NanoPC-T6 Plus Rockchip RK3588 SBC switches from LPDDR4x to LPDDR5 (up to 32GB)

It’s been a while since FriendlyELEC has released a board, and the NanoPC-T6 Plus SBC is more of a variant of the NanoPC-T6 and NanoPC-T6 LTS rather than a really new board.

It’s still based on a Rockchip RK3588 octa-core SoC, and equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports, an HDMI input port, MIPI DSI/CSI interfaces, two 2.5GbE ports, and M.2 sockets for NVMe SSD and wireless, among other features. The main change appears to be that the new model is now offered with up to 32GB LPDDR5 rather than up to 16GB LPDDR4x in the previous models. It’s closer to the NanoPC-T6 LTS, although it now supports two analog microphones instead of just one, and restores the M.2 Key-B socket for optional 4G LTE connectivity found in the original NanoPC-T6. The 10-pin UART + 2x USB 2.0 header found in the LTS variant gives way to a 3-pin UART debug connector to leave enough space for the Key-B socket.

NanoPC-T6 Plus specifications:

• SoC – Rockchip RK3588
  • CPU – Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz
  • GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, and 3.2, OpenCL up to 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2
  • AI accelerator – 6 TOPS NPU
  • VPU – 8Kp60 H.265/VP9/AVS2 10-bit decoder, 8Kp30 H.264 decoder, 4Kp60 AV1 decoder, 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 encoder
• System Memory – 64-bit 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB LPDDR5
• Storage
  • 32GB, 64GB, or 256GB eMMC flash (HS400 mode)
  • Support for M.2 NVMe SSD via M.2 2280 (PCIe Gen3 x4) socket; tested up to 2500 MB/s
  • MicroSD card slot up to SDR104 mode
  • 32MB SPI NOR flash
• Video
  • Output
    • 2x HDMI 2.1 ports one up to 8Kp60, the other up to 4Kp60
    • 2x 4-lane MIPI-DSI up to 2560×1600 @ 60 Hz compatible with MIPI DPHY 2.0 or CPHY 1.1
    • 1x USB-C (DisplayPort 1.4) up to 4Kp30
  • Input
    • 1x HDMI 2.0 input port up to 4Kp60
    • 2x 4-lane MIPI-CSI compatible with MIPI V1.2
• Audio
  • 3.5mm stereo audio jack
  • Digital audio via HDMI
  • 4-pin connector for two analog microphone inputs
• Networking
  • 2x 2.5GbE RJ45 ports via Realtek RTL8125BG controllers
    
  • Optional WiFi and Bluetooth via M.2 E-Key (PCIe Gen2.1 x1 and USB 2.0) 2230 socket
  • Optional 4G LTE via M.2 B-Key (USB 2.0) socket 
• USB
  • 1x USB 3.0 Type-A port
  • 1x USB 3.0 Type-C port with support for DisplayPort Alt. mode
  • 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports
• Expansion
  • 40-pin GPIO header with up to 28x GPIOs, 6x UART, 1x I2C, 2x SPI, 8x PWM, 2x I2S
  • M.2 Key-M socket with PCIe 3.0 x4 (typically used with an NVMe SSD)
  • M.2 Key-E socket with PCIe 2.1 x1 and USB 2.0 host (for WiFi/Bluetooth)
  • M.2 Key-B socket with USB 2.0 (for 4G LTE)
• Debugging
  • USB-C debug UART port
  • 3-pin debug UART (3.3V) connector
• Misc
  • Power, MASK (for eMMC update), and Reset buttons
  • 2x user LEDs
  • 2-pin connector for battery for the HYM8563TS RTC
  • 5V fan connector
  • IR receiver (38 kHz)
  • Power on mode select jumper
• Power Supply – 12V/4A via DC jack (5.5×2.1mm) or 2-pin terminal block
• Dimensions
  • PCB: 110 x 80 mm (8-layer PCB); mounting holes for heatsink; mounting holes in all four corner
  • Enclosure: 114.5 x 88.5 x30 mm
• Weight – 95 grams without case, 357 grams with case
• Temperature Range – 0°C to +70°C

FriendlyELEC claims support for a long list of operating systems, namely FriendlyWrt 21.02/24.10 (forks of OpenWrt), FriendlyCore 20.04, OpenMediaVault 8.0.6, Android 14 Tablet, Android 14 TV, Debian 11 Desktop – XFCE (X11),  Debian 13 Core, Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop – LXQT (X11), Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop – GNOME (Wayland), Proxmox VE, Alpine-Linux,  and Buildroot Linux. All the images are based on Linux 6.1 LTS and U-boot-2017.09. Armbian is also supported, but listed as a third-party OS. You’ll find more details in the wiki.

Considering the minimal changes, I highly suspect the new board was introduced to have more flexibility when sourcing LPDDR4x and LPDDR5 memory chips, considering the current situation with RAM prices and availability.

While the specifications mention support for up to 32GB LPDDR5, FriendlyELEC only sells the NanoPC-T6 Plus with 16GB LPDDR5 and 64GB eMMC flash, and other memory/storage options are not available, at least not online. The board is sold for $199 on the company’s store, the optional metal case adds $22, and other accessories, such as a 12V/4A power adapter, a heatsink, a MIPI camera, a 7-inch MIPI touchscreen display, and an RTL8822CE WiFi module, are available as options.

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