element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • Members
    Members
    • Achievement Levels
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Feedback and Support
    • Members Area
    • Personal Blogs
    • What's New on element14
  • Learn
    Learn
    • eBooks
    • Learning Center
    • Learning Groups
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • Experts & Guidance
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Arduino Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents
    • Project14
    • Project Groups
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Avnet Boards Community
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Product Groups
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • Or choose another store...
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
Raspberry Pi
  • Products
  • More
Raspberry Pi
Documents A Comprehensive Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Plus Benchmark
  • Blog
  • Forum
  • Documents
  • Events
  • Polls
  • Files
  • Members
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
Raspberry Pi requires membership for participation - click to join
Actions
  • Share
  • More
  • Cancel
Engagement
  • Author Author: cstanton
  • Date Created: 11 Mar 2018 7:27 PM Date Created
  • Last Updated Last Updated: 20 Oct 2023 5:49 PM
  • Views 4698 views
  • Likes 14 likes
  • Comments 18 comments
Related
Recommended

A Comprehensive Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Plus Benchmark

In 2016, I managed to get my hands on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, and now I have been fortuitous to get my hands on the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, and of course it makes sense to push it through the same, gruelling benchmarks as its predecessors. You can read the previous benchmark blog here: A Comprehensive Raspberry Pi 3 Benchmark.

I have managed to use the same benchmark software as before, Roy Longbottom's benchmark collection still exists, fortunately. Though nBench - a really old benchmarking tool which was used back on the AMD K6-400 and such range of processors, is not so easy to acquire anymore. Produced by BYTE magazine, it can be compiled for the Raspberry Pi and other boards. Thanks to the web archive you can find the previous benchmarks along with a download of the source code.image

While the main processor of the Raspberry Pi changes from each iteration, the VideoCore IV doesn't really change, and I've yet to see any real benchmarking software to try it out. So if anyone's aware of a suitable benchmarking tool or software, then I'll run it on each version of the Pi and try it out. Though I will admit, running glxgears with vertical sync' turned off did show some interesting results. A true benchmark of the VideoCore wouldn't only test the processing power of it though, it would also test settings such as texture capability, texture throughput and vertices rendering.

What's New in the Pi 3 Model B+?

You're likely already familiar with the specifications of the Raspberry Pi. So let's go over what's new in the Pi 3 Model B+ :

Component / Board Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
Processor Chipset BCM 2837B0 64bit ARMv8 Cortex A53 Quad Core
Processor Speed 1.4Ghz per core
Max Power Draw 2.5A
Wireless LAN 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Dual-Band Antenna, supporting IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth Supports Bluetooth 4.2, Bluetooth
Ethernet / Local Area Network Up to 300mbps (802.3ab over USB 2.0)

The new Raspberry Pi processor is still following the trend of supporting 64bit, though we're still waiting for Raspbian to catch up and run as a 64bit distribution. Being fair to Raspbian, Debian arm64 is still picking up the pace to be fully supported and its full time release was only recently with Debian 8, Jessie.

Identifying the Processor

There are a few commands we can run to get information from the processor, this tells us the features and instruction sets it supports, the command in this case is cpuinfo:

cpuinfo - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ cpuinfo - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B cpuinfo - Raspberry Pi 2 Model B cpuinfo - Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+

model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)

Features:

half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xd03

CPU revision : 4

Hardware : BCM2835

Revision : a020d3

model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)

Features :

half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xd03

CPU revision : 4

Hardware : BCM2709

Revision : a02082

model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)

Features :

half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xc07

CPU revision : 5

Hardware : BCM2709

Revision : a01041

model name : ARMv6-compatible processor rev 7 (v6l)

Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp java tls

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xb76

CPU revision : 7

Hardware : BCM2708

Revision : 0010

The processor is running in ARMv7 due to the 32bit version of Raspbian that's running on the processor. The Model B+ carries across the new features of the processor as the Model B.

lscpu - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ lscpu - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B lscpu - Raspberry Pi 2 Model B lscpu - Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+

Architecture: armv7l

Byte Order: Little Endian

CPU(s): 4

On-line CPU(s) list: 0-3

Thread(s) per core: 1

Core(s) per socket: 4

Socket(s): 1

Model: 4

Model name: ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)

CPU max MHz: 1400.0000

CPU min MHz: 600.0000

Architecture: armv7l

Byte Order: Little Endian

CPU(s): 4

On-line CPU(s) list: 0-3

Thread(s) per core: 1

Core(s) per socket: 4

Socket(s): 1

Model name: ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)

