The new Raspberry Pi 5 is a single-board computer that’s a major upgrade over the Raspberry Pi 4 that launched four years ago in just about every way. But it’s still backward-compatible with many of accessories made for earlier devices.
The new model has an updated processor that should deliver more than twice the performance of the previous-generation. And at launch, there will be two configurations available: a model with 4GB of RAM that sells for $60 and an 8GB version priced at $80. That means the starting model has twice as much RAM as a $35 Raspberry Pi 4. But it also has a significantly higher starting price. The Raspberry Pi 5 will be available for purchase starting in October.
At the heart of new computer is a new Broadcom BCM2712 processor, which is a 16nm chip featuring:
- 4 x ARM Cortex-A76 CPU cores @ 2.4 GHz
- 512KB per-core L2 cache
- 2MB L3 cache
- VideoCore VII graphics with support for dual 4k/60 Hz HDMI displays
The system also uses a a new RPI controller for some I/O, including the USB, Ethernet, MIPI, and GPI functions. High-speed I/O is still handled by the main application processor, which means that the BCM2712 chip still does the heavy lifting for the HDMI, PCI Express, SDRAM, and SD card interfaces.
The RPI1 communicates with the BC2712 via a four-lane PCIe 2.0 16Gb/s connection.
Other chips include a Renesas DA9091 power management IC (PMIC) and the same Infineon CYW43455 wireless chip used in the Raspberry Pi 4, for WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, plus a Broadcom BCM54213 Gigabit Ethernet PHY.
The Raspberry Pi 5 also features 32-bit LPDDR4X 4267MT/s memory and features a set of ports that includes:
- 2 x micro HDMI (4K/60Hz)
- 2 x USB 3.0 Type-A
- 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A
- 1 x Gigabit Ethernet with PoE support
- 1 x USB-C power input
- 1 x microSD card reader
There are also two 4-lane MIPI interfaces that support MIPI-CSI cameras or MIPI-DSI displays, but you’ll need adapter cables to use existing Raspberry Pi or 3rd-party cameras, displays, or other accessories with them. Those cables will be sold for between $1 and $3.
While the Raspberry Pi 5 is the same size as earlier models (85 x 56mm), the layout has changed a little bit. There’s no longer a dedicated composite video port or dedicated analog audio jack. But you can use the HDMI ports for audio and video, use a USB adapter for audio, or connect composite video directly to pads on the bottom left side of the little computer.
According to Raspberry Pi, removing those features freed up space for the new MIPI connectors, and a new FPC connector for single-lane PCIe 2.0 high-speed peripherals.
That opens the door to new types of add-on boards. For example, next year you’ll be able to buy a Raspberry Pi 5 HAT that adds a daughter board to the top of the system that allows you to connect a PCIe NVMe SSD. There will be at least two types of these boards: a large one for M.2 2280 SSDs that basically stack atop of the computer, and a smaller L-shaped connector that lets you attach a M.2 2232 or M.2 2242 SSD in a low-profile design that still lets the whole thing fit inside a Raspberry Pi case.
Speaking of which, other accessories include a new $10 case with an integrated fan, a $5 active cooler with a fan and heat sink, but no case, and a $12 power supply that delivers up to 27W, allowing you to squeeze a little more performance out of the system.
The Raspberry Pi 5 can run just fine using a 15W power adapter, and Raspberry Pi says it actually uses less power and generates less heat than the Raspberry Pi 4 when running under the same load. But the new chip has a higher performance ceiling, using up to 12 watts under heavier loads, while the Raspberry Pi 4 processor topped out at 8 watts.
That means that if you’re using a 15-watt power adapter, the Raspberry Pi 5 will have to cut power from somewhere, and it does it by reducing the USB current to 600 mAh, which may cause performance issues or slower charging for some USB peripherals. If you use the 27W charger, USB current goes up to 1.6A, delivering an extra 5W of downstream power.
Without 2 x Gigabit Ethernet with PoE support, 1 x USB4 type C?
I am so very disappointed 🙁
I’m mostly keen on Raspberry Pis for the low power consumption, so more compute power on less electrical power is a win to me. I hope the Zero gets a similar upgrade, although I would sacrifice a couple of cores for even lower power consumption, there.
Sorry to see the 3.5mm jack go away…
Not only for the jack, but also another round of the dual micro-HDMI, lack of hardware encoding etc…I’m going to go ahead and pass this go around.
Just get yourself a complete HP Elitedesk Mini 705 G4(or HP ProDesk Mini 405 G4) for 100 to 125 and call it a day. They’re all over ebay at that price right now.
At the end of the day(hat, case, cooler, SD card, m.2 SSD, power supply etc.) the HP is cheaper…and what? 10x faster? Even runs linux in superb fashion and games quite good for one of these little devices. Debian 12 KDE Plasma desktops run perfectly on this device.
I have three in production…all working perfectly.
Best of luck…
Well, if you just want a personal computer then sure, but not so much as a machine controller or server due to size and power consumption issues respectively.
Latest unobtainable pi. Cool.
While most people on this site seem to be pretty excited, a lot of people on other sites are noticing some issues, issues that they’re viewing as part of a trend of things getting worse.
