I think that designing a single-board computer around one SOC would cost roughly the same as any other. The point, however, is that the Pi 5 is already in production while doing it all over again would cost double.Doesn't have to be those. What about Rockchip or Amlogic. I guess these guys also have better graphic performance compared to Broadcom. There is also Allwinner (usually disliked) and Unisoc (kind of new). All these brands manufacture arm chips. I think there are some sbcs out there with Rockchip, Amlogic and Allwinner chips. Some of them offer better graphics performance compared to the Pi.And how much extra would it cost to get a Mediatek SOC on a Pi for example? Having said that, what about an X86 SOC?
Almost certainly more than you probably expect.
You've got to consider:
- Board redesign (the SoC isn't socketed. Even if it were, a different SoC means different features, requirements, and pinout. Plus potentially different physical size, different supporting components, etc. (Aside: have you ever tried putting an AMD CPU into an Intel socket?)
- (Re)certification by the FCC and local equivalents.
- Software changes - including but not limited to new drivers and another set of OS images to build and support.
- Documentation changes
- Part costs. Is it possible ot use an x86 SoC and keep to the $35 (plus shipping and taxes) price point?
- Power requirement. You can run a Pi 5 and peripherals on 27W. Last I looked most x86 CPUs needed more than that just for themselves.
- And my personal favourite: not everyone wants x86 (and windows - Windows is the usual reason for asking for x86).
Said another way, for now the hardware seems good enough and resources better devoted towards improving the software. Of course I'm only saying this from the peanut gallery and don't actually know anything. Whether one can get a factor 2 improvement out of the VC7 by polishing the software is not certain, but who would know if not anyone tries.
Statistics: Posted by ejolson — Thu Jan 25, 2024 4:26 am