Radxa Rock 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5: Full comparison

The ROCK 5B is a beast of a device with better support for heavier tasks, but the Raspberry Pi 5 price-to-efficiency ratio is still unbeatable. 

For a while, Raspberry Pi seemed to lose ground in the SBC (Single Board Computer) market while competitors like Radxa caught up with powerful boards. The Radxa ROCK 5B was released in early 2022 and received rave reviews at the time—but it’s a comparatively costly board, with less community support. 

Now that the Raspberry Pi Foundation has released the Raspberry Pi 5 Model B, the internet is abuzz with the question of which is best in the Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 battle. 

We’re going to dive deep into the topic of Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 to see which of these two SBCs is the right choice. We’ll compare specs, performance, setup experiences, advanced features, accessories, and price. 

What is the difference between Raspberry Pi and Rock Pi?

The primary difference between Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 is power and price. The ROCK 5B is more powerful but also more costly. Both are excellent SBCs for their specific use cases—but those use cases are different. 

Specifications of Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5

Both SBCs provide impressive specifications, considering their form factor. However, it’s important to keep in mind that computers of this size will only achieve so much. For example, it’s great to say that the ROCK 5B supports three displays, all outputting 8K video at 60 frames per second (FPS). However, replacing a $15K gaming PC with a ROCK 5B is highly unlikely. 

Note: Both the ROCK 5B and RPi 5 struggle when performing at their maximum output resolutions, dropping frames and lagging. (source)

We’ve provided the detailed table to compare the Raspberry Pi 5 vs ROCK 5B specifications and will discuss the details in-depth after. 

So, those are the specs. Let’s dive into the most important ones. 

Form factor

The ROCK 5B is both longer and wider than the Raspberry Pi 5, whereas the Raspberry Pi 5 continues the tradition of being no larger than a credit card. The extra 4 mm width and 8 mm height might not seem like a lot until you consider that the ROCK 5B requires additional hardware for WiFi and Bluetooth, and that you’ll need a heat sink for it. 

Yes, the Raspberry Pi5 also needs cooling, but the ROCK 5B starts feeling bulky with all the additional gear. 

The size might be a deciding factor for companies building their own devices. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 form factor battle: Raspberry Pi 5

CPU

The CPU war in the Raspberry Pi 5 vs ROCK 5B discussion provides a lot of heated debate about whether the Raspberry Pi 5 was right to opt for a single quad-core ARM Cortex-CPU versus the dual quad-core CPUs in the ROCK 5B—the ARM Cortex A76 and A55. 

Fortunately, we found some non-theoretical benchmarks in this article, and can explain them: 

CPU tests typically break down into single-core and multi-core tests. The single-core tests are for lightly threaded applications, whereas multi-core ones are for heavier applications that require multiple threads. Despite running the tests on a 4GB Raspberry Pi 5 compared with an 8GB ROCK 5B, the results indicate that the A76 on the Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB) performs just about as well as the ROCK 5B (8GB) for single-thread tests. 

Unsurprisingly, the ROCK 5B leaves the Raspberry Pi 5 in the dust in the multi-core tests, and you’ll see that theme frequently in this comparison: The ROCK 5B performs like a beast—for an SBC. However, it’s still just an SBC. For the price it retails at, businesses must ask if a lower-end mini computer such as the Intel NUC might not be a better choice.

Some discussion does exist regarding the efficiency of the A55 versus the A76, with conflicting opinions on both. From our investigation, we can see that Raspberry Pi made the best-possible choice by using the A76 for its board, considering the form factor, price, and purpose of the Raspberry Pi, which is to empower people to learn programming and to power tens of thousands of industrial applications at a low cost. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 CPU battle: Tie

GPU and NPU

The ROCK 5B has an upper hand in terms of GPU, which it must have because of the HDMI ports which support 8K output at 60 fps—on paper. The device also has a neural processing unit (NPU) for machine learning tasks. 

