Summary
- The Raspberry Pi 5 offers lots of power and capability with a 2.4GHz quad-core processor, 4K60 HDMI outputs, and up to 16GB of RAM.
- Simple tasks like Pi-Hole or Home Assistant can be handled with far less power by the Pi 3 B or even a Pi Zero 2 W, both of which offer plenty of performance and value.
- Sometimes the services that you’re running simply don’t need the most powerful option, and you can save some cash without sacrificing any user experience.
While the Raspberry Pi 5 might be the latest tiny computer, for most people it’s honestly overkill. Instead of a Pi 5, I chose to use a Pi 3 B for a recent deployment in my homelab just last week. Here’s why I chose an older Pi 3 B over the Pi 5, and why I think you should too.
The Raspberry Pi 5 Offers Quite a Bit of Power
What started as a low-power SBC (single-board computer) has grown into a full-fledged desktop replacement, for all intents and purposes. The Raspberry Pi 5 now comes with a 2.4GHz quad-core processor, dual 4K60 HDMI outputs (with HDR support), and up to 16GB of RAM. You’ll even find a PCIe 2×1 interface hookup on it to connect PCIe storage, controllers, network cards, and more.
All of this adds up, making a pretty solid system that could, in many instances, replace your desktop. However, for most people out there wanting to do Raspberry Pi things (like Pi-Hole, Home Assistant, HomeBridge, and other homelab stuff), the Pi 5 is simply just overkill. Yeah, it’s great, and if you have the extra cash, it’ll run those services quite well. But, it’s simply unnecessary for most tasks.
Simple Tasks Can Be Done With Much Less Power
While the Pi 5 has a crazy amount of power, the Pi 3 B is my personal go-to for most homelab tasks. I recently spun up a Pi-Hole instance on one of my rack-mount servers (I know, way overkill, but I have it, so I’ll use it). Since the rack-mounted server runs all of my homelab services, it makes sense for my primary Pi-Hole instance to be there for keeping things centralized.
However, I didn’t want that to be my only Pi-Hole instance. I wanted to have a backup installation of Pi-Hole running in case my primary server was down for any reason. Having two Pi-Hole instances means that I can feed my router two local IP addresses for DNS, and if one isn’t available, it’ll use the other.
A Pi 5 would have handled running Pi-Hole (and several other services) fantastically. But, since I really only plan to run Pi-Hole and not much else, the Pi 3 B that I chose for the project is handling it like a champ. I could, honestly, run even more than just Pi-Hole on it, and it would still handle it like a champ.
Why did I choose the Pi 3 B? Well, I got a good deal on it. I was looking at a Pi Zero 2 W initially because it was around $25 on Amazon (though it’s cheaper from places like CanaKit). However, a friend of mine was selling a Pi 3 B for $25, and the Pi 3 B offers more power than the Pi Zero 2 W, so I decided to go that route.
Either way you go, if it’s just a super-lightweight server that you need to run, then something like the Pi Zero 2 W would still be a fantastic choice. There’s no need to run a crazy, overkill Pi just to serve up some DNS records or toggle light switches.
Pi-Hole is just what I chose to do with my Pi 3 B this time around. I’ve used Pi 3 B’s for many other things in the past, like converting a wired USB printer into a wireless one using CUPS. Or, running smaller Minecraft servers for friends to play on. You can even use an older Pi 3 B to enjoy some retro gaming through RetroPie.
None of these services require a ton of horsepower to run, and a Pi 5 is simply overkill. In fact, even things like Home Assistant run fantastically on older Raspberry Pi’s.
A More Powerful System Sounds Fun, But Just Not Necessary
Let’s face it, we all want the most powerful systems possible. In my homelab, I run three rack-mounted servers. Two of which are (older model) Xeon 20-core 40-thread monsters, one having 168GB RAM, and the other 192GB (DDR3 ECC). I have, between all three servers, approximately 122TB of raw storage (not all usable, because of redundancy and cache). But still, as a tech enthusiast, there’s nothing like some overkill.
Sometimes, though, going overkill is just unnecessary. If you really only need to run some light web services, like Pi-Hole, Home Assistant, hosting a small website, making a wired printer wireless, or anything else similar to that, then a Pi 5 is unnecessary.
Raspberry Pi 3 B
The Raspberry Pi 3 B is a single-board computer (SBC) with a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 1GB RAM. With Gigabit Ethernet and HDMI output, it makes for a great small, low-power device to run smart home or homelab services like Home Assistant, Homebridge, Pi-Hole, or other software on.
You can get a Pi 3 B for $35 for the board only, and a Pi Zero 2 W is typically just $15 board only. A Pi 5 2GB will run you $50 board only. When you consider that you’ll (likely) need a case, power supply, SD card, and maybe a few other things, it all adds up. And, the Pi 5 doesn’t stop at $50. A 16GB model will set you back $120 for the board only.
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is super tiny and super affordable, but it packs enough computing power for a variety of DIY projects. You can use it to create a handheld retro gaming console, for Klipper/Mainsail, a super compact home or media server, and more.
Simply put: most people don’t need the Pi 5 in their setup. There are instances when the power of the Pi 5 is useful, like running AI services using the AI HAT+. But, unless you fall into the niche case of needing a feature the Pi 5 has that the Pi 3 B or even the Pi Zero 2 W doesn’t have, then stick with the lower-powered siblings. It’ll save you money that you can spend elsewhere in your homelab, like a second Raspberry Pi or maybe a completely unnecessary 48-port PoE switch that you’ll only use eight to 10 ports of (not that I speak from experience or anything).
