Raspberry 5

It’s been a long wait since the Raspberry Pi 4 dropped in 2019. In tech years, that’s basically a decade. But the Raspberry Pi 5 is finally here, and I’ve spent the last few months throwing everything I can at it.

Spoiler alert: It’s faster than Raspberry Pi 4. Like, recognizably fast. But it also runs hot enough to fry an egg if you aren’t careful. Let’s dig in.

The Specs (Briefly)

For those who care about the numbers, here is the “under the hood” upgrade:

  • CPU: 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 (2-3x faster than the Pi 4)
  • GPU: VideoCore VII (supports dual 4Kp60 via HDMI)
  • I/O: The new RP1 chip handles all the input/output, separating it from the CPU for the first time.
  • PCIe 2.0 x1: Yes, you read that right. A user-accessible PCIe interface.
  • Power: 5V/5A USB-C (Supports PD).

My Lab Configuration

For this test, I used the following: Physical Hardware MSI NUC Mini PC 32 Cores 32GB RAM and 250GB NVME 2 x Raspberry Pi 4 2 x Raspberry Pi 5 Router Dedicated 1GBps Network Switch

Hypervisor Proxmox

Workloads/Services Ubuntu 25.10 Server on Raspberry Pi 4 & 5 Raspberry Pi OS 13 on Raspberry Pi 4 & 5 Debian 13.2 on Raspberry Pi 4 & 5

The Good Stuff (Advantages)

1. It’s Recognizably Faster

The jump from the Pi 4 to the Pi 5 feels massive. The desktop experience on Raspberry Pi OS is buttery smooth. YouTube plays 1080p60 without stuttering, web pages load instantly, and compiling code is significantly quicker. It finally feels like a usable entry-level desktop computer rather than a hobbyist toy.

2. The Power Button!

We finally have one! No more yanking the USB-C cable out to restart the board. It’s a tiny physical button on the side. It’s a small thing, but it brings me immense joy.

3. PCIe is a Game Changer

This is the headline feature. With a HAT (Hardware Attached on Top), you can connect an NVMe SSD directly to the Pi. Booting from an NVMe drive instead of a MicroSD card makes the system fly. It opens up the Pi to be a serious NAS or media server contender.

4. The RP1 Chip

By offloading USB, Ethernet, and camera I/O to a dedicated chip (the RP1), the main processor isn’t bogged down by moving data around. USB transfer speeds are noticeably more consistent.

The Not-So-Good Stuff (Disadvantages)

1. It Runs Hot

The Pi 5 is not a passive cooling device. Do not try to run this naked. You need the active cooler (fan + heatsink) or a case with integrated cooling. Without it, it throttles quickly under load. The official Active Cooler is cheap and quiet, but it’s an extra cost.

2. The Power Supply Situation

To get full performance (specifically to power high-drain USB devices like hard drives), you need the new 27W USB-C PD power supply.

  • Can you use your old Pi 4 charger? Yes, but the Pi 5 will limit power to the USB ports.
  • Can you use your laptop charger? Maybe, but the Pi requires a weird 5V/5A profile that many standard laptop bricks don’t support.

3. Dongle Life Continues

  • Audio: The 3.5mm headphone jack is gone. You’ll need USB audio or HDMI audio now.
  • Cameras: The camera connectors have changed to the smaller “mini” MIPI format (same as the Pi Zero). If you have old Pi cameras, you need to buy new adapter cables.
  • Video: Still using Micro-HDMI, which remains the most fragile connector known to man.

The Verdict

The Raspberry Pi 5 is an absolute beast of a Single Board Computer (SBC). It is the first Pi that I would genuinely be comfortable using as a daily office PC for kids or light users. The addition of PCIe makes it a dream for home lab enthusiasts. There are other compelling affordable alternatives like the Next Unit of Computing (NUCs), MAC Mini etc. if you are looking for more compute, graphics, RAM and storage options.

Rating

4/5 - Berry Good.

References

  • Raspberry Pi Documentation: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/