Bret.dk

Hey! So I was quite surprised to see my site posted on here so soon after hitting the "go live" button, and thanks for your comment.

I wrote a blog post about why I made the site at https://bret.dk/introducing-sbc-compare/ if anyone's interested, but to TL;DR it, I didn't set out to create a site like this, it was a side quest after creating the automation and database to support my reviews, which do indeed focus on the hobbyist trying to explore Raspberry Pi SBCs and their many alternatives.

I have full specifications and hardware capabilities hidden behind a feature flag at the moment as I'm working my way through adding all of that data (currently at 80 SBCs in the database, and I'm only adding those I own and have run tests on) so there should be something similar to what you're asking for soon. Thanks again!

Noticed the same thing and I hope we see the N305 from the same generation take over or more vendor offering both options. Considering the rest of the platform package, it can really benefit from 8 cores instead of just 4.

The N100 can be a fair step up compared to Rpi5 but even RK3588 is already 8 cores. Would be a shame if many of the current generation of exciting hackable x86 mini-platforms lock in at the N100 as it will feel obsolete years earlier the the N305.

I run/ran stuff on both, as well as various ARM SBCs and previous generations like J4125/N5XXX. Considering the core-count, RK3588 is still a better pick for many use-cases unless single-thread performance is that important. Benchmark comparison: https://bret.dk/intel-n100-a-challenge-to-arm/

However you can get an N100-based box for about $150 (including shipping) with 16GB RAM and 500GB NVMe storage[1].

The N100 has a more powerful CPU[2], and can use OpenVINO which llama.cpp supports, so better token performance than the Pi. The N100 has far better storage performance due to x4 M.2 slot, and if you need even more RAM you can upgrade[3] it to 32GB.

The RPi 5 was a very niche board to begin with, the 16GB option at $120 even more so IMO.

[1]: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007511663921.html (semi-random example)

[2]: https://bret.dk/raspberry-pi-5-review/#Raspberry-Pi-5-Benchmarks

[3]: https://www.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/comments/179c9m1/comment/k58n4wt/ (needs to be single module, not dual)

Do you have a reference for this? Looking around, I see it being beaten by other ARM SBCs, and even low end Intel devices.

Many years ago, I measured performance per watt of the original Raspberry Pi when they were still relatively new. The performance per watt lagged behind even a beefy Intel box since the original Raspi was so slow that it destroyed any gain it got from using so little power.

EDIT: One set of benchmarks I found as an example: https://bret.dk/raspberry-pi-5-review/#Performance-Per-Watt