Products · FriendlyElec · NAS
FriendlyElec CM3588 NAS Kit
- Processor
- Rockchip RK3588
- Memory (RAM)
- 4, 8 or 16 GB
- Launch price
- $184
- Released
- 2023
Configurations
Pick one to see which models it runs. More memory lets larger models fit; bandwidth sets how fast they answer.
| Configuration | Memory | Usable for AI | Bandwidth | LLMs that run well | Launch price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rockchip RK3588 | 4.0 GB | 2.0 GB | 34 GB/s | 65 of 622 | $184 |
| Rockchip RK3588 | 8.0 GB | 5.2 GB | 34 GB/s | 150 of 622 | — |
| Rockchip RK3588 | 16.0 GB | 12.0 GB | 34 GB/s | 173 of 622 | — |
Specifications 16.0 GB configuration
| Maker | FriendlyElec |
|---|---|
| Type | NAS |
| Processor | Rockchip RK3588 NAS (16 GB) |
| Memory (RAM) | 16.0 GB |
| Usable for AI models | 12.0 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 34 GB/s |
| FP16 compute | 0.1 TFLOPS |
| Runs models on | CPU cores |
| Drive bays | 4x M.2 2280 NVMe (PCIe 3.0 x1 each) + eMMC on module |
| NAS system | No preinstalled NAS OS; FriendlyElec images: OpenMediaVault… |
| Containers (Docker) | Yes |
| Virtual machines | Yes |
| Memory upgrade | LPDDR4X 2133 MHz (soldered on compute module) · up to 16.0 GB per the maker · non-ECC |
| Notes | Rockchip RK3588 (4x Cortex-A76 2.4 GHz + 4x Cortex-A55 1.8 GHz). RK3588 runs 1-4B quantized models on CPU (a reviewer saw about 14 tokens/s on the 16 GB unit) and small converted models on the 6 TOPS NPU, but RAM tops out at 16 GB and Ollama has no GPU/NPU acceleration here. |
| Product page | www.friendlyelec.com (opens in a new tab) |
Running AI on the FriendlyElec CM3588 NAS Kit
It can, with limits: expect small models only, at modest speed. Models run on its CPU cores, and this configuration leaves about 12.0 GB for them after the NAS system and its storage services. The grades below assume the NAS isn’t busy with backups or media work at the same time. More memory is the upgrade that matters most: see the configurations.
Apps you can install to run models
| App | How it installs |
|---|---|
| Ollama | In a container (Docker) |
| Open WebUI | In a container (Docker) |
| RKLLM / rknn-llm | In a container (Docker) |
Best LLMs for the FriendlyElec CM3588 NAS Kit 16.0 GB
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 78Great quality (A) · 78 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 79/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Gemma 4 12B | Q4_K_M | 9.5 GB | 3.0 tok/s | Slow |
| 77Great quality (A) · 77 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 79/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | K2 Horizon 7B | Q5_K_M | 9.2 GB | 3.3 tok/s | Slow |
| 66Good quality (B) · 66 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 78/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Mellum2.1 Thinking (12B-A2.5B) | Q4_K_M | 9.1 GB | 13.8 tok/s | Runs well |
| 75Great quality (A) · 75 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 78/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | MiMo V2.6 Distill Qwen 9B | Q5_K_M | 8.5 GB | 3.2 tok/s | Slow |
| 75Great quality (A) · 75 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 78/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | SenseNova Loop 9B Preview | Q5_K_M | 8.9 GB | 3.1 tok/s | Slow |
| 58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 78/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Maple Preview (20B-A1B) | Q3_K_M | 11.6 GB | 28.6 tok/s | Runs welltight fit |
| 74Great quality (A) · 74 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 77/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Ornith 1.5 9B | Q5_K_M | 8.7 GB | 3.1 tok/s | Slow |
| 73Great quality (A) · 73 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 77/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Qwen3.5 9B | Q5_K_M | 8.7 GB | 3.1 tok/s | Slow |
| 72Great quality (A) · 72 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 76/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Ornith 1.0 9B | Q5_K_M | 8.7 GB | 3.1 tok/s | Slow |
| 71Great quality (A) · 71 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 76/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | TMax 9B | Q5_K_M | 8.2 GB | 3.4 tok/s | Slow |
Best Image models for the FriendlyElec CM3588 NAS Kit 16.0 GB
