RUBIK Pi is a compact dev board with a Qualcomm QCS6490 and up to 12.5 TOPS of AI performance

by · Liliputing

The RUBIK Pi is a dev board from Thundercomm that’s positioned as a platform for developers looking to work a Qualcomm AI processor.

At the heart of the board is a Qualcomm QCS6490 processor with eight ARMv8 CPU cores, Qualcomm Adreno 643 graphics, and a 6th-gen Qualcomm AI Engine that delivers up to 12.5 TOPS of AI performance. Thundercomm hasn’t announced how much the board will cost yet, but says it will be available for pre-order starting in early November.

The RUBIK Pi measures 100 x 75mm (3.94″ x 2.95″) and features plenty of expansion and I/O features. There’s 8GB of LPDDR4x onboard memory, 128GB of UFS 2.x storage, and an M.2 connector for an optional SSD as well as a set of ports and connectors that includes:

  • 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C
  • 2 x USB 3.0 Type-A
  • 1 x USB 2.0 Type-A
  • 1 x Gigabit Ethernet
  • 1 x HDMI 1.4
  • 1 x 3.5mm audio
  • 2 x MIPI-CSI D-PHY 4-lan camera input
  • 1 x micro USB for UART
  • 1 x 40-pin header

The board supports 12V/3A (36W) USB Type-C power supplies and also features a PWM fan connector, an RTC battery connector, a power button, and an RGB LED light. There’s also support for WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity.

But the most interesting thing about this board is probably its processor. While the QCS6490 chip may not have the same level of AI performance as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series chips for Windows PCs, which can hit 40 TOPS, it’s 6th-gen Qualcomm AI Engine boasts up to 12.5 TOPS NPU, which is more hardware-accelerated AI power than you usually find in the kind of chips used for low-cost single-board computers. That could make this an interesting development platform for folks looking to leverage AI for things like face or object recognition from cameras or generative AI.

The CPU and graphics features aren’t exactly the best Qualcomm has to offer, but they’re not bad either:

  • 1 x Kryo 670 Gold CPU core (Cortex-A78) @ 2.7 GHz
  • 3 x Kryo 670 Gold CPU cores (Cortex-A78) @ 2.4 GHz
  • 4 x Kryo Silver CPU cores (Cortex-A55) @ 1.9 GHz
  • Adreno 643 GPU @ 812 MHz

Qualcomm says the processors Spectra ISP 570L image signal processor can handle images up to 192 megapixels, or up to 30 frames per second of 64MP images with zero shutter lag (or up to 3 22MP images at 30 fps with zero ZSL).

Thundercomm says the board should support Linux, Android, Windows, and Ubuntu software.

Since the processor is part of a removable module, the company says the RUBIK Pi should also be compatible with other systems-on-a-module (SOMs) like the Thundercomm TurboX C8550, which has a Qualcomm QCS8550 processor featuring Qualcomm’s 8th-gen AI Engine, Adreno 740 graphics, and a faster CPU with a 3.36 GHz Prime Core, four 2.8 GHz performance cores, and three 2 GHz Efficiency cores.

press release (via LinuxGizmos)