2 GPU of the Allwinner H618, which is quite outdated, is still slightly better than the H618’s G31 MP2.

In terms of manufacturing process, the RK3528A is also significantly better than the Allwinner H618’s 28nm process, using a 16nm process, which results in less heat generation. Users have reported that they can play without worrying about overheating issues.

Another attractive point is that the H618 only has a USB2.0 interface, which may be why many people overlook this chip. The RK3528A resolves this issue by offering either a PCIe interface or USB3.0. This creates ample conditions for building soft routers. The RK3528A already comes with a gigabit Ethernet port, and by using the PCIe interface, you can add another gigabit Ethernet port with almost no performance loss. This is not only better than the H618, which is rarely used as a soft router, but also outperforms the FriendlyARM NanoPi R2S with the RK3328.

Considering all these points, I believe the RK3528A is likely to become the main contender for budget development boards in the future.

There’s another question I’ve always wanted to know: what’s the difference between the RK3528A and RK3528? After comparing, I found only some minor differences, such as the RK3528 using I2S for its audio interface, while the RK3528A uses SAI. I2S is more commonly used in development boards, while SAI seems to be designed for the audio interface of set-top boxes.

The RK3528 supports more DDR memory specifications, additionally supporting LPDDR4X compared to the RK3528A, allowing for faster memory.

So there is a positioning difference: RK3528A is better suited for set-top box use, while RK3528 is more suitable for use as a development board.

Next, let’s look at the set-top box situation. The set-top box I received feels well-made and quite exquisite, with clear interfaces: one HDMI2.0 port, one TF card slot, one gigabit Ethernet port, one USB2.0 port, and one USB3.0 port. Notably, it features a USB Type-C power interface that supports PD power supply and can operate at 5~12V voltage. It also has an onboard Wi-Fi module that supports Wi-Fi6 and Bluetooth 5.0.

There are two versions available:

2+32GB priced at 280

4+32GB priced at 325

It comes in a default silver-white CNC aluminum shell, with an option for a dark green version.

2GB version adds 10

4GB version adds 5

The system uses Android 13, which is quite a new version.

I think the price is a bit high; if there were bare boards for sale, I estimate the price would drop by about 100 yuan, making it much more reasonable.

Overall, I believe the RK3528 is currently the best SoC in the budget price range, better than the commonly used Rockchip RK3328 and Allwinner H618 on the market. This year, we can expect a large number of development boards featuring this chip to appear.

As for this set-top box, if you have a need for it, you might want to give it a try, but in terms of cost-effectiveness, it’s just okay. I look forward to more products based on RK3528 appearing, such as an Orange Pi Zero4?

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