TECH

Affordable Raspberry Pi 4 Model B surfaces with binned CPU

You'll recognise the price along with the basic shape and size, so you can simply drop your new Raspberry Pi into your old projects for an upgrade; and as always, we've kept all our software backwards-compatible, so what you create on a Raspberry Pi 4 will work on any older models you own too.

The speed and performance of the new Raspberry Pi 4 is a step up from earlier models. For the first time, we've built a complete desktop experience. Whether you're editing documents, browsing the web with a bunch of tabs open, juggling spreadsheets or drafting a presentation, you'll find the experience smooth and very recognisable — but on a smaller, more energy-efficient and much more cost-effective machine.

The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B originally launched in 2019, featuring a CPU with support for a 1.8GHz clock speed. Cytron, an official reseller, is offering a "special version" of the SBC with a binned chip, and it's more affordable.

There's a new version of the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B available. This one costs less than the regular SBC variant, but it's not exactly the same. Specifically, it has a binned chipset, which runs slower than the CPU found in the standard edition.

As Cytron, the reseller offering the affordable Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, notes, the Broadcom BCM2711 of this affordable SBC runs at 1.25GHz. To look back, the original variant, launched in 2019, had its CPU clocked at 1.5GHz, but with a software update, it got support for a 1.8GHz clock speed.

The reseller further highlights that these binned Pi 4 Model B are sourced directly from Raspberry Pi, but they "don't meet the peak 1.8GHz specifications." Instead, they are said to run "flawlessly" with the CPU frequency set at up to "1.25GHz."

This downgrade in the clock speed shouldn't be a big issue for most applications. If anything, the binned Pi 4 Model B would be a little slower than the standard unit. Of course, there can be a notable difference in benchmarks and heavy workloads (GeeekPi aluminum heatsink for the SBC curr. $11.99 on Amazon).

Regarding how affordable the binned version is, there are two configurations available, and the one with 4GB of RAM costs $87.25. To compare, the regular SBC with the same memory goes for $110 on Cytron, while the 8GB configuration costs $181.50.

The binned 8GB version, on the other hand, costs $147. So, these newly surfaced configurations would be good picks for projects with very tight budgets.

mundophone