Raspberry Pi 5: 2GB vs 4GB vs 8GB

The same board at each RAM size: benchmarks, price and value side by side

Tested by Bret Weber Last updated 1 October 2026

2GBvs4GBvs8GB

Fastest

Raspberry Pi 5 8GB

2,188 GB6 multi-core

Best value

Raspberry Pi 5 2GB

23.1 GB6 pts/$ at $82

Most efficient

Raspberry Pi 5 2GB

6.1W under load

Specification	Raspberry Pi 5 2GB	Raspberry Pi 5 4GB	Raspberry Pi 5 8GB
Basic Specifications
RAM Size
Price	$82.38 AMZ**OFF	$117.87 AMZ**OFF	$188.92 AMZ**OFF
RAM	2GB	4GB	8GB
SoC	Broadcom BCM2712 VideoCore VII
Architecture	ARM
CPU Cores	4× Cortex-A76 @ 2.4GHz

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Environment	Raspberry Pi 5 2GB	Raspberry Pi 5 4GB	Raspberry Pi 5 8GB
Last Tested	7 July 2025	21 September 2025	8 July 2025
System Configuration
OS Version	Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)	Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)	Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Kernel Version	6.12.34+rpt-rpi-2712	6.12.34+rpt-rpi-2712	6.12.34+rpt-rpi-2712
CPU Governor	performance	performance	performance
RPi Firmware	69471177	69471177	69471177
GPU Information
GL Renderer	N/A	N/A	V3D 7.1.7.0
GL Vendor	N/A	N/A	Broadcom
GL Version	N/A	N/A	3.1 Mesa 25.0.7-2+rpt4
Vulkan Device	N/A	N/A	V3D 7.1.7.0
Vulkan Driver Version	N/A	N/A	104857607
Hardware Setup
Boot Device	Crucial P5 Plus 1024GB (M.2 NVMe)	Crucial P5 Plus 1024GB (M.2 NVMe)	Crucial P5 Plus 1024GB (M.2 NVMe)

Every figure above comes from hardware run in-house by Bret Weber, on the exact OS build, kernel, firmware and boot device listed here. Boards are tested to a fixed procedure so results stay comparable between them: see our testing methodology for how each benchmark is run.

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Detailed Reviews

Full write-ups on bret.dk, using the same benchmark data:

•Raspberry Pi 5 Review

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)

CPU Performance

Processor performance across single and multi-core workloads

Geekbench 6

Higher Scores are Better

Single-Core

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)890 2% slower #17 of 72

890 2% slower #17 of 72

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)904 #11 of 72

904 #11 of 72

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)902 #13 of 72

902 #13 of 72

Multi-Core

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)1,901 13% slower #32 of 72

1,901 13% slower #32 of 72

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)2,179 #27 of 72

2,179 #27 of 72

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)2,188 #26 of 72

2,188 #26 of 72

7-Zip Benchmark

Higher Scores are Better

Single-Core Combined

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)3,334 MIPS #14 of 118

3,334 MIPS #14 of 118

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)3,344 MIPS #12 of 118

3,344 MIPS #12 of 118

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)3,334 MIPS #14 of 118

3,334 MIPS #14 of 118

Multi-Core Combined

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)11,521 MIPS 4% slower #32 of 113

11,521 MIPS 4% slower #32 of 113

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)11,983 MIPS #28 of 113

11,983 MIPS #28 of 113

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)12,000 MIPS #27 of 113

12,000 MIPS #27 of 113

High Performance Linpack

Higher Scores are Better

Performance

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)28.18 GFLOPS 23% slower #30 of 80

28.18 GFLOPS 23% slower #30 of 80

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)34.17 GFLOPS 7% slower #28 of 80

34.17 GFLOPS 7% slower #28 of 80

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)36.6 GFLOPS #23 of 80

36.6 GFLOPS #23 of 80

Performance/Watt

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)2.78 GFLOPS/W 12% slower #14 of 74

2.78 GFLOPS/W 12% slower #14 of 74

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)2.71 GFLOPS/W 14% slower #17 of 74

2.71 GFLOPS/W 14% slower #17 of 74

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)3.16 GFLOPS/W #9 of 74

3.16 GFLOPS/W #9 of 74

UnixBench

Higher Scores are Better

Single Core

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)1,642 1% slower #9 of 118

1,642 1% slower #9 of 118

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)1,647 #5 of 118

1,647 #5 of 118

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)1,654 #2 of 118

1,654 #2 of 118

Multi Core

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)4,309 12% slower #29 of 109