Raspberry Pi 5 does not come with built-in NPU. However, it supports a recently released AI Kit, AI HAT+, and an AI Camera Module to make up for it. The AI HAT+ comes in two flavors, the first supporting a whopping 13 TOPS (trillion operations per second), more than double what the ROCK 5B supports. The higher version supports 26 TOPS. 

Both devices support 4K input. 

If you’re creating devices for ML processing, choosing the ROCK Pi 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 used to be a no-brainer but with the latest releases, Raspberry Pi makes up for those initial disadvantages. Now both boards are strong choices for AI tasks. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 GPU battle: Tie, ROCK 5B out of the box, and Raspberry Pi 5 with the AI HAT+.

RAM

No contest exists in the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 RAM department, except for what’s available. They both use LPDDR4X, but you can get the ROCK 5B in 16GB and 32GB models, whereas you can “only” get up to 8GB in the Raspberry Pi 5.  

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 RAM battle: Tie, since both models use the same type of memory. If larger memory specs are required, then the ROCK 5B wins. 

Storage

The ROCK 5B wins the storage battle when talking about NVMe SSDs because the ROCK 5B supports the newer M.2 interface while the Raspberry Pi 5 will use PCIe 2.0 speeds for any NVMe SSD drive you plug into it. 

However, you can add an M-Key enabled HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) to the Raspberry Pi 5 to support two NVMe SSD drives. Plus, Raspberry Pi has just launched the new Raspberry Pi-branded NVMe SSDs to help users get the best out of their Raspberry Pi 5.

The ROCK 5B also has support for an eMMC storage module. 

So the ROCK 5B has far more storage options, and at a faster speed. 

Both devices support micro SD cards. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 storage battle: Rock 5B

Network

The Raspberry Pi 5 wins this one because it has WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 plus Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) built in. The ROCK 5B requires a WiFi/Bluetooth card to add support for these. 

Both devices support Ethernet. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 network battle: Raspberry Pi 5

Video

On paper, the ROCK 5B outperforms that Raspberry Pi 5 on video by far. The ROCK 5B supports 8K output at 60 fps because of its two HDMI 2.1 ports, whereas the Raspberry Pi 5 is limited by the HDMI 2.0 port, which can only output 4K at 60 fps. 

One test we watched showed the Raspberry Pi 5 dropping frames when connected to two 4K displays. The save apparently occurs with the ROCK 5B. 

Still, the ROCK 5B does have better support for video, including video support through its USB-C port, if you can find an OS to handle that. 

Neither device is going to replace your gaming PC. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 video battle: ROCK 5B

Audio

Raspberry Pi 5  lacks a 3.5mm jack. To get audio on the Raspberry Pi 5, you must use a USB-to-audio adapter or connect a Bluetooth headset to it. 

The ROCK 5B has a 3.5 mm audio jack. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 audio battle: ROCK 5B

Power

Both devices have a power button. The addition of a power button to the Raspberry Pi 5 resulted in a massive sigh of relief in the Raspberry Pi community. 

The ROCK 5B supports PoE (power over Ethernet) while the Raspberry Pi 5 requires a HAT for this. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 power battle: Tie, unless you need PoE, in which case ROCK 5B wins. 

Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5: Performance and benchmarks

Performance tests are best used as guides, because so many factors contribute to a device’s performance, such as memory, operating system, and storage. 

Still, the following tests should give you an idea of what each of these devices is best used for: 

As mentioned earlier, CPU benchmarks for single-core testing were almost equal, but the ROCK 5B significantly outperforms the Raspberry Pi 5 in multi-core tests. 

When tested using the PassMark PerformanceTest, the Raspberry Pi 5 Memory tests came out with an overall better score than the ROCK 5B, whereas the ROCK 5B CPU overall results came out better. 

The ROCK 5B has no WiFi. By adding the official ROCK 5B M.2 WiFi card, we see that the Raspberry Pi 5 outperforms the ROCK 5B slightly on uploads, but the ROCK 5B significantly outperforms the Raspberry Pi 5 on downloads. 

