description Radxa Rock 4C Overview
The Radxa ROCK 4C is a solid entry-level choice for OpenWrt. It provides enough processing power to handle standard home internet speeds and basic firewall rules without breaking the bank. While it lacks the high-end features of the RK3588 series, its reliability and low power consumption make it an excellent candidate for users building their first custom OpenWrt router or a simple travel gateway.
help Radxa Rock 4C FAQ
What processor does the Radxa ROCK 4C use?
The ROCK 4C runs on Rockchip's RK3399, a hexa-core chip with two Cortex-A72 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. That's the same silicon family as several Rock Pi 4 boards, which is what makes it a natural, affordable OpenWrt candidate.
Is the ROCK 4C officially supported by OpenWrt?
OpenWrt's rockchip/armv8 target covers the ROCK Pi 4 family, and the ROCK 4C shares that RK3399 platform, so images are available through the snapshot builds and firmware selector. Support for board-specific variants can lag, so verify your exact board revision on the OpenWrt table of hardware before flashing.
Can the ROCK 4C route gigabit internet with OpenWrt?
Realistically, no — the RK3399 does software routing well into the several-hundred-megabit range, especially with software flow offloading enabled, but sustained line-rate gigabit with firewall rules is beyond it. For a typical home connection of a few hundred Mbps, though, it has headroom to spare.
Why pick a ROCK 4C over a Raspberry Pi 4 for a router build?
Both boards are in a similar price bracket, but the Raspberry Pi 4's BCM2711 has the larger community and better-documented OpenWrt guides, while the RK3399-based ROCK 4C is a solid alternative when stock or price favors it. Neither matches the RK3588-based ROCK 5 series for heavy multi-gig workloads, but that's a different price class.
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