FriendlyELEC’s NanoPi R2C is an updated version of NanoPi R2S dual GbE mini router that replaces Realtek RTL8211E Gigabit Ethernet transceiver w

NanoPi R2C is a cheaper dual GbE mini router with YT8521S Gigabit Ethernet PHY

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2021-08-16 20:30:02

FriendlyELEC’s NanoPi R2C is an updated version of NanoPi R2S dual GbE mini router that replaces Realtek RTL8211E Gigabit Ethernet transceiver with a Motorcomm YT8521S chip.

NanoPi R2C mini router still comes with a Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, 1GB DDR4 memory, and a Realtek RTL8153 USB 3.0 to Ethernet controller for the second Ethernet port.

The company reports the only difference is the Gigabit Ethernet chip, but when I reviewed NanoPi R2S with Armbian last year, it still had a micro USB port for power, so they may have changed it to USB-C in the most recent revision.

FriendlyELEC still claims the measured performance is the same, e.g. 941 Mbps with iperf with the new chip, but the system runs a little warner albeit still within an acceptable temperature that does not accept the CPU performance.

The chart above was performed in a room with a 24°C ambient temperature, with the system under full load, and the CPU frequency kept at 1.5 GHz the whole time. The results may be different in environments with a significantly higher ambient temperature.