Rock Pi X Intel Cherry Trail Board to Sell for as low as $39

Several attempts have been made over time at cloning the Raspberry Pi with different look-alike (both in outlook and features) boards in the market but one brand that has always stood out is Radxa with it’s Rock Pi board series. As a way of stating they are taking their game to the next level, they recently posted the specifications for a new member of the Rock Pi Raspberry Pi lookalike family called the Rock Pi X.

The Rock Pi X, following the path of other boards in the Rock Pi family, is a Raspberry Pi lookalike SBC. As stated by the released specs, the Rock Pi X is based on the Intel Cherry Trail Atom x5-Z8300 and comes packed with a host of interfaces and features depending on the model bought. According to the reference on Hackerboards database, the Rock Pi X will come in two models; A and B, with features including a USB 3.0 port, a MicroSD slot, an HDMI port, eDP/MIPI, and GbE, with optional WiFi and/or Bluetooth 4.2 LE, between them. With the major difference between the two models of the board being that the Model B will come with WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.2 Classic + LE which are not available on the Model A version of the board.

Some of the preliminary features and specifications released for the Rock Pi X include:

• Processor — Intel Atom x5-Z8350 (4x Cherry Trail cores @ 1.44GHz / 1.84GHz burst) with Intel HD 400 Graphics (200MHz/500MHz) and Intel Integrated Sensor Hub (ISH)
• Memory/storage:
  • 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB LPDDR3 RAM
  • eMMC socket for 8GB to 128GB (bootable)
  • MicroSD slot for up to 128GB (bootable)
• Wireless interfaces— WiFi 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz) with Bluetooth 5.0 with antenna (On Model B )
• Networking — Gigabit Ethernet port; PoE support on Model B only (requires RPi PoE HAT)
• Media I/O:
  • HDMI 1.4 port (with audio) for up to 4K at 30fps
  • Other display interfaces: eDP, MIPI
  • Camera interface: 1x MIPI
  • 3.5mm audio I/O jack
  • Mic interface
• Other I/O:
  • 1x USB 3.0 host ports
  • 3x USB 2.0 host ports
  • USB 3.0 Type-C OTG with power support and HW switch for host/device
• Expansion — 40-pin GPIO header
• Other features — RTC
• Power:
  • 5-20V input
  • Supports USB PD and QC powering
• Dimensions — 85 x 51 x 18mm
• Operating system — Linux or Windows 10

Keeping in line with the trend in the family, according to the spec sheet, the Rock Pi X will also support Raspberry Pi shields just like the Rock Pi 4 even though it lacks some of the IO pins that are available on the Rock Pi 4.

The Rock Pi X is Radxa’s first Intel Atom-based SBC and for an intel processor based SBC it’s price tag is quite cheap compared to other Intel-based SBCs in the market. Still trying to be the Raspberry Pi look alike in every way, the Rock Pi X will also have a pricing scheme based on the amount of RAM just like the Rock Pi 4. For the Rock Pi X model A, prices will range from $39, $49 or $65 for 1GB, 2GB or 4GB respectively, while for model B, the board will be priced at $49, $59 or $75 for 1GB, 2GB or 4GB respectively.

More information about the new board can be found on the wiki page for the Rock Pi X on Radha’s website.

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