4,309 12% slower #29 of 109

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)4,826 2% slower #24 of 109

4,826 2% slower #24 of 109

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)4,920 #22 of 109

4,920 #22 of 109

PassMark CPU

Higher Scores are Better

CPU Score

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)2,297 4% slower #30 of 96

2,297 4% slower #30 of 96

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)2,390 #25 of 96

2,390 #25 of 96

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)2,394 #24 of 96

2,394 #24 of 96

CPU Mining (cpuminer-multi)

Higher Hashrates are Better

Fastest Thread

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)3.86 kH/s #14 of 108

3.86 kH/s #14 of 108

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)3.86 kH/s #14 of 108

3.86 kH/s #14 of 108

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)3.86 kH/s #14 of 108

3.86 kH/s #14 of 108

Total

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)15.42 kH/s #39 of 104

15.42 kH/s #39 of 104

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)15.43 kH/s #34 of 104

15.43 kH/s #34 of 104

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)15.43 kH/s #34 of 104

15.43 kH/s #34 of 104

Memory Performance

Memory bandwidth and throughput benchmarks

PassMark RAM

Higher Scores are Better

RAM Score

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)1,169 15% slower #26 of 87

1,169 15% slower #26 of 87

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)1,283 7% slower #21 of 87

1,283 7% slower #21 of 87

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)1,374 #16 of 87

1,374 #16 of 87

TinyMemBench

Higher Bandwidth is Better

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)memcpy: 6,083 MB/s#18 of 65memset: 8,815.1 MB/s#22 of 65

Only this board has been tested so far, so there is nothing to compare against yet.

GPU Performance

Graphics rendering with OpenGL and Vulkan, plus raw Vulkan compute throughput

glmark2 (OpenGL)

Higher Scores are Better

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)1080p: 657#11 of 274K: 150#12 of 20

Only this board has been tested so far, so there is nothing to compare against yet.

vkmark (Vulkan)

Higher Scores are Better

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)1080p: 406#5 of 64K: 93#5 of 6

Only this board has been tested so far, so there is nothing to compare against yet.

AI & LLM Performance

Large Language Model inference performance

Ollama LLM Benchmark

Higher Scores are Better

Tokens/sec

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)9.94 tok/s 17% slower #14 of 66

9.94 tok/s 17% slower #14 of 66

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)11.78 tok/s 2% slower #9 of 66

11.78 tok/s 2% slower #9 of 66

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)12.02 tok/s #8 of 66

12.02 tok/s #8 of 66

Tokens/Watt

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)1.07 tok/W 14% slower #11 of 64

1.07 tok/W 14% slower #11 of 64

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)1.09 tok/W 12% slower #9 of 64

1.09 tok/W 12% slower #9 of 64

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)1.24 tok/W #5 of 64

1.24 tok/W #5 of 64

Tokens/Dollar

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)0.12 tok/$ #5 of 59

0.12 tok/$ #5 of 59

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)0.1 tok/$ 17% slower #7 of 59

0.1 tok/$ 17% slower #7 of 59

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)0.06 tok/$ 2.0× slower #18 of 59

0.06 tok/$ 2.0× slower #18 of 59

Storage Performance

Disk I/O throughput measured with FIO

fio Storage Performance - microSD

Higher Speeds are Better • Raspberry Pi 64GB (64GB microSD)

4K Random Read

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)22 MB/s

22 MB/s

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)21.9 MB/s

21.9 MB/s

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)22 MB/s

22 MB/s

4K Random Write

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)14.9 MB/s 1% slower

14.9 MB/s 1% slower

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)14.7 MB/s 3% slower

14.7 MB/s 3% slower

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)15.1 MB/s

15.1 MB/s

fio Storage Performance - M.2 NVMe

Higher Speeds are Better • Crucial P5 Plus (1024GB M.2 NVMe)

4K Random Read

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)866.1 MB/s

866.1 MB/s

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)866.4 MB/s

866.4 MB/s

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)866.5 MB/s

866.5 MB/s

4K Random Write

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)590.9 MB/s

590.9 MB/s

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)590.6 MB/s

590.6 MB/s

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)590.6 MB/s

590.6 MB/s

Network Performance

Ethernet and WiFi throughput measured with iPerf3

iPerf3 Network Performance

Higher Speeds are Better

Ethernet Up

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)937 Mbps

937 Mbps

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)937 Mbps

937 Mbps

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)937 Mbps

937 Mbps

Ethernet Down

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)941 Mbps

941 Mbps

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)941 Mbps

941 Mbps

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)941 Mbps

941 Mbps

WiFi Up

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)254 Mbps

254 Mbps

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)No Data

No Data

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)No Data

No Data

WiFi Down

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)204 Mbps

204 Mbps

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)No Data

No Data

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)No Data

No Data

Power & Thermal

Power consumption at idle and under various workloads

Power Consumption

Lower is "Better"

