Earlier this month, a new version of the Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer was released with 2 GB of memory. Then the head of the company, Eben Upton, noted that the device received an updated Broadcom BCM2712C1 processor – it has D0 stepping and, compared to previous versions, lacks functionality that cannot be used in the updated version of the computer.
Image source: raspberrypi.com
Raspberry Pi fan and video blogger Jeff Geerling has already conducted his own research on the 2GB Pi 5. The new computer is functionally identical to the older versions with 4 and 8 GB of memory, Upton assured, and offers the same performance – of course, with the exception of workloads , where the amount of RAM is critical. The new crystal turned out to be 33% smaller than the old one, which was confirmed by the experience of Girling, who removed the thermal distributor from the chip and made manual measurements of the silicon.
But the differences between the Raspberry Pi 5 and 2 GB of memory are not limited to this. As it turned out, the new computer consumes less energy and has a lower operating temperature than the 4 and 8 GB options. The 2GB Pi 5 only needs 2.4W in idle mode and 8.9W during the stress test, while the 4GB required 3.3 and 9.8W respectively. The first also showed an operating temperature of 30 °C in standby mode and 59 °C under load, while the second heated up to 32 and 63 °C, respectively.
The manufacturer did not specify what functionality the updated Raspberry Pi 5 chip has lost, but, according to Girling, it is related to the dedicated RP1 I/O chip, which, among other things, is responsible for Ethernet and USB controllers, display interfaces and GPIO. The company also hasn’t clarified whether D0 stepping will be used in the chips of the 4 and 8 GB memory models, although it might benefit from using a cheaper processor as standard.