The just-announced Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is not the first quad-core Arm SBC following Raspberry Pi Zero form factor, and back in 2017, the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Zero was introduced for $15, and the Radxa Zero was unveiled last June with an Amlogic S905Y2 SoC with price starting at $15 as well.
With its Allwinner H2+ quad-core Cortex-A7 processor clocked at 1 GHz and a price bumped up to $23, the Banana Pi M2 Zero has mostly become irrelevant, but the Radxa Zero may still be considered by some people with a 1.8 GHz processor, and options for up to 4GB RAM, so let’s see how features compare against Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, followed by some benchmark numbers.
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W vs Raxda Zero – Features
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W | Radxa Zero |
|
|---|---|---|
| SoC/SiP | Raspberry Pi RP3A0 with Broadcom BCM2710A1, 512MB RAM | Amlogic S905Y2 |
| CPU | Quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1 GHz (overclockable to 1.2 GHz) | Quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.8/2.0 GHz |
| GPU | VideoCore IV | Arm Mali-G31 MP2 |
| Memory | 512MB DDR2 | 512MB to 4GB LPDDR4 |
| Storage | MicroSD card | MicroSD card optional 8GB to 128GB eMMC flash |
| Video & Audio Output | Mini HDMI up to 1080p60 | Micro HDMI up to 4Kp60 |
| Camera | MIPI CSI-2 camera connector | N/A |
| Video | Decoding - H.264 and MPEG-4 up to 1080p30 Encoding - H.264 up to 1080p30 | Decoding - H.265 & VP9 up to 4Kp75, AVS2 & H.264 up to 4Kp30 Encoding - H.265, H.264 up to 1080p60 |
| Wireless | 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4, Bluetooth 4.2 LE with PCB antenna | 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 & Bluetooth 4.0 ( Ampak AP6212) OR 802.11n/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 ( Ampak AP6256) |
| USB | Micro USB OTG port | 1x USB-C 2.0 OTG port 1x USB-C 3.0 host port |
| Expansion | 40-pin GPIO header (unpopulated) | Optional color-coded 40-pin GPIO header |
| Power Supply | 5V/2.5A (recommended) via Micro USB port | 5V/1A (minimum) via USB-C port |
| Dimensions | 65 x 30 mm |
|
| MSRP | $15 | $15 to $85 depending on options |
| Release date | 28 October 2021 | June 2021 |
| Official operating system | Raspberry Pi OS | Android 9.0, Ubuntu 20.04, Debian 10 |
| Target markets | Novices, education, makers, industrial with extensive documentation and education materials | Makers and industrial with documentation in a wiki. |
If we just look at the comparison table, the Radxa Zero is equivalent or superior in almost every way, except for people wanting to use the Raspberry Pi camera. We also need to look into the details as Radxa Zero comes in many forms, while there’s only one Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W model.
The RS102-D0H is the closest we have to Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, and it’s still better with the 2 GHz processor, support for 4Kp60 video decoding and output, and the USB 3.0 host port while lacking the MIPI CSI camera. It also sells for the same $15 price tag, but the distribution network is not as extensive as for the Raspberry Pi boards, and some of the SKUs may not be available, especially the $15 model… For instance, Ameridroid is only listing parts with 1GB RAM or more ($21.95), and the next batch is scheduled for early December, while every model is sold out on Allnet.china except for the RS102-DE16T (2GB/16GB/no GPIO header) for $45.80, and RS102-D4E32H with 4GB RAM, 32GB flash, GPIO header for $55.80. In all fairness, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is not available worldwide just yet, and I can see the board is only up for pre-order on Sparkfun with a limit to one per person, and no availability ETA. So each board has its own supply issues, and to some extend Radxa Zero has the advantage of being in (limited?) stock for some of the most expensive parts.
While most CNX Software readers will probably have no problem using either board, novices may want to start with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W since there are more resources to get started, and they will be more course materials for educators.
Zero 2 W vs Raxda Zero Benchmarks
I’ll use benchmarks results from sbc-bench script acquired during my Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W review, while the numbers for Radxa Zero come from sbc-bench’s results “database”.
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W @ 1 GHz | Radxa Zero @ 1.8 GHz | Ratio (Radxa/Pi Zero) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Memcpy | 1302.7 MB/s | 1600 MB/s | 1.23x |
| Memset | 1635.5 MB/s | 5370 MB/s | 3.28x |
| 7-zip | 3053 | 4613 | 1.51x |
| AES-256 (16 KB block) | 30233.94k | 839559.85k | 27.8x |
Memory bandwidth is higher, 21% higher for memcpy probably due to the LPDDR4 used in the Radxa board (vs DDR2 in Pi 0 2), and much higher for memset, although I’m not sure why it’s that much, and comments are welcome. 7-zip is “only” 51% faster despite the 80% higher CPU frequency, while AES-256 is almost 28 times faster. That’s not a mistake, and can be easily be explained as Armv8 crypto extensions are not part of Broadcom BCM2xxx processors used in Raspberry Pi boards, albeit found in most other 64-bit Arm processors on the market. It can impact any using encryption including the use of VPN browsing.
As we’ve seen in the review, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W can easily be overclocked to 1.2 GHz gaining 20% in CPU performance, but it does not affect memory bandwidth (memcpy). The Amlogic S905Y2 might also be able to run up to 2.0 with proper cooling. I’ll update the table above with graphics benchmarks once/if I have data, but I’d expect the recent Arm Mali-G31 MP2 to perform better than the older VideoCore IV GPU, to what extent I don’t know yet.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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