Radxa Dragon Q8B: Setups Compared

One board, benchmarked in different setups, side by side

Tested by Bret Weber Last updated 2 October 2026

Armbian (Debian 14 forky)vsArch LinuxvsArmbian (Debian 13 trixie)

What's Different

The same Radxa Dragon Q8B, benchmarked in 3 setups.

Operating System

Armbian (Debian 14 forky) (Standard): Armbian (Debian 14 forky)
Arch Linux: Arch Linux
Armbian (Debian 13 trixie): Armbian (Debian 13 trixie)

Kernel

Armbian (Debian 14 forky) (Standard): 7.0.11-vendor-sc8280xp
Arch Linux: 7.0.9-1-radxa-qcom+
Armbian (Debian 13 trixie): 7.0.2-vendor-sc8280xp

Tested

Armbian (Debian 14 forky) (Standard): 16 July 2026
Arch Linux: 10 July 2026
Armbian (Debian 13 trixie): 12 May 2026

Setting	Armbian (Debian 14 forky)Standard	Arch Linux	Armbian (Debian 13 trixie)
Operating System	Armbian (Debian 14 forky)	Arch Linux	Armbian (Debian 13 trixie)
Kernel	7.0.11-vendor-sc8280xp	7.0.9-1-radxa-qcom+	7.0.2-vendor-sc8280xp
Tested	16 July 2026	10 July 2026	12 May 2026

Everything else matched: the same 32GB board, stock clocks, performance governor and the standard test cooling.

Specification	Radxa Dragon Q8B Armbian (Debian 14 forky)	Radxa Dragon Q8B Arch Linux	Radxa Dragon Q8B Armbian (Debian 13 trixie)
Basic Specifications
Tested Setup
Price	$676.99
RAM	32GB
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Qualcomm® Adreno 690 Qualcomm Hexagon (15 TOPS)
Architecture	ARM
CPU Cores	4× Cortex-X1 @ 3.0GHz 4× Cortex-A78 @ 2.4GHz

* Affiliate link; qualifying purchases may earn us a commission

Environment	Radxa Dragon Q8B Armbian (Debian 14 forky)	Radxa Dragon Q8B Arch Linux	Radxa Dragon Q8B Armbian (Debian 13 trixie)
Last Tested	16 July 2026	10 July 2026	12 May 2026
System Configuration
OS Version	Armbian 26.8.0-trunk.376 forky	Arch Linux	Armbian-unofficial 26.05.0-trunk trixie
Kernel Version	7.0.11-vendor-sc8280xp	7.0.9-1-radxa-qcom+	7.0.2-vendor-sc8280xp
CPU Governor	performance	performance	performance
GPU Information
GL Renderer	FD690	FD690	FD690
GL Vendor	freedreno	freedreno	freedreno
GL Version	4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 26.1.4-1	4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 26.1.4-arch1.1	4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 25.0.7-2
Vulkan Device	Turnip Adreno (TM) 690	N/A	Turnip Adreno (TM) 690
Vulkan Driver Version	109056004	N/A	104857607
Hardware Setup
Boot Device	Crucial P5 Plus 1024GB (M.2 NVMe)	Intenso 256GB (M.2 NVMe)	Crucial P5 Plus 1024GB (M.2 NVMe)

Every figure above comes from hardware run in-house by Bret Weber, on the exact OS build, kernel, firmware and boot device listed here. Boards are tested to a fixed procedure so results stay comparable between them: see our testing methodology for how each benchmark is run.

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))

CPU Performance

Processor performance across single and multi-core workloads

Geekbench 6

Higher Scores are Better

Single-Core

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))1,683

1,683

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)1,680

1,680

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))1,682

1,682

Multi-Core

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))7,058

7,058

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)7,023

7,023

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))6,897 2% slower

6,897 2% slower

7-Zip Benchmark

Higher Scores are Better

Single-Core Combined

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))4,467 MIPS

4,467 MIPS

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)4,139 MIPS 7% slower

4,139 MIPS 7% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))4,373 MIPS 2% slower

4,373 MIPS 2% slower

Multi-Core Combined

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))36,243 MIPS

36,243 MIPS

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)36,036 MIPS 1% slower

36,036 MIPS 1% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))35,576 MIPS 2% slower

35,576 MIPS 2% slower

UnixBench

Higher Scores are Better

Single Core

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))1,703 3% slower

1,703 3% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)1,581 10% slower

1,581 10% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))1,756

1,756

Multi Core

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))9,965 7% slower

9,965 7% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)9,754 9% slower

9,754 9% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))10,730

10,730

CPU Mining (cpuminer-multi)

