ArmSoM teased the Sige6 over on X a few weeks ago, their first SBC powered by Allwinner silicon, and at the time we had little more than a name and a SoC to go on. They’ve now shared a block diagram which gives us a much better picture of where things are headed, so let’s get to it.
Before we dig in, the usual caveats apply. This is based on a single block diagram and my dumb dumb brain interpretation of it, things may still change between now and the board hitting shelves, and we still don’t know what the final RAM configurations or eMMC capacities will be. Though saying that, ArmSoM did run a poll on X for community feedback and (despite only three votes, bless them) the 8GB RAM and 64GB eMMC option came out on top. Whether that exact capacity makes it through to production is another question, but it gives us a rough idea of where they’re aiming.
Table of Contents
What The Block Diagram Tells Us
Pulling everything off the diagram, here’s what’s looking likely for the ArmSoM Sige6:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Board | ArmSoM Sige6 |
| SoC | Allwinner A733 |
| CPU | 2× Cortex-A76 @ 2GHz + 6× Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz |
| GPU | BXM-4-64 MC1 |
| Memory | LPDDR5 |
| Storage | eMMC, TF / microSD, M.2 M-Key |
| Ethernet | 1Gbit RJ45 via YT8531C-CA PHY |
| USB | 1× USB 3.0 Host, 3× USB 2.0 Host, 1× USB-C OTG |
| HDMI | HDMI 2.0 TX |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi + Bluetooth |
| PCIe | PCIe Gen 3 x1 to M.2 M-Key |
| Camera | MIPI CSI, 2-lane + 4-lane |
| Display | MIPI DSI 4-lane, plus LVDS / RGB / eDP shown in the display block |
| Audio | AC101/101B codec, line out, headphone out, mic inputs, Class-D amp path |
| Expansion / IO | 7× UART, 13× TWI, 4× SPI, 20× PWM, 4× I2S/PCM |
| PMIC | AXP318 |
It’s a fairly well-rounded loadout on paper. The PCIe Gen3 x1 to M.2 M-Key is a nice touch for NVMe storage, if not a little on the slower side, but expect around 800MB/s, the same as a Raspberry Pi 5 NVMe when you run it in Gen 3 mode, and the spread of camera and display options suggests ArmSoM may be thinking about industrial and embedded applications as much as the hobbyist crowd.
About The Naming
One thing worth flagging is that the naming has caused a bit of confusion, and I can’t say I blame anyone for that. ArmSoM’s convention is that odd numbers go to Rockchip-based boards (the existing Sige5 and Sige7) and even numbers go to Allwinner-based boards (Sige6). I won’t pretend that’s particularly intuitive, and if you’re just glancing at the lineup and assuming the Sige6 slots neatly between the 5 and 7 in terms of performance or positioning, you’d be in for a surprise as it’s a different SoC vendor entirely. We’ll just have to try to remember.
How Does The A733 Actually Perform?
The Sige6 isn’t out yet so we obviously can’t benchmark it, but I have already got two A733-based boards from Radxa benchmarked over on sbc.compare, so we can get a reasonable feel for what to expect. If we look at the Sige5 (RK3576, 8GB LPDDR4X) versus the Radxa Cubie A7A (A733, 6GB LPDDR5), the A733 actually pulls ahead in a decent amount tests, which is fun given it’s working with 2GB less RAM and 2 fewer CPU cores, though in reality, having better A76 and A55 cores vs the RK3576’s A72/A53 cores will make up some of this too. The LPDDR5 on the Cubie versus LPDDR4 on the Sige5 is likely helping in some of the memory-sensitive workloads too, so it’s not purely a CPU story. Either way, if the Sige6 lands with 8GB of LPDDR5 as the poll suggests, it should be in a good position to outpace its Sige5 sibling on the whole.
Thoughts
It’s nice to have a bit more meat on the bones here. The A733 is a capable SoC and ArmSoM consulting the community on configurations is a friendly approach, even if the poll turnout was a touch on the modest side. Pricing remains the big unknown, and as I’ve said before, ArmSoM tend to sit slightly higher on price than the likes of Radxa or Orange Pi, which is understandable given they’re a smaller outfit without the scale to drive costs down, especially with the current RAM and flash storage pricing situation. If you want a deeper look at their hardware in the meantime, do check out my ArmSoM AIM7 review, and you can see their current lineup over on sbc.compare.
I’ll keep an eye out for any further details and update the post or write a follow-up as and when more drops. In the meantime, if you’ve got thoughts on what you’d want from the Sige6, or whether the A733 is on your radar at all, do let me know in the comments!