It’s interesting to note that the Raspberry Pi 5 achieves significant speed increases in its WiFi compared to the Pi 4, even though they didn’t upgrade the WiFi chip. The Raspberry Pi team achieved this improvement thanks to a separate power supply rail, which goes to show the level of detail the Raspberry Pi team goes into to maintain the price-to-performance ratio of its boards. 

Both devices use similar quantities of power when pushed to their limits, but the Raspberry Pi 5 uses more power when idle. Unfortunately, testing power consumption is an imprecise science and depends very much on what you’re using the device for. 

The Raspberry Pi 5 heats up faster under heavy loads, resulting in thermal throttling and speed reductions. The test on this site hit that throttle after just nine seconds of full load with zero cooling. The lesson here is to use a proper heat sink. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 Benchmark battle: Tie for single-core tasks, and ROCK 5B for multi-core.

Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5: Price/Performance Ratio

Prices vary from vendor to vendor, but the ROCK 5B retails at roughly double the price of the Raspberry Pi 5 for the same memory specifications. The ROCK 5B also offers higher memory versions, and the prices for these start approaching those for powerful mini computers, such as the Intel-N100. 

The ROCK 5B is the more powerful board, but is the extra power worth the buck?

The Raspberry Pi 5 is the indisputable winner in every price/performance test. 

However, the tables are turned when it comes to measuring performance per watt. In these tests, the ROCK 5B dominates, so choosing one device over the other comes down to use case. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 Price/Performance battle: Raspberry Pi 5

Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5: Initial Setup

The ROCK 5B documentation has come a long way in the last 18 months, but it’s still somewhat complex to navigate. Visiting their “Getting Started” page lists out the hardware you need to get going, but puts the OS installation steps in a separate sequence, making them hard to find. 

You’ll notice this theme repeating itself when talking about ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5—the ROCK 5B suffers from complex documentation and weaker community support than the Raspberry Pi 5. 

The ROCK 5B feels like more of a niche device. 

ROCK 5B

To boot up your ROCK 5B, you’ll need:

• A charger (USB-C PD—Power Delivery—is recommended, although you can also use PoE—Power over Ethernet). We recommend using the official power supply from Radxa or else you might have issues. 
• A screen and cable. The ROCK 5B documentation suggests an HDMI cable and 4K/8K monitor but the ROCK 5B does support MIPI DSI so you can use those if you have them lying around from earlier versions. 
• USB and Keyboard
• A network cable or a WiFi card
• Bootable storage media. Warning: The ROCK 5B lets you insert the SD card upside down, so be alert if it doesn’t recognize your SD card when you insert it. 
• Ideally, a heat sink as well, but not essential

We’ll talk more about bootable storage below. 

Raspberry Pi 5

To get started with the Raspberry Pi 5, you’ll need:

• An official Raspberry Pi 5 charger
• A screen and cable
• USB and keyboard
• Bootable SD card
• Ideally, a heat sink, but not essential

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 Initial Setup battle: Raspberry Pi 5

Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5: First boot

You’ll need an operating system to get started, and this is where the divide between ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 starts growing noticeable. The Raspberry Pi series has far more first- and third-party images than the ROCK 5B. 

Installing the images is also far simpler on the Raspberry Pi 5. Nine out of 10 times, you’ll find the Raspberry Pi image you want on its official installer. You simply have to download the installer and run through a simple install process to flash your SD card, then insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi 5. 

Setting up an OS on the ROCK 5B is far more technical, and we recommend checking out their documentation to decide which option suits you best. 

Pro tip: Although it’s technically possible to boot the ROCK 5B from an NVMe SSD, it’s complicated. We recommend avoiding this option. (source)

If you’re looking for a quick start just to get the system up and running, you can use emteria’s installer for the ROCK 5B, which easily installs Android 12 for your ROCK 5B. If you’re using a Raspberry Pi 5, you’ll find emteria’s Android 15 on Raspberry Pi image within the official Raspberry Pi imager. 