The fact that there’s no AV1 hardware encoding/decoding is a real sticking point for many people who wish it would take over and replace everything else already, and the lack of VP9 decoding means youtube will run terribly. The removal of h264 encoding/decoding is also really annoying them. The Broadcom BCM2712 was custom made for Raspberry Pi, so not having these video encoders was entirely their decision.
And of course, there’s the missing headphone jack.
Apparently not only is wifi 5 considered slow now, it’s also considered insecure, to the extent of being a big problem for anyone who wants to use these things as industrial machine controllers.
They describe the use of the ribbon connector for PCIe is fundamentally a trick to sell more HATs given the space they had to put it, and to be honest, I find that the fact that they didn’t just integrate Power over Ethernet into the port to be similar.
But what really annoys them is that they know that everyone will still be buying it because it takes years for most other SBCs to get mainline kernel support, if they ever get it at all.
it takes years for most other SBCs to get mainline kernel support, if they ever get it at all
nailed it, the secret sauce right there
I wonder if the 3.5mm AV jack on existing daughter/adapter boards (e.g. in RPi3B+ -based products) will sit between the two MIPI connectors…?
I think the headline is a little misleading. There is a $5 price increase over the similar RAM configurations of the Rpi-4b. So that is about a 9% price increase for the 4GB model. They are not currently producing 1GB or 2GB, but that does not mean that they won’t.
You cannot buy a $35 Raspberry Pi 5. If and when you can, I’ll update the headline.
You can’t buy a $35 Raspberry Pi 4.
That’s because it’s out of stock, not because they don’t make it.
Raspberry Pi has literally not announced a Raspberry Pi 5 that costs less than $60.
They may do so in the future, but they have not yet.
I don’t think so, Digikey (not a scalper but an official distributor), sells the 4GB version of the RPi 4 B for $55:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/raspberry-pi/SC0194-9/10258781
darn, i will miss that analog audio jack…
Looking at the review on Phoronix it seems that active cooling is necessary to be able to achieve optimal performance of the new Pi. Now I want to know whether the first-party solution has favorable noise or not.
All good, best seller material as always. One gripe: No EMMC and Ribbon PCIE, FTW! Thankfully the faster SD card support would pacify some users. We want M.2 hat and fast and cheap! BTW Orange Pi 5 now history?
“BTW Orange Pi 5 now history?”
If you can live with no H264 hardware decoding/encoding, you don’t need the NPU and can do without 4 additional (small) cores, sure. /s
There was a 4B with 8GB as I have one. https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/?variant=raspberry-pi-4-model-b-8gb
Oh right, they updated the after launch. I’ll fix the article!
I was wondering why supply for older boards was pretty low this past month… they are building supply for October release.
Would it kill the Raspberry people to put the full datasheet on their product page?
It is there, look for it…
I was hoping for details about RP1. Could not find any.
https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/
You are comparing the price of the 1GB Raspberry Pi 4 to the 8GB Model 5…
Yup; if you compare the matching amounts of memory between Raspberry Pi 4 and 5, the price has only gone up $5.
I’ve watched most of the current YouTube videos and performance looks really good, especially for alpha drivers and software that hasn’t been optimized yet.
Looks like they’ve got spots where a resistor goes for all the conceivably possible RAM levels, so they might offer 1 and 2 gigabyte models in the future, and those might cost $35 still, but of course people don’t buy those models in nearly as great numbers as the higher ones, so they’re selling those first. This is what they did with the Pi4 as I recall.
No, I’m comparing the price for an entry-level Raspberry Pi 4 to an entry-level Raspberry Pi 5.
There is no 1GB or 2GB version of the new model available at launch, so the cheapest Raspberry Pi 5 is $60.
You could argue that this means it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it was never going to be one, because the new model also has a faster processor and a whole bunch of other changes.
The point is that every Raspberry Pi Model B up until now has started at $35. This year’s model starts at $60.
TL;DR – The Pi Foundation are slowly making themselves irrelevant and obsolete. Any competitor can come and steal their market with the trends they’ve been setting. Or the community might move to other solutions.
rant:
It seems A LOT of people are angry. The Raspberry Pi 4B was no fan favourite, but people tolerated it because it finally gave them the necessary upgrade to 4GB RAM, and Out-of-Order (Medium) CPU cores. There seems to be some very obvious regressions here. And the performance uplift is NOT that drastic.
Honestly, they should have opted for ARMv9 solution. Maybe an 8nm 1x Cortex-X2 and 3x Cortex-A510 at the least. This is for security reasons, and for the “fresher” code. Not to mention all those hardware encoder/decoder support. I mean it’s been over 4-Years, they didn’t need to merely update, they needed to do a bigger jump to try and claw some ground and catch up with the industry.
As soon as someone can build a SBC board with all the bells/whistles, and that you can just plug in an old phone for all the heavy lifting…. well, the Pi is going to go bankrupt.
Other SBC manufacturers have better AND cheaper boards. But they don’t have as good software support. That won’t be an issue with an old phone, say the Google Pixel 4XL. And obviously there’s also all those decades old Office PCs you can pick up for a similar amount, and they have better software support and features than the rest. Their limitation seems to be power draw.