Small Form Factor New Raspberry Pi 5

Very nice, very nice indeed.

I’ll preface everything here by saying that I haven’t read your review yet @Gareth Halfacree, you may have covered some or all of this.

I read that the PCIe port supports NVMe, so I’d be interested to see how it handles SSDs. It’s probably not going to get close to saturating an NVMe SSD’s bandwidth, but it’s always nice to have more storage options. And it’ll be interesting to see what other weird and wacky uses people come up with for a PCIe port on a Pi.

Maybe this generation will be the first true “desktop replacement” Pi. For me, one the biggest roadblocks to going “full Linux” (for everything besides gaming) has always been GPU acceleration, in particular GPU accelerated video decoding in browsers. That and video DRM support in browsers… If this can run 4K video in a browser from a variety of different sources (Netflix, Prime, YouTube, Disney+, etc) then I will pre-order one now. I’ve done all the hacks and workarounds in the past (which usually boil down to third-party Kodi plugins and a game of whack-a-mole between plugin developers and streaming services), and I’ve got zero patience for it any more. I’ve had trouble doing this with x86/x64 PCs and laptops over the years though, so I’m not holding my breath that it’ll be smooth sailing on the Pi 5.

I am slightly disappointed that they chose to offer pre-orders. In the past, they’ve only ever done new product announcements when they’ve been available to order (besides, of course, the very first board). It’s not a question of whether than can/will deliver, I would put far more trust in Raspberry Pi Trading than any other manufacturer/vendor. But pre-orders are still selling a product that technically doesn’t exist yet, and it comes straight on the back of a prolonged period of Pi boards being basically impossible to get hold of.

My enthusiasm for new Pi boards is definitely less than it was in previous years, but it does give me very warm fuzzies to know that they are still going strong. There are a bajillion other ARM and x86/x64 SBCs out there these days, for whatever possible purpose you could imagine, but absolutely none of them can hold a candle to the amount of support that Raspberry Pi boards get.

 

I am literally reading your review as we speak/type

 

Boooo.... would be much better to do PD allowing much wider selection of power supply.

For around house little projects, I still think Pi 3 is the best option. It just works with any power supply and doesn't require extensive cooling, it has more than enough performance to run basic GPIO tasks with a simple web server.

 

To be honest, if you’re doing something that doesn’t need a display and is largely just used for automation then I’d argue that a Zero W or even a Pico W is a better fit. The RP2040 is an amazingly capable little microcontroller.

 

It's the 5A requirement that is difficult. It would have been easier if they have used standard PD at 9v 3A. Of course it's easier for usage but more expensive to buy.

Zero W is a good shout. But I personally like everything wired.


Great performance upgrade for the 5 though.

 

Waiting for my "priority code" from MagPi to drop into my inbox...

 

Any info on low-speed interfaces (how many of each)?
Seeing as whole datapath changed for cameras, whats the performance/limitations/power usage?
Is CSI still limited to 1Gbps/lane?
CVBS is now handled by RP1, can CVBS be used at the same time as HDMI?

Only took them 11 years to get RTC onboard...
Also, in their press release they are boasting about chiplet design, is main SOC actually consists of chiplets or this is the case of redefining buzzwords?

It feels like they cant do a product release without there being controversy around power supply (rpi2 flash bug, rpi3 out of spec microb, rpi4 resistor bug, now this).
Imo, they should have gone with 12V capable input two versions ago.

 

Jeff Geerling did attempt multiple GPUs, a RAID card and 10GB ethernet card on his so (though with limited success) so whatever you need your x16 for, it's possible at least physically.

 

So its just rpi4 peripherals (6 uarts, 2 spi, etc) offloaded to different ic?

HW encoder on rpi topped out at 1080p30, so it was pretty much useless since the release of camera V2.
rpi4 soc had 4+2 csi lanes (or will inevitable CM5 will come without RP1)?
on rpi4 1Gbps (500MHz DDR, maybe more, as there was no proper datasheet, hope they release one for RP1) was per lane, not per port.

Honetly, i would actually prefer if they sold version without any connectors soldered.

 

ah cool. But can it run Cry…. I’ll get my coat.

 

I know it's still sort of the SBC... and has the healthiest ecosystem around it... but hasn't the the pi kinda been supplanted by better and/or cheaper things? both ARM and x86. Not helped by the pi being basically unobtanium for a long-ass time.

 

Would one of those Zimaboard things not do for that?

 

Something like latte panda or a caseless nuc might be more appropriate and GPU would not be bottle-necked by 1x PCI2.0.

Had a suspition it was something like that, RP1 might be a more interesting product, do you know/can disclose if they are planning on selling it on its own?