Higher Hashrates are Better

Fastest Thread

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))6.33 kH/s 2% slower

6.33 kH/s 2% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)6.32 kH/s 2% slower

6.32 kH/s 2% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))6.46 kH/s

6.46 kH/s

Total

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))44.68 kH/s 2% slower

44.68 kH/s 2% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)44.74 kH/s 2% slower

44.74 kH/s 2% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))45.49 kH/s

45.49 kH/s

Geekbench 7

Higher Scores are Better

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))Single-Core: 1,492Multi-Core: 7,407

Only this board has been tested so far, so there is nothing to compare against yet.

High Performance Linpack

Higher Scores are Better

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))Performance: 156.38 GFLOPSPerformance/Watt: 3.1 GFLOPS/W

Only this board has been tested so far, so there is nothing to compare against yet.

PassMark CPU

Higher Scores are Better

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))CPU Score: 6,277

Only this board has been tested so far, so there is nothing to compare against yet.

Memory Performance

Memory bandwidth and throughput benchmarks

TinyMemBench

Higher Bandwidth is Better

memcpy

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))18,181 MB/s

18,181 MB/s

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)17,596.7 MB/s 3% slower

17,596.7 MB/s 3% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))18,066.4 MB/s 1% slower

18,066.4 MB/s 1% slower

memset

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))42,178.9 MB/s

42,178.9 MB/s

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)42,050.5 MB/s

42,050.5 MB/s

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))42,134.6 MB/s

42,134.6 MB/s

PassMark RAM

Higher Scores are Better

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))RAM Score: 2,354

Only this board has been tested so far, so there is nothing to compare against yet.

GPU Performance

Graphics rendering with OpenGL and Vulkan, plus raw Vulkan compute throughput

glmark2 (OpenGL)

Higher Scores are Better

1080p

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))1,457 3.0× slower

1,457 3.0× slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)4,345

4,345

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))1,499 2.9× slower

1,499 2.9× slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))480

480

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))475 1% slower

475 1% slower

vkmark (Vulkan)

Higher Scores are Better

1080p

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))900 5.9× slower

900 5.9× slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))5,281

5,281

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))996 29% slower

996 29% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))1,400

1,400

SuperTuxKart (Gaming)

Higher FPS is Better

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))1080p Typical: 153 FPS1080p Steady: 100 FPS4K Typical: 45 FPS4K Steady: 34 FPS

Only this board has been tested so far, so there is nothing to compare against yet.

AI & LLM Performance

Large Language Model inference performance

Ollama LLM Benchmark

Higher Scores are Better

Tokens/sec

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))21.85 tok/s 8% slower

21.85 tok/s 8% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)21.35 tok/s 10% slower

21.35 tok/s 10% slower

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))23.69 tok/s

23.69 tok/s

Tokens/Watt

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))0.91 tok/W

0.91 tok/W

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))0.89 tok/W 2% slower

0.89 tok/W 2% slower

Tokens/Dollar

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))0.03 tok/$

0.03 tok/$

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)0.03 tok/$

0.03 tok/$

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))0.03 tok/$

0.03 tok/$

Storage Performance

Disk I/O throughput measured with FIO

fio Storage Performance - microSD

Higher Speeds are Better • Raspberry Pi 64GB (64GB microSD)

4K Random Read

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))20.3 MB/s

20.3 MB/s

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))20.4 MB/s

20.4 MB/s

4K Random Write

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))14.3 MB/s

14.3 MB/s

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))12.5 MB/s 13% slower

12.5 MB/s 13% slower

fio Storage Performance - M.2 NVMe

Higher Speeds are Better • Crucial P5 Plus (1024GB M.2 NVMe)

4K Random Read

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))1,120.4 MB/s

1,120.4 MB/s

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))1,119.1 MB/s

1,119.1 MB/s

4K Random Write

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))1,086.5 MB/s

1,086.5 MB/s

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))1,090.9 MB/s

1,090.9 MB/s

fio Storage Performance - UFS

Higher Speeds are Better • Radxa UFS (128GB UFS)

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))4K Random Read: 501.1 MB/s4K Random Write: 255.1 MB/s

Only this board has been tested so far, so there is nothing to compare against yet.

