TL;DR: Choose the Raspberry Pi 5 if you need PCIe expansion, dual 4K output, or serious CPU headroom for containers and VMs; stick with the Pi 4 if your workloads are light, power-efficient, and already working well. For most new home labs in 2024 and beyond, the Pi 5 is the better long-term buy.
The Raspberry Pi 5 landed in late 2023 as the biggest generational jump in the platform’s history, and it has reshaped what hobbyists expect from a $60–$80 single-board computer. Where the Pi 4 was a capable media and light-server board, the Pi 5 is genuinely usable as a virtualization host, edge node, or lightweight NAS controller.
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What changed under the hood
The Pi 5 swaps the Pi 4’s Cortex-A72 cores for a quad-core Cortex-A76 at 2.4 GHz, delivering roughly two to three times the CPU performance in real workloads. Memory stays at 4GB or 8GB of LPDDR4X, but the memory controller is faster and the board finally exposes a single-lane PCIe 2.0 interface via a flex connector. That one change unlocked NVMe storage, SATA controllers, and 2.5GbE adapters without USB bottlenecks.
I/O got a major refresh too: dual 4K60 HDMI outputs, two USB 3.0 ports plus two USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet with PoE+ support, and a new dedicated power button. The Pi 5 also introduces the RP1 southbridge, which offloads USB and Ethernet from the SoC and improves throughput consistency.
Power, thermals, and the real-world catch
The Pi 5 needs a 5V/5A USB-C supply (27W) to hit full performance, and it runs noticeably hotter than the Pi 4. An active cooler is effectively mandatory for sustained loads like compiling, transcoding, or running Kubernetes. The Pi 4, by contrast, sips power and can often run fanless in a passive case.
Industry impact has been significant: accessory makers rushed to ship NVMe HATs, PoE+ boards, and tower coolers, and the Pi 5 pushed competitors like Orange Pi and Radxa to sharpen their PCIe offerings. For home labs, the Pi 5 finally makes a single-board machine viable as a Proxmox node or Docker host with fast local storage.
FAQ
Q: Is the Raspberry Pi 5 worth upgrading to from a Pi 4?
A: Yes if you run containers, VMs, or need fast NVMe storage; no if your Pi 4 already handles Pi-hole, Home Assistant, or light media serving without strain.
Q: Can I use my existing Pi 4 accessories with the Pi 5?
A: Some, but not all. Cases, coolers, and power supplies generally need replacements because of the new layout, higher power draw, and added cooling requirements.
Q: Does the Pi 5 support NVMe storage out of the box?
A: Not out of the box—you need an M.2 HAT or similar PCIe adapter, plus a compatible SSD, but the onboard PCIe connector makes the upgrade straightforward.
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