CPU max MHz: 1200.0000

CPU min MHz: 600.0000

Architecture: armv7l

Byte Order: Little Endian

CPU(s): 4

On-line CPU(s) list: 0-3

Thread(s) per core: 1

Core(s) per socket: 4

Socket(s): 1

Model name: ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)

CPU max MHz: 900.0000

CPU min MHz: 600.0000

Architecture: armv6l

Byte Order: Little Endian

CPU(s): 1

On-line CPU(s) list: 0

Thread(s) per core: 1

Core(s) per socket: 1

Socket(s): 1

Model name: ARMv6-compatible processor rev 7 (v6l)

CPU max MHz: 700.0000

CPU min MHz: 700.0000

lscpu is returning an additional parameter of 'Model' with the latest version of Raspbian, either lscpu has been updated or we're getting more information from the processor this time around.

If you want to run these commands yourself on your Raspberry Pi with Raspbian then you can make sure you have them installed thusly:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install lscpu cpuinfo lshw

From a terminal window either within your desktop environment or from pressing CTRL-ALT-F1 (to F7, typically).

Revisiting the Benchmarks of Old

Power Usage

You can find some strange little devices that will plug in line with your USB hardware and it will tell you the most useful of things, such as how much power is being drawn! So I thought "sweet! Let's see how much power these draw while idle!" - using an in-line USB device I had to hand, I've literally copied the output from the device. Not all of the results are relevant for the wired connection we're using.

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+

4.94 V 2.865 W
0.58 A 00656 mAh

5.19 V 1.141 W
0.22 A 00006 mAh

5.19 V 1.038 W
0.20 A 00102 mAh

5.19 V 0.986 W
0.19 A 00003 mAh

These values are how much power the Raspberry Pi is pulling from the power supply, each Raspberry Pi was set to boot to the terminal, so that the X windows environment was not running. The only devices connected were a HDMI to DVI adapter to a 19" Widescreen monitor, a Dell USB keyboard, a 16gByte Class 10 microSD card and the power supply, which was providing 5 Volts, 2 Amps. There was no ethernet cable plugged in (though I can note that when it was, the power usage went up in all cases).

The boards were all tested using the Official Raspberry Pi 2.5A, 5V power supplyRaspberry Pi 2.5A, 5V power supply , though the readings acquired above were not (since I didn't in the last benchmark tests). Although the Raspberry Pi can sort of run on 500mA, 5V and a lot of people do so from either a laptop USB port or a 'phone charger'. If you're trying to get any serious kind of use from the Raspberry Pi, and you're trying to narrow down problems you're experiencing with it, you want to ensure it's using a 'known good' and reliable power supply like the Official power supply unit, and really I am not just saying that, the thunderbolt icon for low power (or the rainbow icon in the corner) is pretty frustrating and it's likely your Raspberry Pi will slow itself down because it cannot be provided with enough power.

That being said, we're seeing the Model B+ reported a drop in voltage at idle than its previous counterparts, with a significant increase in current, it's almost double. The Pi3 B+ sees a new circuit to handle power management, and we see later in this blog that the Pi 3 Model B+ runs as hot when idle as the original Pi 1 Model B at full load as well.

SysBench

Now this software has been around since 2004, it was originally intended for input/output (io) file operations and database benchmarking. Thanks to being open source it gradually developed into an almost all-round system benchmark which also includes aspects of processor testing as well as IO and databases.

SysBench's processor tests verify prime numbers by going through all possible divisions and only being satisfied when the result is zero. This does mean that it does not test all features of the processor, except for raw number crunching. SysBench was ran with the following parameters:

sysbench --num-threads=1 --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 --validate run

sysbench --num-threads=4 --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 --validate run

Here is a breakdown of the command line parameters:

sysbench - The name of the software to run

--num-threads - This is the number of processes to run, in the tests we run 1 thread and then 4 threads, this means that it will create 1 or 4 processes and run one process per core. Since the Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+ has one core it made sense to run a one core test on each model of Raspberry Pi for fairness alongside running 4 threads.

--test=cpu - This parameter ensures we are only testing the processor, as mentioned previously SysBench can perform other tests, too

--cpu-max-prime - This is the maximum prime number value we want to calculate up to.