Network Performance

Ethernet and WiFi throughput measured with iPerf3

iPerf3 Network Performance

Higher Speeds are Better

Ethernet Up

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))2,342 Mbps

2,342 Mbps

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))2,347 Mbps

2,347 Mbps

Ethernet Down

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))2,339 Mbps

2,339 Mbps

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))2,336 Mbps

2,336 Mbps

Power & Thermal

Power consumption at idle and under various workloads

Power Consumption

Lower is "Better"

Idle Power

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))5.9W 69% more

5.9W 69% more

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))3.5W

3.5W

Load Power

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))25.1W 16% more

25.1W 16% more

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))21.7W

21.7W

Ollama Max

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))27.9W

27.9W

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))28.1W 1% more

28.1W 1% more

Linpack Max

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 14 forky))50.3W

50.3W

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Arch Linux)No Data

No Data

Radxa Dragon Q8B (Armbian (Debian 13 trixie))No Data

No Data

Benchmark	Radxa Dragon Q8B Armbian (Debian 14 forky)	Radxa Dragon Q8B Arch Linux	Radxa Dragon Q8B Armbian (Debian 13 trixie)

Geekbench 6 Single-Core	1683	1680	1682
Geekbench 6 Multi-Core	7058	7023	6897
Geekbench 7 Single-Core	1492	N/A	N/A
Geekbench 7 Multi-Core	7407	N/A	N/A
7-Zip Single-Core Combined	4467 MIPS	4139 MIPS	4373 MIPS
7-Zip Multi-Core Combined	36243 MIPS	36036 MIPS	35576 MIPS
7-Zip Single-Core Compression	3983 MIPS	3392 MIPS	3886 MIPS
7-Zip Multi-Core Compression	41503 MIPS	41129 MIPS	40412 MIPS
7-Zip Single-Core Decompression	4950 MIPS	4887 MIPS	4860 MIPS
7-Zip Multi-Core Decompression	30983 MIPS	30943 MIPS	30741 MIPS
Linpack Performance	156.38 GFLOPS	N/A	N/A
Linpack Performance/Watt	3.097 GFLOPS/W	N/A	N/A
UnixBench Single Core	1703	1581	1756
UnixBench Multi Core	9965	9754	10730
PassMark CPU Score	N/A	N/A	6277
CPU Mining Single Core	6.33 kH/s	6.32 kH/s	6.46 kH/s
CPU Mining Multi Core	44.68 kH/s	44.74 kH/s	45.49 kH/s

TinyMemBench memcpy	18181 MB/s	17596.7 MB/s	18066.4 MB/s
TinyMemBench memset	42178.9 MB/s	42050.5 MB/s	42134.6 MB/s
PassMark RAM Score	N/A	N/A	2354

glmark2 1080p (OpenGL)	1457	4345	1499
glmark2 4K (OpenGL)	480	N/A	475
vkmark 1080p (Vulkan)	900	N/A	5281
vkmark 4K (Vulkan)	996	N/A	1400
SuperTuxKart 1080p Typical FPS	153	N/A	N/A
SuperTuxKart 1080p Steady FPS	100	N/A	N/A
SuperTuxKart 4K Typical FPS	45	N/A	N/A
SuperTuxKart 4K Steady FPS	34	N/A	N/A

deepseek-r1:1.5b
Tokens per Second	21.85 tok/s	21.35 tok/s	23.69 tok/s
Tokens per Watt	0.91 tok/W	N/A	0.89 tok/W
Tokens per Dollar	0.03 tok/$	0.03 tok/$	0.03 tok/$
Max Power	23.93W	N/A	26.72W
deepseek-r1:8b
Tokens per Second	5.57 tok/s	5.51 tok/s	5.18 tok/s
Tokens per Watt	0.22 tok/W	N/A	0.18 tok/W
Tokens per Dollar	0.01 tok/$	0.01 tok/$	0.01 tok/$
Max Power	25.57W	N/A	28.28W
deepseek-r1:14b
Tokens per Second	3.24 tok/s	3.27 tok/s	3.18 tok/s
Tokens per Watt	0.12 tok/W	N/A	0.11 tok/W
Tokens per Dollar	N/A	N/A	N/A
Max Power	28.06W	N/A	29.59W