Load Power

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)6.1W #60 of 105

6.1W #60 of 105

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)7.5W 23% more #79 of 105

7.5W 23% more #79 of 105

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)6.5W 7% more #69 of 105

6.5W 7% more #69 of 105

Ollama Max

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)9.3W #35 of 64

9.3W #35 of 64

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)10.8W 16% more #42 of 64

10.8W 16% more #42 of 64

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)10.8W 16% more #42 of 64

10.8W 16% more #42 of 64

Linpack Max

Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB)10.1W #39 of 75

10.1W #39 of 75

Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)12.6W 25% more #49 of 75

12.6W 25% more #49 of 75

Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB)11.6W 15% more #45 of 75

11.6W 15% more #45 of 75

Benchmark	Raspberry Pi 5 2GB	Raspberry Pi 5 4GB	Raspberry Pi 5 8GB

Geekbench 6 Single-Core	890	904	902
Geekbench 6 Multi-Core	1901	2179	2188
7-Zip Single-Core Combined	3334 MIPS	3344 MIPS	3334 MIPS
7-Zip Multi-Core Combined	11521 MIPS	11983 MIPS	12000 MIPS
7-Zip Single-Core Compression	3321 MIPS	3340 MIPS	3332 MIPS
7-Zip Multi-Core Compression	9979 MIPS	10898 MIPS	10909 MIPS
7-Zip Single-Core Decompression	3346 MIPS	3348 MIPS	3336 MIPS
7-Zip Multi-Core Decompression	13063 MIPS	13068 MIPS	13091 MIPS
Linpack Performance	28.175 GFLOPS	34.174 GFLOPS	36.599 GFLOPS
Linpack Performance/Watt	2.78 GFLOPS/W	2.712 GFLOPS/W	3.155 GFLOPS/W
UnixBench Single Core	1642	1647	1654
UnixBench Multi Core	4309	4826	4920
PassMark CPU Score	2297	2390	2394
CPU Mining Single Core	3.86 kH/s	3.86 kH/s	3.86 kH/s
CPU Mining Multi Core	15.42 kH/s	15.43 kH/s	15.43 kH/s

TinyMemBench memcpy	N/A	6083 MB/s	N/A
TinyMemBench memset	N/A	8815.1 MB/s	N/A
PassMark RAM Score	1169	1283	1374

glmark2 1080p (OpenGL)	N/A	N/A	657
glmark2 4K (OpenGL)	N/A	N/A	150
vkmark 1080p (Vulkan)	N/A	N/A	406
vkmark 4K (Vulkan)	N/A	N/A	93

deepseek-r1:1.5b
Tokens per Second	9.94 tok/s	11.78 tok/s	12.02 tok/s
Tokens per Watt	1.07 tok/W	1.09 tok/W	1.24 tok/W
Tokens per Dollar	0.12 tok/$	0.1 tok/$	0.06 tok/$
Max Power	9.3W	10.8W	9.7W
deepseek-r1:8b
Tokens per Second	N/A	N/A	2.17 tok/s
Tokens per Watt	N/A	N/A	0.2 tok/W
Tokens per Dollar	N/A	N/A	0.01 tok/$
Max Power	N/A	N/A	10.8W

Raspberry Pi 64GB (64GB)
Sequential Read 4K	39.1 MB/s (10014 IOPS)	39.0 MB/s (9993 IOPS)	38.8 MB/s (9935 IOPS)
Sequential Read 64K	72.0 MB/s (1152 IOPS)	74.3 MB/s (1188 IOPS)	74.3 MB/s (1189 IOPS)
Sequential Read 1M	87.5 MB/s (86 IOPS)	87.4 MB/s (86 IOPS)	87.5 MB/s (86 IOPS)
Sequential Write 4K	34.3 MB/s (8783 IOPS)	33.0 MB/s (8466 IOPS)	35.6 MB/s (9114 IOPS)
Sequential Write 64K	73.0 MB/s (1167 IOPS)	73.0 MB/s (1168 IOPS)	72.9 MB/s (1166 IOPS)
Sequential Write 1M	70.1 MB/s (69 IOPS)	70.1 MB/s (69 IOPS)	70.1 MB/s (69 IOPS)
Random Read 4K	22.0 MB/s (5631 IOPS)	21.9 MB/s (5629 IOPS)	22.0 MB/s (5643 IOPS)
Random Read 64K	57.6 MB/s (922 IOPS)	57.7 MB/s (923 IOPS)	57.6 MB/s (922 IOPS)
Random Read 1M	89.0 MB/s (88 IOPS)	89.0 MB/s (88 IOPS)	89.0 MB/s (88 IOPS)
Random Write 4K	14.9 MB/s (3829 IOPS)	14.7 MB/s (3781 IOPS)	15.1 MB/s (3866 IOPS)
Random Write 64K	54.2 MB/s (867 IOPS)	54.2 MB/s (867 IOPS)	54.2 MB/s (867 IOPS)
Random Write 1M	75.0 MB/s (74 IOPS)	75.0 MB/s (74 IOPS)	75.1 MB/s (74 IOPS)