--validate - This ensures that the results we have returned are valid

run - The software can emulate or test rather than actually perform the requested benchmark, so we want to tell it to actually run it.

sysbench with 1 thread - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ sysbench with 1 thread - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B sysbench with 1 thread - Raspberry Pi 2 Model B sysbench with 1 thread - Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+

Total time 318.9072 s

per request statistics
min 31.87 ms
avg 31.89 ms
max 74.92 ms

diff between min and max

43.05 ms

Total time 477.0617 s

per request statistics
min 47.69 ms
avg 47.7 ms
max 49.91 ms

diff between min and max

2.22 ms

Total time 768.6476 s

per request statistics
min 76.42 ms
avg 76.86 ms
max 82.15 ms

diff between min and max

5.73 ms

Total time 1318.933 s

per request statistics
min 131.59 ms
avg 131.89 ms
max 300.23 ms

diff between min and max

168.64 ms

sysbench with 4 threads - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ sysbench with 4 threads - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B sysbench with 4 threads - Raspberry Pi 2 Model B sysbench with 3 threads - Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+

Total time 79.5341 s

per request statistics
min 31.62 ms
avg 31.80 ms
max 32.06

ms

diff between min and max

0.44 s

Total time 92.8556 s

per request statistics
min 36.89 ms
avg 46.42 ms
max 106.52 ms

diff between min and max

69.63 ms

Total time 145.1134 s

per request statistics
min 57.52 ms
avg 72.53 ms
max 149.25 ms

diff between min and max

91.73 ms

Total time 1321.493 s

per request statistics
min 412.94 ms
avg 528.54 ms
max 573 ms

diff between min and max

160.06 ms

It should be noted that I have a pre-release version of Raspbian to support the Pi 3 B+ in this instance and there's definitely something amiss with the max amount of time it took to calculate a prime number on sysbench for a single core process, we can clearly see that the minimum amount of time per request is lower than the Pi 3 B, and that's what we would expect to happen. After running sysbench a few times the total time decreased overall, this test should be run again after the official release of Raspbian for the Pi 3 B+ and any kinks are sorted out. Alternatively, we could point the finger at the introduction of SystemD in the linux system (many would).

nBench

I thought it would be good to include this for retro' computing sake, especially considering that the Raspberry Pi is intended to be going back to the roots of learning how to code and programme with a capable hands-on computer platform. nBench has been around for so long that you can compare these benchmark results against older processors such as the 386 and even 486 based processors right up to the Intel Core i7. It can even run on Android.

The software is intended to test three main components of the processor, the capabilities of the CPU (Central Processing Unit), FPU (Floating Point Unit) and memory system. You can find more information on this site. Once you have compiled nBench then it is simply ran with a single command of what the program is called. In the results, the higher the number, the better, as it is the number of iterations it can perform per second, summarised.

nbench - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ nbench - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B nbench - Raspberry Pi 2 Model B nbench - Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+

memory index 8.100
integer index 11.101
floating-point index 10.067

memory index 7.105
integer index 8.976
floating-point index 7.601

memory index 4.186
integer index 5.812
floating-point index 4.526

memory index 2.501
integer index 3.208
floating-point index 1.884

Since I threw this benchmark in for fun, here are some other processors that have taken the same benchmark, to put these in perspective:

nbench - AMD K7 Thunderbird nbench - Pentium 3 900Mhz
nbench - LG Optimus GT540

memory index 9.473
integer index 6.744
floating-point index 12.501

memory index 3.930
integer index 3.649
floating-point index 9.631

memory index 1.171
integer index 1.691
floating-point index 0.489

MemTester

This software is mainly intended to diagnose or test your system RAM (Random Access Memory). You can read more about it in its man page on linux. In this test I have put a limit on it, it is to only test 256mByte of RAM. This helps to make it a fair test across the different models of Raspberry Pi. If you are not aware, the Raspberry Pi shares its system RAM with the VideoCore processor, and it is not really recommended to deny the VideoCore processor from using any of the RAM available. So that means we cannot test the entire 512mByte or 1gByte of RAM available on the Pi 1 or Pi 2 and 3.

Memtester by itself does not time how long it takes to check the amount of memory we specify. However, we can set how many times it does it. There is also a command in Linux called 'time' which, when used in conjunction with a command, tells us how long it has taken for the command to run. Using this simple command we can check how long it has taken to test 256mByte of RAM on each Raspberry Pi:

sudo (time memtester 256M 1) 1> memtester.txt

Raspberry Pi Board Time Taken
1 Model B+ 76 minutes 23.296 seconds
2 Model B 23 minutes 39.07 seconds
3 Model B 8 minutes 37.078 seconds
3 Model B+ 7 minutes 47.683 seconds

It amazes me how even with an iteration revision the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ manages to be faster yet again.

