Raspberry Pi 5 vs Orange Pi 5B

The choice between the Raspberry Pi 5 and the Orange Pi 5B comes down to a trade-off between software maturity and raw hardware specs. The Orange Pi 5B is powered by the Rockchip RK3588S, an 8-core CPU that significantly outperforms the Pi 5's quad-core BCM2712 in multi-threaded tasks like video encoding or compilation. Unique to the '5B' variant is the inclusion of built-in Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, and eMMC storage, which makes for a cleaner, more compact build out of the box.

However, the Raspberry Pi 5 maintains a massive lead in community and driver support. While the Orange Pi 5B has an impressive 6 TOPS NPU for AI, actually utilizing that hardware is a pain compared to a Pi. The Pi 5 also introduces the dedicated PCIe 2.0 connector, offering a standardized path to NVMe storage that the Orange Pi 5B lacks in this specific form factor. If you need a stable, 'it just works' experience with vast GPIO compatibility, get the Pi 5. If you need the fastest possible 8-core processor and built-in eMMC for an Android or media server build, the Orange Pi 5B is the superior value.