Asus Launches New NUC-Sized Tinker Board 3N SBC

Though Raspberry Pi’s production capacity has recovered to a comparatively elevated level this year, its availability remains constrained at the current stage, leading many hobbyists to turn to alternative Single Board Computers (SBCs) like Odroid, LattePanda, Banana Pi, Nano Pi, and others. Even major manufacturer ASUS offers the Tinker Board 3N as an option, which boasts superior performance and more comprehensive interface configurations.

The Tinker Board 3N has not adopted Raspberry Pi’s PCB specifications, instead featuring a 100x100mm design, allowing for a more expansive and enriched setup. It provides two M.2 interfaces (2230 and 3052/3042) for network card and SSD expansion, with additional ports that include dual RJ45 Ethernet connectors, a full-sized HDMI, dual USB 3.0 plus dual USB 2.0 interfaces, and even a USB-C, usable for OTG but incapable of supplying power, necessitating a 24V DC interface.

As for its SoC configuration, the Tinker Board 3N is equipped with the Rockchip RK3568, a quad-core Cortex A55 CPU with a default clock speed of 2.0GHz, notably higher than the Raspberry Pi 4. It comes with an attached heatsink, and memory is available in three options: 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB, with a choice of either 32GB or 64GB eMMC flash memory. In addition, it includes a MicroSD card slot and 16MB SPI Flash. For industrial applications, interfaces such as LVDS, eDP, COM, and CANbus are provided.

Furthermore, the Tinker Board 3N offers a 12-pin GPIO interface, with a pin configuration differing from Raspberry Pi, and ASUS’s lack of software support means that it cannot yet serve as a direct Raspberry Pi replacement. Officially, it is said to support Debian 11 and Android 12 systems, but the exact price remains unclear, though speculation suggests it may be around $200, a figure that positions it at a higher price point than the Raspberry Pi.