Roy's Benchmark Collection

Memory Reading Speed Test 32bit Version 4 (memSpeedPiA6)

Memory KBytes Used Double MB/S - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Double MB/S - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Double MB/S - Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Double MB/S - Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+

8

16

32

64

128

256

512

1024

2048

4096

8192

930

1939

1828

1778

1778

1779

1779

1148

1194

1102

1197

1523

1641

1523

1524

1524

1525

1409

1094

1075

1023

1071

1015

1015

1016

930

853

853

682

393

310

301

307

602

538

292

262

176

142

132

134

134

136

134

When benchmarking on an operating system it's often difficult to seclude other processes from interfering, in the numbers here it's interesting to see that the speed has a little difficulty moving data around at 8kB, and we see again between the Pi 3B and the Pi 3B+ that the 512kB chunk point starts to hit performance.

NEON Speed Test v1.0

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Raspberry Pi 2 Model B
image image

image

NEON technology was added with the Raspberry Pi 2. This increase in speed result should mean that the Pi 3 is faster at handling calculations relating to video, vector graphics rendering (so gaming and 3D) and potentially audio processing. Again it is interesting to see the point at which the performance starts to fall off.

There was also another NEON related test, which was the Linpack Single Precision Benchmark. This related the speed to MFLOPS, The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ shows a 17% speed increase over the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, and a 80% speed increase over the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B.

image

Pi 2 : 299.93 MFLOPS

Pi 3 B : 462.07 MFLOPS

Pi 3 B+ : 539.68 MFLOPS

Networking the Raspberry Pi

Two years ago the Pi Foundation introduced us to networking the Raspberry Pi using wireless technologies thanks to on board wireless local area network (WLAN) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) with the Pi 3 model B, with the Pi 3 Model B+ we're seeing a significant standards upgrade for all of the networking components. Not only has the wired local area network (LAN) been upgraded thanks to a new USB 2.0 chip, so has the WLAN chip.

Ethernet on the Raspberry Pi 3 will now run up to 300 megabits per second, technically speaking this is gigabit Ethernet (802.3ab) and it is limited by the throughput speed of USB 2.0 (approx. 480mbit/sec), this is still a significant increase from the 100 megabits per second (802.3u) seen on every previous Raspberry Pi.

The introduction of 5 GHz WLAN brings us up to date with 802.11n and 802.11ac IEEE specifications, allowing the Raspberry Pi to connect on frequencies that are less congested than the over-used 2.4 GHz band which is shared with Bluetooth, most radio frequency controlled keyboards, mice, joy pads, game pads, DECT phones, and radio controlled toys, oh and microwave ovens!

The 802.11n and 802.11ac standards are also faster than the previous implementations (802.11b/g, although you can run 802.11n over 2.4Ghz it is still limited to 54 megabits per second like the previous standards), where as 802.11n/ac can go much, much higher. Typically it is limited by the implementation and how many antennas are used (utilising Multiple In, Multiple Out (MIMO) speeds in excess of 100 megabits per second through to gigabits per second are not unheard of, though unlikely on the Raspberry Pi at present).

Testing Network Throughput

With the new network adapters on the Pi 3 B+ it makes sense to put them through their paces, it has been many years since I have had access to a proper academic network testing laboratory from my University days, so instead I set up the hardware at home. To understand how I setup the core structure of this network, I felt it would help to have a rather broken-out view of the network layout (or topology):

image

Using a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server to test transfer speeds is, to me, the most visceral and raw test of data transfer you can do. Without encryption sat on top of the method of communication, or protocol, it is very bare bones and just takes your network connection and throws data across it. Which is what we are interested in!

It is unlikely you would strictly find a setup exactly like depicted in the diagram above like this, in your own home. Devices are not usually split into their individual components unless you are at a networking data centre, medium to large size business, or a University campus. At home you're more likely to see a device like this:

Image result for virgin media superhub

These are typically called 'gateways' though everyone calls these a 'home router' or a 'home modem', it actually integrates the wireless access points, ethernet switch, network router and cable modem in one device and is usually based around an ARM micro-controller or equivalent. Thanks Virgin Media. For the purpose of these tests we are only interested in the network to the left of the 'router' in the detailed diagram above, we do not actually 'talk' or transfer data out to the global internet with any of these tests that I have performed.

Setting up the Tests

The FTP server in the diagram is actually a desktop computer system that is used as my main computer in the house, it runs a 'Solid State Drive' (SSD) which is a storage device based on a type of memory rather than spinning metal disks, a 2.8Ghz intel Core i7 processor, gigabit ethernet and 16 gigabytes of RAM. I decided it was best to use some hardware that would not be the main restrictive component in the testing of the Raspberry Pi models.

Each Raspberry Pi model tested was then plugged into the official 2.5A, 5V power supply, keyboard, mouse and monitor screen.

