The Rockchip RK3399, introduced in 2016, is a flexible chip used in embedded computers, multimedia gadgets, and IoT projects. It’s popular and works well for many different things. Now, we will show the characteristics of the chipset for you so you can check it.
First, this chip is built using a 28 nm HKMG process and has a six-core ARM big.LITTLE setup, with 2 Cortex-A72 cores running up to about 1.8–2.0 GHz and 4 Cortex-A53 cores up to about 1.4–1.5 GHz. It has a Mali-T860 MP4 GPU that supports OpenGL ES 1.1 to 3.1, OpenCL, and uses ARM Frame Buffer Compression.
Second, the chip can support dual-channel DDR memory such as DDR3, LPDDR3, or LPDDR4, and it can decode 4K videos at 60 fps using H.265, H.264, or VP9 formats.
We also can say that the chipset works with different types of screens like HDMI (also eDP, DP, and MIPI-DSI). It connects using PCIe 2.1, has two USB 3.0 ports (Type-C), two ISPs, and many other connection options. It can process about 13,500 DMIPS and uses only around 0.5 W of power when idle. So, it’s powerful but also energy-efficient.
Comparing RK3399 with Other Rockchip SoCs
Here’s a simple way to say it: to show how Rockchip RK3399 has changed and how it compares now, here’s a look at other popular Rockchip SoCs.
| SoC | CPU Cores & Arch | GPU | NPU | Process Node | Memory Support | Media & Other Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK3328 | 4× Cortex-A53 (single cluster) | Mali-450 MP2 | None | 28 nm | DDR3/DDR3L/LPDDR3/DDR4 (32-bit) | Basic 1080p decode, common in low-cost boards |
| RK3399 | 2× Cortex-A72 + 4× Cortex-A53 | Mali-T860 MP4 | None | 28 nm HKMG | Dual-channel DDR3/LPDDR3/LPDDR4 | 4K60 video, PCIe 2.1, dual USB-C, mature platform |
| RK3566 | 4× Cortex-A55 @ up to ~1.8 GHz | Mali-G52 (2EE) | ~1 TOPS | ~12 nm? | DDR3/DDR4/LPDDR4/X (32-bit) | 4K decode/1080p encode, better AI support, modernized pipelines |
| RK3588 | 4× Cortex-A76 + 4× Cortex-A55 | Mali-G610 MP4 | 6 TOPS | 8 nm LP | LPDDR4/LPDDR4X/LPDDR5 (4-ch) | 8K decode/encode, dual HDMI 2.1, PCIe 3.0, massive RAM support, high AI capabilities |
Performance Benchmark (Geekbench 5)
On Geekbench 5, the RK3588 is a lot faster than the RK3399:
Single-core: around 492 versus 300, so it’s about 60-65% faster.
Multi-core: roughly 1800–2000 compared to 750, which means it’s about 2.4 times better.
Analysis
Even though there are newer models, RK3399 is still pretty popular because:
- Software maturity: Years of development, strong community support, and wide platform adoption.
- Balanced performance/power: Great for industrial, media, and edge applications.
- Connectivity and I/O: Still impressive even today for embedded designs.
- Cost-effective: Older fab node brings lower price, appealing for many projects.
Newer chips like RK3566 and especially RK3588 make things better — they can handle AI tasks, 8K videos, faster RAM, and more interfaces — but they also cost more and are harder to make.
Conclusion
Rockchip’s RK3399 was really important in the middle of the embedded systems era. It gave good performance, was flexible, and supported developers well. The newer RK3588 has modern updates for powerful media and AI tasks. The RK3566 is in between, good for AI devices but not the top of the line. Also, RK3688 is coming (RK3688 vs RK3668: Rockchip’s Next-Generation Chips), and you can check some information.
