We knew it could arrive at any time, but it was likely that that moment would be delayed due to the chip manufacturing problem. The shortage was such that the RPi4 can now be purchased for a higher price than it cost when it came out in 2019. The situation began to normalize, and the company has made official today the launch of the Raspberry Pi 5, an evolution that I don't know whether to label as natural due to some key changes.
Being a mini-PC, although it can be used for many other purposes, among the most important components we must look at the chips. The one in the Raspberry Pi 5 is the BCM2712, designed by Raspberry in a 16 nanometer process manufactured by Broadcom. It is quad-core 64bit ARM Cortex-A76 a 2.4GHz, a significant increase with respect to the RPi4, which was output at 1.5GHz, although all of them can be done with what is known as overclock.
Raspberry Pi 5 technical specifications
| CPU | 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 CPU |
| Institutional | VideoCore VII GPU, supports OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan 1.2 Dual 4Kp60 HDMI® monitor output 4Kp60 HEVC decoder |
| Connectivity | Dual band 802.11ac Wi-Fi® Bluetooth 5.0 / Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) |
| Ports and other connections | High-speed microSD card interface with support for SDR104 mode 2 USB 3.0 ports, supporting 5Gbps operations simultaneously 2 USB ports 2.0 Gigabit Ethernet, with PoE+ support (requires PoE+ HAT) 2 × 4-lane MIPI for cameras and displays PCIe 2.0 x1 interface for fast peripherals Raspberry Pi 40-pin GPIO section |
| Others | real time clock On / off button |
| Price | To be announced |
| Availability | Late October |
The Raspberry Pi 5 is the first to use a new I/O controller which they say:
«RP1 is our I/O controller for the Raspberry Pi 5, designed by the same Raspberry Pi team that developed the RP2040 microcontroller and implemented, like the RP2040, on TSMC's mature 40LP process. It offers two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 interfaces; a Gigabit Ethernet controller; two four-lane MIPI transceivers for camera and display; analog video output; 3,3V general purpose I/O (GPIO); and the usual collection of GPIO-multiplexed low-speed interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C, I2S and PWM). A four-lane PCI Express 2.0 interface provides a 16 Gb/s link to the BCM2712«.
Same design and size
The Raspberry Pi 5 looks very similar to the previous ones. It remains of the card size, a little thick, yes, with some modifications, such as they have eliminated the headphone port and the composite video that the RP1 now manages. This could mean, it could, that it can be mounted on the RPi4 cases we already have, but I wouldn't put all my hopes on it.
In the accessories section that comes with the Raspberry Pi 5 (they do not say that they are not compatible with previous ones) we have:
- New box, based on the design of the previous one, but adds holes for temperature management functions. And since the 2019 plate and its increased power, it is recommended to use ventilation. It will be priced at $10.
- Cooling system. With the lesson well learned, they have also designed a cooling system with heatsinks. It will be priced at $5.
- New 27W power cable.
- Cables for cameras and screens.
- PoE+ Hat. This listed in the specifications table allows for Gigabit Ethernet.
- Connectors for the use of NVMe SSD and other M.2 accessories.
- RTC battery that prevents the clock from stopping when the board is disconnected.
Is it worth buying a Raspberry Pi 5?
Here comes my usual answer: it depends. AND It depends on the use we want to give it.. And also if we already have a previous one and which one. For those who have an RPi4 and want to use it, for example, with LineageOS, the power of the Raspberry Pi 5 is unnecessary, and so is the expense. In addition, the 2019 version also moves desktop operating systems well if they are used on a good microSD or high-speed USB 3.0.
For those who do not have any and are thinking of making extensive use of them, this new version is more powerful and it doesn't get that hot, and will allow desktop operating systems to be moved more freely. As for other tasks, such as game emulation, the RPi4 is still a good option if used to play classic consoles, but in PPSSPP there are many titles that require their own configuration with frame skips to be able to play. The RPi5 will perform better in this terrain, especially if done overclock.
Another thing that I think is important to keep in mind is that they fly. When they go on sale, there will be stock, and authorized sellers will offer it at a lower price than what we will find in other stores like Amazon.
In short, if you were considering buying one, this October you should purchase the new raspberry board.