Banana Pi BPI-W3 SBC features Rockchip RK3588 SoM, M.2 NVMe socket, 2.5GbE, HDMI output and input

Banana Pi BPI-W3 is another Rockchip RK3588 SBC (single board computer) with 8GB RAM, 32GB eMMC flash, an M.2 NVMe socket, 2.5GbE networking, two HDMI 2.1 output ports, one HDMI 2.0 input port, and other features.

We first recovered the board last summer, but at the time the RK3588 SBC came with a PCIe x4 slot and dual Gigabit Ethernet, and the company has now redesigned the board without either using instead a Rockchip RK3588 system-on-module as part of the design and implemented 2.5GbE and M.2 NVMe SSD support with the available PCIe interfaces.

Banana Pi BPI-W3 specifications:

• SoM – BPI-RK3588 core board
  • SoC- Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz, an Arm Mali G610MC4 GPU, a 6 TOPS NPU, 8Kp60 H.265/VP9/AVS2 10-bit decoder, 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 encoder
  • System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 (options for 4GB to 32GB)
  • Storage – 32GB eMMC flash (options for 16GB to 256GB)
• Storage – M.2 NVMe 2260/2280 SSD socket, MicroSD card slot
• Video
  • Output
    • 2x HDMI 2.1 ports one up to 8Kp60, the other up to 4Kp60
    • 1x MIPI DSI connector up to 4Kp60
    • 1x DisplayPort 1.4 up to 8Kp30 (that would be via USB-C port)
  • Input
    • 1x HDMI 2.0 input port up to 4Kp60
    • 1x MIPI CSI connector configurable as 4-lane or 2x 2-lane
• Audio – 3.5mm audio jack (ES8316), digital audio via HDMI or DisplayPort
• Networking
  • 2.5GbE RJ45 port via RTL8125 controller
    
  • Optional WiFi and Bluetooth via M.2 socket, for example, AP6256 or AX210 module
• USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, 2x USB 2.0 ports, 1x USB Type-C port for power, data, and video
• Expansion
  • 40-pin GPIO header with up to 28x GPIOs, UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, 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 and USB (typically used with a wireless module)
• Misc
  • Power, MaskROM, Reset, and Recovery buttons
  • RTC + battery
  • 4-pin fan connector
  • RGB LED
  • 3-pin debug header
• Power Supply
  • 12V/2.5A via DC jack
  • USB PD (9V/2A, 12V/2A, 15V/2A) via USB-C port
  • 12V PoE support
• Dimensions – 148 x 100.5 mm
• Temperature Range – -10°C to +70°C

Banana Pi provides an Android 12 image for the BPI-W3 SBC as well as Debian 12 and Ubuntu 22.04 images built with Armbian (no official support yet). You’ll find those along with the PDF schematics, datasheets, and a link to the Linux 5.10.110 BSP in the wiki.

The company sells the Banana Pi BPI-W3 SBC on Aliexpress for $162.10 plus shipping. It’s priced quite higher than the more popular Orange Pi 5 and Radxa ROCK 5B SBCs, but it does offer extra features especially compared to the low-cost Orange Pi 5 LTS board. Whether that matters depends on your application. Banana Pi is probably seeing the board as a way to promote its BPI-RK3588 core module to B2B customers.

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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