
Hardware · Rockchip
What AI models can the Rockchip RK3566 / RK3568 (4 GB) run?
- RAM
- 4.0 GB
- Usable for models
- 2.8 GB
- Memory bandwidth
- 13 GB/s
- Runs models on
- CPU cores
- Released
- 2021
Models run on the CPU cores here, so the memory’s speed and how fast those cores can read it set the pace: small models (about 1-4B) are usable, bigger ones are slow. We plan around 2.8 GB of the 4.0 GB (what Linux leaves free for a model). 0.8 TOPS NPU (about 1 TOPS on the RK3568) for small vision models through Rockchip’s RKNN toolkit.
More about this hardware
| Maker | Rockchip |
|---|---|
| Type | Single-board computer or edge AI board |
| Share of memory for models | 70% (what Linux typically leaves free on a board this size) |
| Chip | Rockchip RK3566 |
| AI accelerator | 0.8 TOPS NPU (about 1 TOPS on the RK3568) for small vision models through Rockchip’s RKNN toolkit. |
| Boards with this chip | Radxa ROCK 3A / 3C / ZERO 3 · Orange Pi 3B · Pine64 Quartz64 · FriendlyElec NanoPi R5S |
| Memory type | LPDDR4/LPDDR4X or DDR4 up to 3200 MT/s, 32-bit |
| Bandwidth figure | 12.8 GB/s, the chip’s rated memory speed |
| Note | 4× Cortex-A55 at 1.8 GHz (RK3566) or 2.0 GHz (RK3568), Mali-G52 2EE GPU, up to 8 GB. Entry level: small models only, at a few tokens per second. Four A55 cores can’t read memory at anything near its rated speed, so we assume 20% (estimate). |
| Specifications | www.cnx-software.com |
Apps that run models well on the Rockchip RK3566 / RK3568 (4 GB)
Linux on ARM boards
Best LLMs for the Rockchip RK3566 / RK3568 (4 GB)
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57Good quality (B) · 57 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 67/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | MiniCPM5 2B | Q4_K_M | 2.7 GB | 1.7 tok/s | Very slowtight fit |
| 47Fair quality (C) · 47 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 65/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | LFM3 1.7B | Q3_K_M | 1.8 GB | 3.3 tok/s | Slow |
| 46Fair quality (C) · 46 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 62/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Spark-X2.6 4B | Q2_K | 2.8 GB | 1.7 tok/s | Very slowtight fit |
| 39Basic quality (D) · 39 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 61/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | MiniCPM-OCR 1.0 1.3B | Q4_K_M | 1.7 GB | 3.4 tok/s | Slow |
| 42Fair quality (C) · 42 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 61/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | TMax 4B | Q2_K | 2.8 GB | 1.7 tok/s | Very slowtight fit |
| 30Basic quality (D) · 30 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 60/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Unlimited OCR 2 (3B-A0.6B) | Q2_K | 2.7 GB | 11.5 tok/s | Runs welltight fit |
| 39Basic quality (D) · 39 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 60/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | PaddleOCR-VL 1.6 0.9B | Q4_K_M | 1.6 GB | 4.5 tok/s | Slow |
| 41Fair quality (C) · 41 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 60/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | LFM2.5 2.6B | Q4_K_M | 2.6 GB | 1.6 tok/s | Very slowtight fit |
| 41Fair quality (C) · 41 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 60/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Jamba Reasoning 3B | Q4_K_M | 2.8 GB | 1.4 tok/s | Very slowtight fit |
| 38Basic quality (D) · 38 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 60/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | TeleOCR | Q4_K_M | 2.6 GB | 3.1 tok/s | Slowtight fit |
| 39Basic quality (D) · 39 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 59/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Jamba2 3B | Q4_K_M | 2.7 GB | 1.4 tok/s | Very slowtight fit |
| 28Basic quality (D) · 28 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 59/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Unlimited OCR (3B-A0.6B) | Q2_K | 2.7 GB | 11.5 tok/s | Runs welltight fit |
Best Image models for the Rockchip RK3566 / RK3568 (4 GB)
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28Basic quality (D) · 28 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 54/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | SD Turbo | FP16 | 2.6 GB | 30 s | Runs welltight fit · encoder unloaded after use |
| 42Fair quality (C) · 42 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 54/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Realistic Vision V5.1 | FP16 | 2.5 GB | 7.6 min | Very slowtight fit · encoder unloaded after use |
| 40Fair quality (C) · 40 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 53/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | DreamShaper 8 | FP16 | 2.5 GB | 7.6 min | Very slowtight fit · encoder unloaded after use |
| 30Basic quality (D) · 30 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 51/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | LCM DreamShaper v7 | FP16 | 2.5 GB | 1.6 min | Slowtight fit · encoder unloaded after use |
| 50Fair quality (C) · 50 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 51/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | PixArt-Σ XL 1024 | FP16 | 2.3 GB | 11.8 min | Very slowCPU offload |
| 35Basic quality (D) · 35 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 50/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Stable Diffusion 1.5 | FP16 | 2.5 GB | 7.6 min | Very slowtight fit · encoder unloaded after use |
Best Video models for the Rockchip RK3566 / RK3568 (4 GB)
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35Basic quality (D) · 35 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 42/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | AnimateDiff v3 (SD 1.5) | FP16 | 2.6 GB | 2.6 h | Very slowtight fit · CPU offload |
Best Decision models for the Rockchip RK3566 / RK3568 (4 GB)
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86Excellent quality (A+) · 86 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 79/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Jina Reranker v3.5 | Q8_0 | 1.7 GB | 25.9 s | Very slow |
| 84Great quality (A) · 84 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 78/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Jina Reranker v3 | Q8_0 | 1.7 GB | 25.9 s | Very slow |
| 80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 77/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | GLiNER2.5 Decide | Q8_0 | 1.2 GB | 11.4 s | Very slow |
| 81Great quality (A) · 81 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 77/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | mxbai-rerank-large v2 | Q6_K | 2.1 GB | 66.2 s | Very slow |
| 80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 77/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | FRIDA-Decisions | Q8_0 | 1.7 GB | 19.0 s | Very slow |
| 80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 76/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Qwen3 Reranker 0.6B | Q8_0 | 1.7 GB | 25.9 s | Very slow |
| 78Great quality (A) · 78 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 76/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | OpenAI Privacy Filter | Q8_0 | 2.4 GB | 1.2 s | Slowtight fit |
| 76Great quality (A) · 76 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Llama Prompt Guard 2 86M | Q8_0 | 1.0 GB | 13.0 s | Very slow |
Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.