Raspberry Pi Foundation Releases Compute Module 3

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced the Compute Module 3, which is based on the hardware of the Raspberry Pi 3. The board has a standard ddr2-sodimm form factor and is intended for use in various products.

The module is available in two versions. The first has a BCM2837 quad-core processor on board with a clock speed of 1.2GHz and has 1GB of RAM. In addition, 4GB of flash memory is present. The second version is a ‘lite’ version, which has the same processor and RAM, but exchanges the storage for an SD card interface.

This implementation of the Compute Module is largely backwards compatible with the design of the first implementation, which the Raspberry Pi Foundation came up with in 2014. According to the organization, this version will not become redundant and will continue to exist as a less powerful variant alongside the new products. Raspberry Pi creator Eben Upton expects many people to switch to the new variant, PCWorld writes.

The model is not expected to become as popular as the Raspberry Pi 3, which came out early last year. The organization expects slow and continuous sales. Upton explains to the site that the new module is about 10 to 12 times more powerful than its predecessor. This also increases energy consumption. Upton: “If you push the processors to the limit, the board pulls 4W.” The new version also consumes more energy in sleep mode, about 100mW according to Upton.

The Compute Module lacks connections that the normal Raspberry Pi does have, for example bluetooth, ethernet, wifi and hdmi. These can be added to the board with the necessary connectors or with a breakout board that has the necessary connections. To make this possible, the Raspberry Pi Foundation comes with a new version of the breakout board.

The new version of the Compute Module can be found in monitors from NEC and is available for about $30 or $25 for the lite version. The more expensive version therefore comes to around 34 euros including VAT. The price of the original module has been reduced to $25.