Meet the most affordable Raspberry Pi 5 yet: what’s new and why it’s so cheap

It’s been almost a year since the launch of the Raspberry Pi 5Available in two options: a version with 4GB of RAM for $60 and another with 8GB of RAM for $80.

Also: Don’t buy a Raspberry Pi 5 without also buying this amazing accessory

But does everyone need 4GB of RAM? Raspberry Pi engineers don’t think so. They’ve published a version with 2 GB of RAM (the same 32-bit LPDDR4X SDRAM subsystem, running at 4267 MT/s found in the other Pi 5 units) available for $50.

Below are the specifications. Changes from the 4/8GB versions are highlighted in bold.

Raspberry Pi 5 2GB technical specifications

• 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 CPU with quad-core BCM2712D0 at 2.4GHz D0 “cost-optimized” staggered
• 2 GB LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM memory
• VideoCore VII GPU, compatible with OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan 1.2
• HDMI 4Kp60 Dual Display Output
• HEVC 4Kp60 Decoder
• LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM (4GB and 8GB available)
• Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 5.0 / Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
• High-speed microSD card interface with support for SDR104 mode
• 2 USB 3.0 ports supporting simultaneous 5Gbps operation
• 2 USB 2.0 ports
• Gigabit Ethernet, with PoE+ support (requires separate PoE+ HAT, available soon)
• 2 x 4-lane MIPI display/camera transceivers
• PCIe 2.0 x1 interface for fast peripherals
• Raspberry Pi standard 40-pin GPIO header
• Real time clock
• Power button

In addition to reducing the amount of RAM, the 2GB Pi 5 is the first to use a “cost-optimized” D0 version of the BCM2712 processor. While this may sound worrying, it isn’t. Previous versions of the BCM2712 processor contained all the functionality and logic needed to run a Raspberry Pi 5, as well as features intended for other applications. While these features are disabled on the chips used in the Pi 5, making them “dark silicon,” they still take up space on the chip’s die.

That space on the die translates into money. It’s not much, but it all adds up.

Removing this unnecessary logic, combined with the 2GB RAM reduction, reduces the price by $10.

Also: The Raspberry Pi 5 cracks passwords twice as fast as my Pi 4, but there’s a catch

As far as accessories go, the 2GB Pi 5 is the same as its larger-memory siblings, and everything from coolers to cases to HATs should work as expected.

So how much RAM will you need for your Raspberry Pi 5?

My tests with both the 4GB and 8GB versions suggest that the system doesn’t require much RAM for general use, such as booting up, launching web browsers, and handling basic tasks. However, as with PCs, more demanding applications (such as having dozens of tabs open, running 4K videos, or using two 4Kp60 displays) will start to drain RAM.

Also: The smallest Raspberry Pi, the $5 Pico 2, gets a big performance boost

So choose wisely, based not only on your current Pi 5 needs, but also what you might want to do with it in the future, whether that’s in weeks, months, or years.

Will there be a 1GB version of the Pi 5? If you look closely at a Pi 5 board, you’ll see that there are resistors on the 8GB, 4GB, 2GB, and 1GB versions. However, Raspberry Pi HQ says the company is currently focused on bringing the Compute Module 5 to market.

The Raspberry Pi 5 2GB is available immediately through authorized resellers such as SparkFun and Cane kit.