Evaluation Item 3: Network Test
As a foreword, this post is part of our horizontal evaluation of Raspberry Pi 5 and other models. Please see that post for further information on the evaluation.
Previous tests in this series can be found here:
Evaluation Item 1: CPU Test
Evaluation Item 2: Memory Test
For those who like to use Raspberry Pi as NAS (Network Attached Storage) or OpenWRT, the network performance of Raspberry Pi is extremely important. Especially in NAS applications, the user experience between 100M and Gigabit is very different. So, we will evaluate the network performance of four Raspberry Pi models at this time: Zero 2W, PI3B+, PI4, and PI5.
| Model | Network Interface |
|---|---|
| PI 5 | 1×Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| PI 4B | 1×Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| PI 3B+ | 1×300Mbps network interface, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 |
| PI Zero 2W | 2.4G Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 |
PI5 and PI4 have Gigabit Ethernet ports, and the PI 3B+ supports up to 300Mbps. We tested the boards with the best network hardware available. However, Zero 2W only has 2.4G WiFi, so we can only test its unique network hardware. As for the WiFi of other boards, we will not test them separately. This test uses the MT6000 router, the test software is iperf3, and a Windows PC is used as the server. Four Raspberry Pi models are used as the client to connect to the server. The test process is very simple.
Figure 1 is the test data we obtained. Judging from the data, the difference between PI4 and PI5 in intranet speed test is not big, so they are suitable as NAS or soft routers, while P3B+ is suitable for smart home gateway applications. Zero 2W only has 2.4G Wi-Fi, so it is only suitable as a micro gateway or terminal application.
Figure 1