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Raspberry Pi 4 goes 8GB, plus new 64bit OS

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The highly versatile Raspberry Pi 4 now has a new 8GB model and their official Debian-based operating system has a new 64bit version for you to play with. From running retro games, to making it into a whole gaming device with a screen and everything, the Raspberry Pi is seriously cool and now thanks to the bigger RAM in the 8GB model it can do even more fun things for you.

A model that was long rumoured but they had trouble doing it, until now. They said that while the BCM2711 chip used in the Raspberry Pi 4 actually supports up to 16GB of LPDDR4 SDRAM, the barrier was that lack of a 8GB LPDDR4 package which didn't exist but Micron stepped up with a suitable part for them.

Some adjustments were made to accomodate it, as it needed higher peak currents. So the power supply components have been shuffled around, and a removal of a switch-mode power supply from the right side with a new switcher next to the USB-C power connection. It's available right now for $75.

The Raspberry Pi OS (formerly known as Raspbian) also now has a 64bit version in Beta to fully take advantage of the extra memory. They have a video up about the latest changes to the OS as a whole for them May Update which we've included below:

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Read more about it and pick one up on the official Raspberry Pi website.

If any of our readers are planning to pick up the RPi 8GB and / or are tinkering with a current one for some kind of gaming, do let us know what you're up to in the comments. Would love to see.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Mohandevir May 29, 2020
Personnally I have a RPI2 B+ that runs Recalbox. I use it as a retro console in a Nespi case. I use the 8bitdo SN30Pro or my old Wii Remote to play my games, via bluetooth (I added a wifi and a bluetooth low profile dongles that both fit into the case). The RPI part of my setup is a little underpowered to my taste and I was already looking at the RPI4, but this 8gb thing is pretty interresting. Unfortunately it won't fit in my Nespi case. Since I'm not playing much with it, I'm still hesitating... First world problem they say? :)


Last edited by Mohandevir on 29 May 2020 at 12:55 pm UTC
iskaputt May 29, 2020
Does anyone use one of these things with a USB DAC? I have an Odroid C2 and audio via USB has been broken since forever. Tried about every distribution under the sun, but all produce some kind of noise or clicks in the audio output.

My plan was to have a multimedia station with batteries included. Kodi, MPD, RetroArch and maybe some server applications like Mumble. I want to connect the audio to my old stereo.
Dunc May 29, 2020
Quoting: iskaputtDoes anyone use one of these things with a USB DAC? I have an Odroid C2 and audio via USB has been broken since forever. Tried about every distribution under the sun, but all produce some kind of noise or clicks in the audio output.
I don't have a good quality DAC, but I just tested my cheap and nasty one on my 2GB Pi4, and it seems as good as it ever was. I wouldn't take that as definitive, but I didn't hear any clicks, dropouts, or anything like that, at least. (I think I know the sort of thing you're talking about, because I do have problems sometimes when switching outputs on my main desktop. Oh, and before anyone pitches in, yes, I've probably tried that. Fragment size, tsched... I know all about it.)

The built-in audio on the recent Pis is a lot better than it used to be, actually. But I know that sometimes “good enough” isn't... well, good enough. :)
ioangogo May 29, 2020
Quoting: iskaputtDoes anyone use one of these things with a USB DAC? I have an Odroid C2 and audio via USB has been broken since forever. Tried about every distribution under the sun, but all produce some kind of noise or clicks in the audio output.

My plan was to have a multimedia station with batteries included. Kodi, MPD, RetroArch and maybe some server applications like Mumble. I want to connect the audio to my old stereo.

Yes, although i have found I²S DAC hats much better like a hifiberry
Arehandoro May 29, 2020
I wish they look into including some m.2 SSD out of the box and deprecate the sd card. Also wish had the money to do a cluster with several of them :D
Mar2ck May 29, 2020
Finally! We've been bottlenecked by a 32-bit os for too long. I just hope theyre making good progress on that vulkan driver.
Dunc May 29, 2020
Quoting: ArehandoroI wish they look into including some m.2 SSD out of the box and deprecate the sd card.
Eben Upton mentioned that in an interview a couple of months ago. They're still very conscious about building to a price and backwards compatibility (they agonized quite a bit over switching to USB-C for the PSU, for example, but the power requirements demanded it). So any new storage connections would have to be in addition to the existing ones, at least for the first model with them, and right now that would add too much to the price. He's not ruling it out for the future, though.
Mohandevir May 29, 2020
Quoting: ArehandoroI wish they look into including some m.2 SSD out of the box and deprecate the sd card. Also wish had the money to do a cluster with several of them :D

Not an nvme but this is at least better than an SD card:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/raspberry-pi-boot-from-usb-firmware-beta
sr_ls_boy May 29, 2020
What kind of GPU does this have on it?
wvstolzing May 29, 2020
Quoting: Dunc
Quoting: ArehandoroI wish they look into including some m.2 SSD out of the box and deprecate the sd card.
He's not ruling it out for the future, though.

I think they clearly want a place in the burgeoning all-purpose (incl. desktop use) SBC market; perhaps they'll have to introduce a 'pro' line or something, to compete among the ~$100 boards that are gaining traction (& some of them are x86 based, which has its attractions). The 4GB & 8GB models no longer fit the original 'mission statement' (so to speak) of the RPi foundation.
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