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After four years, the Raspberry Pi 5 is finally here!
To use the official phrase to introduce it, it is a "comprehensive upgrade in terms of hardware":
- Equipped with a 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 CPU, 2-3 times better performance than the previous version;
- The new VideoCore VII GPU supports OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan 1.2, and the graphics processor performance has also been greatly improved;
- Memory and I/O bandwidth are about twice that of previous Raspberry Pi products, which means faster processing and smoother operation.
- ……
Not only that, the price is still very fragrant, the 4GB version costs $60 (about 438 yuan), and the 8GB version costs $80 (about 584 yuan).
Perhaps for Raspberry Pi enthusiasts, this version has been waiting for a long time, and as soon as the news came out, it immediately triggered a large number of netizens to watch.
And the Raspberry Pi official also gave enough "preference" to enthusiasts this time:
Pre-orders are now available and will be officially available at the end of October.
Priority is given to shipping to individual buyers; Let the "family" taste the first cherry.
The Raspberry Pi 5 with improved performance across the board
As we just mentioned, the performance of the Raspberry Pi 5 has been substantially improved this time.
And this is mainly due to the three new chips built into it, all specially designed for the Raspberry Pi 5.
The first is BCM2712.
It is a new 16nm application processor (AP) from Broadcom, evolving from the 28nm BCM2711 AP that powers the Raspberry Pi 4 with many architectural enhancements.
The core of the BCM2712 is a quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 processor operating at 2.4GHz, with 512KB L2 cache per core, and a 2MB shared L3 cache.
The Cortex-A76 is three generations ahead of the Cortex-A72 in microarchitecture, allowing more instructions per clock cycle (IPC) to be executed and consuming less energy per instruction.
The combination of newer cores, higher clock speeds, and smaller process geometries makes the Raspberry Pi faster while consuming less power for a given task.
At the same time, the new CPU and the new GPU complement each other, namely VideoCore VII, developed by Broadcom in Cambridge, and the completely open source Mesa driver from Igalia.
The Raspberry Pi 5 has updated the VideoCore Hardware Video Scaler (HVS), which can drive two 4Kp60 HDMI displays at the same time, while the Raspberry Pi 4 can only drive a single 4Kp60 or two 4Kp30s.
In order to provide sufficient memory bandwidth for the system, the Raspberry Pi 5 also uses a 32-bit LPDDR4X SDRAM subsystem with an operating frequency of 4267MT/s, which is much higher than the 2000MT/s on the Raspberry Pi 4.
This is followed by RP1.
Previous Raspberry Pi products used an all-in-one AP architecture: while some peripheral functions were provided by external devices (such as the Via Labs VL805 USB controller and hub used in the Raspberry Pi 4, the Microchip LAN951x and LAN7515 USB hub and Ethernet controller chip used in earlier products), almost all I/O functions were integrated in the AP itself.
But as the Raspberry Pi evolved, they realized early on that as APs were migrated to constantly updated process nodes, this practice would eventually become technically and economically unsustainable.
Therefore, the Raspberry Pi 5 adopts a disaggregated chipset architecture: only the main fast digital functions, SD card interface (for board layout reasons), and fastest interface (SDRAM, HDMI, and PCI Express) are provided by the AP.
All other I/O functions are offloaded to a separate I/O controller, which is manufactured using an older, cheaper production process and connected to the AP via PCI Express.
RP1 is the Raspberry Pi 5 I/O controller, designed by the Raspberry Pi team, which provides two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 interfaces, a Gigabit Ethernet controller, two quad MIPI transceivers for camera and display displays, analog video output, 3.3V general-purpose I/O (GPIO), and conventional GPIO multiplexed low-speed interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C, I2S, and PWM).
A quad PCI Express 2.0 interface provides a 16Gb/s link back to BCM2712.
It is understood that RP1 is the longest and most complex development time and most complex project of Raspberry Pi since 2016, and it is also the most expensive ($15 million) project in Raspberry Pi's history.
Finally, there's the DA9091.
The BCM2712 and RP1 just mentioned are powered by the third new component of the chipset, the Renesas DA9091 "Gilmour" power management IC (PMIC).
It integrates eight independent switch-mode power supplies to generate the various voltages required by the board, including a four-phase core power supply capable of delivering 20 amps to power the Cortex-A76 core and other digital logic in the BCM2712.
There are two other elements in the chipset that are carried over from the Raspberry Pi 4.
Infineon's CYW43455 combo chips offer dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 as well as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
While the chip itself has not changed, it is equipped with a dedicated switching power rail to reduce power consumption and is connected to the BCM2712 via an upgraded SDIO interface that supports DDR50 mode to provide higher potential throughput.
As before, the Ethernet connection is provided by Broadcom's BCM54213 Gigabit Ethernet PHY.
There are also many accessories
In addition to the Raspberry Pi 5 itself, the company also released a large number of accessories together.
For example, the shell designed for the Raspberry Pi 5, which costs $10, adds many new usability and thermal management features.
The integrated fan has a flow rate of 2.79 (max) CFM, uses hydrodynamic bearings for low noise and long service life, and it connects to the Raspberry Pi 5 via a four-pin JST plug to provide temperature-controlled cooling.
Air is drawn in through the 360-degree air intake under the cover, blown through the radiator connected to the BCM2712 AP, and exhausted through connector openings and vents in the base.
When running the same workload, the Raspberry Pi 5 consumes significantly less power than the Raspberry Pi 4 and runs significantly cooler.
However, the higher performance cap means that for the most intensive workloads, especially for sick "power virus" workloads, peak power consumption increases to about 12W, compared to 8W for the Raspberry Pi 4.
When powering the Raspberry Pi 5 with a standard 5V, 3A (15W) USB-C power adapter, the downstream USB current must be limited to 600mA by default to ensure sufficient headroom to support these workloads.
This limit is lower than the Raspberry Pi 4's 1.2A limit, but is usually still enough to drive mice, keyboards, and other low-power peripherals.
For users who want to drive high-powered peripherals such as hard drives and SSDs while still retaining peak workload headroom, the Raspberry Pi offers a $12 USB-C power adapter that operates at 5V, 5A (25W).
If the Raspberry Pi 5 firmware detects this power supply, it will raise the USB current limit to 1.6A, providing 5W of extra power for downstream USB devices and 5W of extra power budget for onboard: this is a boon for users who want to try overclocking the Raspberry Pi 5.
For more product-related details, please refer to:
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/introducing-raspberry-pi-5/
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