Depending on which OS you choose, your boot experience will be different, but will typically include steps to set up your time zone, input methods, and regional settings. 

Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5: Advanced features

Both boards offer a wide selection of advanced features. Let’s dive into each one in depth. 

ROCK 5B: Full-featured Type-C USB port

The ROCK 5B has a full-featured Type-C USB port, meaning you can use it to carry any type of data as per the Type C standard—audio, video, or anything else. The Raspberry Pi 5’s Type-C port supports power only. 

Unfortunately, Linux support for Type-C data isn’t yet well-supported, so you’ll need to find an appropriate distro/OS for this if that’s a use case you’re interested in. Still, the feature is neat, and gives you an additional port to work with if you want to enable additional video/audio/data options. 

ROCK 5B: M-Key M.2 slot

The M-Key M.2 slot on the ROCK 5B lets you do more than use an NVMe SSD. You can also add adapters for more interesting use cases. This is a highly advanced use case, often requiring compiling Linux kernels for driver support, but it is indeed possible. 

ROCK 5B: Two storage media

The ROCK 5B lets you use the microSD and eMMC slots at the same time, giving you two storage media you can access. 

Raspberry Pi 5: 6 GHz WiFi speed

The Raspberry Pi 5 built-in WiFi supports 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz. However, a proof-of-concept test by Jeff Geerling shows that the Raspberry Pi can support WiFi in the 6.0 GHz band, whereas the ROCK 5B failed to achieve this, even with a 6.0 GHz Intel WiFi card installed. 

Winner of the Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 advanced features battle: ROCK 5B

Radxa ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5: Accessories

The most common accessories for the Raspberry Pi 5 and the ROCK 5B are:

• Touch screens
• Mouse/Keyboard
• Case
• Heat sink or fan

Common accessories for the ROCK 5B are:

• WiFI/Bluetooth card
• eMMC module
• NVMe SSD
• External camera

Common accessories for the Raspberry Pi 5 are:

• Camera module
• PoE HAT
• Sense HAT (an official HAT providing numerous sensors on the board)

The Raspberry Pi offers far more official and unofficial accessories and HATs, while the ROCK 5B solutions all tend to use more of a DIY approach. 

Winner of the ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 accessories battle: Raspberry Pi 5

What about Orange Pi 5 Plus?

The Orange Pi 5 Plus is another powerful board that suffers from similar drawbacks to the ROCK 5B—namely, lack of support and few distributions. If there’s enough interest in the Orange Pi 5 Plus, we’ll do an in-depth review of it. 

Radxa Rock 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 | Source: Own illustration / Canva 

Which one wins? Radxa Rock 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5

Fortunately, deciding between ROCK 5B vs Raspberry Pi 5 is simpler than one might first think. 

The ROCK 5B is the more powerful—and more expensive—board. It allows for advanced use cases and GPU-heavy tasks out of the box. Its built-in NPU makes it a valid contender for machine learning tasks. 

However, the Raspberry Pi 5’s recent AI HAT+ release puts it ahead of the ROCK 5B for ML tasks. Also, choosing the Raspberry Pi 5 over the ROCK 5B brings with it the enormous community support. 

Form factor might be another consideration. Despite the ROCK 5B being larger than the Raspberry 5, it’s still far smaller than a Mini PC. 

The ROCK 5B has a frustrating unboxing-to-first-use cycle, as do all Radxa devices. The easiest way to get an OS up and running with the ROCK 5B is to use emteria’s installer to install Rock Pi Android. 

The Raspberry Pi 5 is ideal for general-purpose and price-sensitive use cases. It’s a powerful board at an incredible cost with a tiny form factor that makes it an excellent choice for running anything from an Android POS system to an interactive kiosk device for customers. The Raspberry Pi 5 makes sense for long-term investments because of the massive community support. 

The great thing about both these boards is that they do have highly specific use cases, making the choice clearer than many other boards on the market. 

Regardless of which board you choose, emteria supports both, and makes installing Android on either incredibly easy.