Finally, a 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 – but does a mini PC make more sense at this price?

Are you a power user wishing you could get a Raspberry Pi 5 with even more RAM? Well, now you can pick up one with a whopping 16GB of RAM.

This capability means there are now 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB boards for everything from the lightest tasks to more demanding, memory-intensive workloads.

Also: The best Raspberry Pi alternatives

If you’ve been keeping up with the Raspberry Pi 5 news, there isn’t much in this release to surprise you. These boards all run the new optimized D0 stepping of the Broadcom BCM2712 processor, which includes support for memory capacities greater than 8GB.

The 16GB Pi is possible because RAM maker Micron has supplied a single package containing eight of its 16Gbit LPDDR4X die, allowing the 16GB of RAM to be placed on a single chip.

For the first time, the Raspberry Pi RAM capacity is clearly and boldly silk-screened onto the board rather than in tiny print.

Do you need a 16GB Raspberry Pi 5?

The sweet spot in price and performance for a Raspberry Pi 5 is still the $60 board with 4GB of RAM.

Also: How much can a 2GB Raspberry Pi handle? I put it to the ultimate test

The $50 board with 2GB of RAM is a bit of a specialty item for light workloads (I find my Raspberry Pi 5 boards with 2GB of RAM need to be used with care, as they can crash), while the 8GB board is great for those who want a bit more RAM breathing room.

The 16GB board is designed for people running heavy workloads that require a lot of memory, such as artificial intelligence tasks.

I can also see people using a single 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 to replace two or more 4GB or 8GB Raspberry Pis.

Also: Meet the most affordable Raspberry Pi 5 ever: What’s new and why it’s so cheap

For the average home gamer, the 16GB option might be overkill, but it’s a welcome addition for edge cases that truly need the extra RAM.

However, at $120, you’re starting to get into the realm of cheap mini PCs, so, once again, choose wisely. Mini PCs will have more and faster storage, more ports, and greater flexibility.

Also: How to add AI superpowers to your Raspberry Pi

Also, while this new option provides the most memory available on a Raspberry Pi, there are single-board computers with 32GB of RAM, so you have options even if your RAM demands exceed 16GB.

Want to pick one up? 

They’re available from the usual suspects, such as PiShop.us, Micro Center, CanaKit, and Vilros.