Raspberry Pi 64GB (64GB)
Sequential Read 4K	25.1 MB/s (6438 IOPS)	N/A	26.1 MB/s (6694 IOPS)
Sequential Read 64K	71.0 MB/s (1135 IOPS)	N/A	71.6 MB/s (1145 IOPS)
Sequential Read 1M	65.2 MB/s (64 IOPS)	N/A	70.6 MB/s (70 IOPS)
Sequential Write 4K	10.7 MB/s (2748 IOPS)	N/A	10.8 MB/s (2768 IOPS)
Sequential Write 64K	53.8 MB/s (861 IOPS)	N/A	25.6 MB/s (410 IOPS)
Sequential Write 1M	48.4 MB/s (47 IOPS)	N/A	51.4 MB/s (50 IOPS)
Random Read 4K	20.3 MB/s (5219 IOPS)	N/A	20.4 MB/s (5234 IOPS)
Random Read 64K	51.8 MB/s (828 IOPS)	N/A	51.2 MB/s (819 IOPS)
Random Read 1M	71.4 MB/s (70 IOPS)	N/A	73.2 MB/s (72 IOPS)
Random Write 4K	14.3 MB/s (3665 IOPS)	N/A	12.5 MB/s (3220 IOPS)
Random Write 64K	52.4 MB/s (838 IOPS)	N/A	50.0 MB/s (799 IOPS)
Random Write 1M	52.0 MB/s (51 IOPS)	N/A	54.1 MB/s (53 IOPS)

Crucial P5 Plus (1024GB)
Sequential Read 4K	1137.1 MB/s (291121 IOPS)	N/A	1136.0 MB/s (290840 IOPS)
Sequential Read 64K	1308.5 MB/s (20935 IOPS)	N/A	1306.4 MB/s (20902 IOPS)
Sequential Read 1M	3096.4 MB/s (3095 IOPS)	N/A	3094.9 MB/s (3094 IOPS)
Sequential Write 4K	1103.9 MB/s (282609 IOPS)	N/A	1110.3 MB/s (284240 IOPS)
Sequential Write 64K	2698.8 MB/s (43181 IOPS)	N/A	2692.5 MB/s (43079 IOPS)
Sequential Write 1M	2828.5 MB/s (2827 IOPS)	N/A	2833.9 MB/s (2833 IOPS)
Random Read 4K	1120.4 MB/s (286836 IOPS)	N/A	1119.1 MB/s (286490 IOPS)
Random Read 64K	2799.7 MB/s (44794 IOPS)	N/A	2787.5 MB/s (44600 IOPS)
Random Read 1M	3095.7 MB/s (3095 IOPS)	N/A	3094.9 MB/s (3094 IOPS)
Random Write 4K	1086.5 MB/s (278152 IOPS)	N/A	1090.9 MB/s (279287 IOPS)
Random Write 64K	2702.9 MB/s (43246 IOPS)	N/A	2694.5 MB/s (43112 IOPS)
Random Write 1M	2828.0 MB/s (2827 IOPS)	N/A	2832.5 MB/s (2831 IOPS)

Radxa UFS (128GB)
Sequential Read 4K	576.5 MB/s (147593 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Sequential Read 64K	304.5 MB/s (4871 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Sequential Read 1M	1846.0 MB/s (1845 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Sequential Write 4K	271.9 MB/s (69610 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Sequential Write 64K	263.9 MB/s (4222 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Sequential Write 1M	275.9 MB/s (275 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Random Read 4K	501.1 MB/s (128292 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Random Read 64K	1832.6 MB/s (29322 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Random Read 1M	1950.2 MB/s (1949 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Random Write 4K	255.1 MB/s (65318 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Random Write 64K	262.1 MB/s (4194 IOPS)	N/A	N/A
Random Write 1M	271.9 MB/s (271 IOPS)	N/A	N/A

Idle Power	5.9W	N/A	3.5W
Load Power	25.1W	N/A	21.7W
Ollama Max Power	27.9W	N/A	28.1W
Linpack Max Power	50.3W	N/A	N/A

Ethernet Upload	2342 Mbps	N/A	2347 Mbps
Ethernet Download	2339 Mbps	N/A	2336 Mbps

Radxa Dragon Q8B: Setups Compared

What's Different

Operating System

Kernel

Tested

Test Environment

CPU Performance

Geekbench 6

7-Zip Benchmark

UnixBench

CPU Mining (cpuminer-multi)

Geekbench 7

High Performance Linpack

PassMark CPU

Memory Performance

TinyMemBench

PassMark RAM

GPU Performance

glmark2 (OpenGL)

vkmark (Vulkan)

SuperTuxKart (Gaming)

AI & LLM Performance

Ollama LLM Benchmark

Storage Performance

fio Storage Performance - microSD

fio Storage Performance - M.2 NVMe

fio Storage Performance - UFS

Network Performance

iPerf3 Network Performance

Power & Thermal

Power Consumption

Benchmark Data