Raspberry Pi 4 8GB
Les Pounder is served with another slice of Raspberry Pi, but this time he needs to take a bigger “byte”. Perhaps he’ll devour it in eight gigabytes…
Les Pounder is served with another slice of Raspberry Pi, but this time he needs to take a bigger “byte”. Perhaps he’ll devour it in eight gigabytes?
Another Raspberry Pi is here! But hold your horses – it’s not the Raspberry Pi 5. Instead, it’s still the Raspberry Pi 4, now with 8GB of LPDDR4-2400 RAM. That’s double the amount found in the previous highest-spec model. So now we once again have three different Raspberry Pi 4 models (2, 4 and 8GB of RAM) after losing the 1GB version earlier this year.
Physically and electronically the 8GB model is all but identical to the previous models of Raspberry Pi 4. The only difference is the identification numbers etched on to the RAM chip: on our review unit it was a Micron 0A447 D9ZCL. The 8GB Raspberry Pi will work with the same accessories as previous Pi incarnations, and will fit into the same cases. The same heatsink and cooling options will still work too, and if you’re planning to use this Pi in demanding applications, then cooling options should be on your shopping list.
Yet why is an 8GB version needed? The Raspberry Pi 4 4GB was hailed as a desktop replacement and if your requirements are low (email, surfing, office) then you can use the Raspberry Pi 4 as a low-end desktop. But what if you want to watch a Youtube video, type a document, take part in a video chat or run terminal applications in the background? Does the extra RAM make a difference?
Double the fun?
In our tests it had little impact on general tasks. Your coding projects won’t be using the extra RAM unless you’re creating seriously powerful projects. We ran a series of tests on a Pi 4 4GB and the new 8GB, both using the same micro SD card with the latest Raspbian release. Boot time for the 4GB Pi was 24.4 seconds, versus 25 seconds for the 8GB model. That’s hardly a perceptible difference. Starting the Chromium browser from a cold boot took 7.09 seconds on a 4GB model, and 6.99 seconds on 8GB. Our Sysbench CPU stress test came in at 68.29 seconds on the 4GB model, and only 62.68 seconds on 8GB, nearly a 10 per cent speed increase. That’s not bad, but not something the average user would notice. We ran the Octane browser-based Javascript benchmark and the 4GB model came in with a score of 8,094, and the 8GB model came in at 8,088. So the 4GB model scored six points higher, but this was not indicative of a “better” Pi.
Our final test was a synthetic benchmark to test file operations, with 128 files totalling 12GB of space being cached to RAM. The 4GB Pi 4 managed to transfer 1.78GB of files in five minutes, approximately 6.09MB/ sec. The 8GB Pi 4 managed to transfer 2.34GB in the same time – that’s 7.99Mb/sec. So the 8GB Pi 4 has better file operations thanks to RAM caching.
If you’re planning to use a Pi 4 as a server, then the 8GB model is the one to aim for. Planning to build a robot? Then stick to a lower-spec Raspberry Pi – the 2GB model is great for makers. But if you’re thinking of creating projects that are CPU- and memory-intensive, such as machine learning or artificial intelligence, then the extra RAM on the 4 and 8GB models will help to smooth the project onwards.
Finally, if you already have the Raspberry Pi 4 4GB then have a think before purchasing. Are you pushing your Pi 4 4GB to the limit? If not then save your money.