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 84Great quality (A) · 84 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4 GGUF, whatever it runs on. Match score 79/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | FLUX 3 Image Klein | Q4 GGUF | 10.2 GB | 21.8 min | Very slow |
| 76Great quality (A) · 76 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 78/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | FLUX.2 [klein] 4B | FP8 | 10.2 GB | 2.9 min | Very slow |
| 78Great quality (A) · 78 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4 GGUF, whatever it runs on. Match score 77/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Z-Image Turbo | Q4 GGUF | 10.1 GB | 9.6 min | Very slow |
| 79Great quality (A) · 79 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4 GGUF, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | ERNIE-Image Turbo | Q4 GGUF | 11.3 GB | 12.3 min | Very slowtight fit |
| 76Great quality (A) · 76 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4 GGUF, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Z-Image | Q4 GGUF | 10.1 GB | 65.1 min | Very slow |
| 87Excellent quality (A+) · 87 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8 GGUF, whatever it runs on. Match score 72/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | ERNIE-Image | Q8 GGUF | 11.2 GB | 84.8 min | Very slowtight fit · encoder unloaded after use |
Best Video models for the FriendlyElec CM3588 NAS Kit 16.0 GB
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49Fair quality (C) · 49 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 63/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | LTX-Video 2B | FP8 | 10.8 GB | 71.8 min | Very slowtight fit |
| 83Great quality (A) · 83 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 62/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Bernini-R A14B (video generation + editing) | FP8 | 10.7 GB | 44.8 h | Very slowtight fit · CPU offload |
| 74Great quality (A) · 74 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 61/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | HY-OmniWeaving (8.3B, unified video) | FP8 | 7.8 GB | 33.0 h | Very slowCPU offload |
| 55Good quality (B) · 55 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 60/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Wan 2.1 T2V 1.3B | FP16 | 8.4 GB | 13.4 h | Very slowencoder unloaded after use |
| 55Good quality (B) · 55 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 60/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Wan 2.1 VACE 1.3B | FP16 | 10.1 GB | 14.5 h | Very slowencoder unloaded after use |
Best Decision models for the FriendlyElec CM3588 NAS Kit 16.0 GB
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 78Great quality (A) · 78 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 84/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | OpenAI Privacy Filter | Q8_0 | 2.4 GB | 162 ms | Runs well |
| 90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 81/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Qwen3 Reranker 4B | Q8_0 | 6.1 GB | 23.6 s | Very slow |
| 86Excellent quality (A+) · 86 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 81/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Jina Reranker v3.5 | Q8_0 | 2.4 GB | 3.5 s | Very slow |
| 89Excellent quality (A+) · 89 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 80/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Qwen3 Reranker 8B | Q6_K | 8.6 GB | 47.9 s | Very slow |
| 88Excellent quality (A+) · 88 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 80/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | zerank-2 | Q8_0 | 6.1 GB | 23.6 s | Very slow |
| 84Great quality (A) · 84 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 80/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Jina Reranker v3 | Q8_0 | 2.4 GB | 3.5 s | Very slow |
| 90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 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. | Skywork Reward V2 Llama 3.1 8B | Q8_0 | 10.4 GB | 94.7 s | Very slowtight fit |
| 80Great quality (A) · 80 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. | GLiNER2.5 Decide | Q8_0 | 1.2 GB | 1.5 s | Very slow |
Other products with the Rockchip RK3588 NAS (16 GB)
Spec sources
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.