Crucial P5 Plus (1024GB)
Sequential Read 4K	865.8 MB/s (221652 IOPS)	866.5 MB/s (221826 IOPS)	866.5 MB/s (221831 IOPS)
Sequential Read 64K	884.5 MB/s (14151 IOPS)	884.5 MB/s (14151 IOPS)	884.5 MB/s (14151 IOPS)
Sequential Read 1M	885.5 MB/s (885 IOPS)	885.5 MB/s (885 IOPS)	885.5 MB/s (885 IOPS)
Sequential Write 4K	607.8 MB/s (155610 IOPS)	608.9 MB/s (155888 IOPS)	604.9 MB/s (154856 IOPS)
Sequential Write 64K	856.3 MB/s (13700 IOPS)	856.0 MB/s (13696 IOPS)	856.0 MB/s (13696 IOPS)
Sequential Write 1M	857.3 MB/s (856 IOPS)	857.3 MB/s (856 IOPS)	857.2 MB/s (856 IOPS)
Random Read 4K	866.1 MB/s (221745 IOPS)	866.4 MB/s (221799 IOPS)	866.5 MB/s (221830 IOPS)
Random Read 64K	884.5 MB/s (14151 IOPS)	884.5 MB/s (14151 IOPS)	884.5 MB/s (14151 IOPS)
Random Read 1M	885.4 MB/s (884 IOPS)	885.4 MB/s (884 IOPS)	885.5 MB/s (885 IOPS)
Random Write 4K	590.9 MB/s (151276 IOPS)	590.6 MB/s (151202 IOPS)	590.6 MB/s (151209 IOPS)
Random Write 64K	856.2 MB/s (13698 IOPS)	856.2 MB/s (13698 IOPS)	856.1 MB/s (13697 IOPS)
Random Write 1M	857.1 MB/s (856 IOPS)	857.2 MB/s (856 IOPS)	857.0 MB/s (856 IOPS)

Load Power	6.1W	7.5W	6.5W
Ollama Max Power	9.3W	10.8W	10.8W
Linpack Max Power	10.1W	12.6W	11.6W

Ethernet Upload	937 Mbps	937 Mbps	937 Mbps
Ethernet Download	941 Mbps	941 Mbps	941 Mbps
WiFi Upload	254 Mbps	N/A	N/A
WiFi Download	204 Mbps	N/A	N/A

Cooling & Thermal Testing

Raspberry Pi 5 cooler comparison87°C peak with stock cooling · 8 cooling setups tested · best cooler cuts 37.0°C

Raspberry Pi 5: 2GB vs 4GB vs 8GB

Test Environment

Detailed Reviews

CPU Performance

Geekbench 6

7-Zip Benchmark

High Performance Linpack

UnixBench

PassMark CPU

CPU Mining (cpuminer-multi)

Memory Performance

PassMark RAM

TinyMemBench

GPU Performance

glmark2 (OpenGL)

vkmark (Vulkan)

AI & LLM Performance

Ollama LLM Benchmark

Storage Performance

fio Storage Performance - microSD

fio Storage Performance - M.2 NVMe

Network Performance

iPerf3 Network Performance

Power & Thermal

Power Consumption

Benchmark Data

Cooling & Thermal Testing

Raspberry Pi 5: 2GB vs 4GB vs 8GB

Test Environment

Detailed Reviews

CPU Performance

Geekbench 6

7-Zip Benchmark

High Performance Linpack

UnixBench

PassMark CPU

CPU Mining (cpuminer-multi)

Memory Performance

PassMark RAM

TinyMemBench

GPU Performance

glmark2 (OpenGL)

vkmark (Vulkan)

AI & LLM Performance

Ollama LLM Benchmark

Storage Performance

fio Storage Performance - microSD

fio Storage Performance - M.2 NVMe

Network Performance

iPerf3 Network Performance

Power & Thermal

Power Consumption

Benchmark Data

Cooling & Thermal Testing

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