Kiwi Pi 5: RAM and CPU Benchmark Test

Why the RK3588S?

The RK3588S is an 8nm, octa-core SoC that combines:

• CPU: 4× Cortex-A76 (2.2GHz) + 4× Cortex-A55 (1.8GHz)

• GPU: ARM Mali-G610 MC4, supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2

• NPU: 6 TOPS AI acceleration (INT4/8/16, FP16, BF16, TF32)

• VPU: 8K/60fps decoding, 8K/30fps encoding

• Memory: Up to LPDDR4X 32GB

• Connectivity: HDMI 2.1, USB 3.1, PCIe, Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6

This balance of general-purpose compute, GPU rendering, and AI acceleration makes it highly attractive for SBCs.

Key SBC Examples

Firefly RK3588S Boards

Firefly has released multiple SBCs based on RK3588S, such as:

• ROC-RK3588S-PC -- aimed at industrial and embedded AI applications

• Station P2 -- a compact RK3588S-based mini-PC

• Core-3588S-JD4 -- SoM module for integration into custom designs

Kiwi Pi 5 (Our Product)

The Kiwi Pi 5 is a developer-friendly SBC built on the RK3588S:

• CPU/GPU/NPU: RK3588S, Mali-G610, 6 TOPS NPU

• Memory: 8GB LPDDR4X (options 4-32GB)

• Storage: 64GB eMMC (up to 512GB), microSD expansion

• Video: HDMI 2.1 (8K@60fps), Type-C DP 1.4 (8K@30fps), MIPI-DSI

• I/O: 2× MIPI-CSI, USB 3.1, USB 3.0, 26-pin GPIO expansion

• Networking: Wi-Fi 6, BT 5.4, Gigabit Ethernet

• OS Support: Linux 5.10/6.10, Android 12, Debian 11, Ubuntu 22.04

With a compact 56×85 mm design, Kiwi Pi 5 targets developers who need a small yet powerful AI-capable SBC.

How to Test an RK3588S SBC. RAM and CPU.

Testing should validate both hardware stability and software performance. Below are the recommended steps.

CPU & Memory Performance

• Ram and CPU Benchmark Test Tools:

• sysbench for CPU performance

• 7-zip benchmark for compression/decompression throughput

• memtester for RAM stability

• Firefly ROC-RK3588S-PC Example: Expect ~60-70k score in Geekbench 5 multi-core.

• Kiwi Pi 5 Example: Similar results due to same SoC, but check for cooling differences.

For example, we show how to perform a quick RAM and CPU test with Kiwi Pi 5 (Ubuntu 20.04). First step, we need to install sysbench and memtester:

Memtester Installation

And do a quick test:

512M -- how much memory to test (not more than available free).

1 -- number of loops.

Result:

So, let's install Sysbench and run a quick test.

Result:

Performance

• Events per second: 14,247.01

  The CPU is processing ~14.2k operations/sec (integer arithmetic test).

  So performance is stable across runs.

• Total events: 142,506 in 10s

  Exactly matches the expected throughput.

Latency

• Min latency: 0.37 ms

• Avg latency: 0.56 ms

• 95th percentile: 1.08 ms

• Max latency: 24.20 ms

Almost all operations complete within ~1 ms, but there was a single spike up to 24.20 ms.

That could be caused by:

• background process (scheduler interrupt, I/O wait)

• thermal/power throttling kicking in briefly

• normal variation under Linux multitasking

Since the 95th percentile is only 1.08 ms, this outlier isn't a concern.

Thread Fairness

• Events per thread (avg): 17813

• Stddev: 8631

  Workload distribution isn't perfectly balanced. Some cores did more work than others.

  This is typical with sysbench on big.LITTLE CPUs (RK3588S = 4× Cortex-A76 + 4× Cortex-A55).

• The Cortex-A76 (big cores) handles more tasks.

• The Cortex-A55 (little cores) are slower, so the distribution looks uneven.

• Execution time per thread: ~9.99s (almost identical across threads).

  Scheduler ensured all threads were active during the test.

Firefly ROC-RK3588S-PC

Typical sysbench cpu --threads=8 output reported by developers/testers:

CPU speed: ~14,000 - 14,800 events/sec

Latency (avg): 0.55 - 0.60 ms

95th percentile latency: ~1.0 ms

Interpretation:

• Very close to Kiwi Pi 5 performance (same RK3588S chip).

• Slightly higher throughput possible due to:

• better cooling (Firefly board has optional heatsink/fan kits)

• Different DDR configuration (some ROC boards use faster LPDDR4x modules).

• Thread fairness imbalance is also observed (big.LITTLE design).

Direct Comparison Table

Result:

• Both Kiwi Pi 5 and Firefly ROC-RK3588S-PC perform almost identically in CPU benchmarks (~14-15k events/sec).

• Any differences are due to cooling and RAM speed, not CPU architecture.

• Kiwi Pi 5's compact size makes cooling more critical under sustained load, while Firefly's larger PCB allows easier heat dissipation.

Comparing Firefly SBCs and Kiwi Pi 5

Both share the same SoC capabilities, but Kiwi Pi 5 emphasises compact design and developer flexibility, while Firefly boards are often targeted at industrial use cases with more expansion options.