A copy of the latest Raspbian image was downloaded from the RaspberryPi.org site and stored on the FTP server, this was some 1.6gByte in size as a zip file.

The file was then transferred either over the the following:

  • On board 2.4 GHz WLAN
  • On board 5 GHz WLAN
  • On board Ethernet (100mbps or up to 300mbps)
  • USB 2.4 GHz WLAN (WiPi)
  • USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter

Thinking about it, finding a compatible 5 GHz USB WLAN adapter would have also been a good comparison test, oh well, maybe next time.

To compare the speeds, the file was then saved in the following ways:

  • Over FTP and saved to the SD Card
  • Over FTP and saved to an SSD connected to the Pi Desktop HAT via USB

If you're not familiar with the Pi Desktop, it is an enclosure and Raspberry Pi HAT which is designed to help you run your Raspberry Pi as a desktop computer (Desktop Computer Kit for Raspberry Pi ) by allowing you to connect your Raspberry Pi to an SSD and boot from it over USB. It made sense to use this as a basis of testing the file transfer as the SDCard could impose a limit on the transfer speed.

These tests were performed on the following boards:

  • Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+ (required WiPi)
  • Raspberry Pi 2 Model B v1.1 (required WiPi)
  • Raspberry Pi 2 Model B v1.2 (required WiPi)
  • Raspberry Pi 3 Model B (2.4 GHz WLAN, no 5 GHz)
  • Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

The test script was pretty simple. Using the linux command wget to pull the file from the FTP server, it automatically timed the download, and for a granular comparison, I set the transfer speed to megabits as opposed to megabytes. This test was performed in triplicate so I could then take an average for time and also speed. This test was then dumped to a text file.

Saving to SDCard script (script run in /home/pi):

#!/bin/bash

wget --report-speed=bits ftp://192.168.0.15/image.zip 2> wget1.txt

rm image.zip

wget --report-speed=bits ftp://192.168.0.15/image.zip 2> wget2.txt

rm image.zip

wget --report-speed=bits ftp://192.168.0.15/image.zip 2> wget3.txt

rm image.zip

Saving to the SSD via USB:

#!/bin/bash

wget --report-speed=bits ftp://192.168.0.15/image.zip 2> wget1.txt -O /media/sda2/home/pi/Downloads/image.zip

rm /media/sda2/home/pi/Downloads/image.zip

wget --report-speed=bits ftp://192.168.0.15/image.zip 2> wget2.txt -O /media/sda2/home/pi/Downloads/image.zip

rm /media/sda2/home/pi/Downloads/image.zip

wget --report-speed=bits ftp://192.168.0.15/image.zip 2> wget3:.txt -O /media/sda2/home/pi/Downloads/image.zip

rm /media/sda2/home/pi/Downloads/image.zip

The SSD had been mounted on /media/sda2. Upon connecting the HAT via USB, the command 'pmount' was used to mount it, the command had to be installed via the package manager.

The Speed Results are in!

From the early versions of the Raspberry Pi we're seeing a steady increase in data transfer speed capability. It appears that the limitation now is the transfer speed to/from the SDCard used for the Raspberry Pi, though with the introduction of the Pi 3 Model B+ we still see a speed increase between the Raspberry Pi models, it is evident that the best transfer method when using one Raspberry Pi with the Model B+ is going to be the on board ethernet, followed up closely by the 5 GHz WLAN.

imageimage

The reason why I had chosen to test a USB 3.0 Ethernet adapter is that I read a blog post that advised using one because it was faster than the on board controller chip. I am pleased to say that it is now on par and there's no reason to spend money on additional hardware, unless say, you're using it as a 'firewall' or 'proxy' gateway and need the throughput.

image

The speeds across the boards were reasonably consistent with a few percentage of change on each run, and while there's not a lot between the Pi 3 Model B and the Pi 3 Model B+ for 2.4 GHz WLAN (and obviously using a USB Ethernet adapter), the strength of the Pi 3 Model B+ definitely shows in the new USB and Ethernet controller chip and wireless LAN chip as the speeds match and exceed the default alternative.

For your perusal, you can see the individual network speed results, along with a bonus set from an accidentally overclocked Raspberry Pi 3 Model B to 1.4GHz, the benefit of seeing this benchmark is to show that the speed of the data transfer isn't entirely locked to the processor speed alone and there have been other improvements as well.

{gallery} Network Speed Results

image

Raspberry Pi: 1 Model B+

image

Raspberry Pi: 2 Model B v1.1

image

Raspberry Pi: 2 Model B v1.2

image

Raspberry Pi: 3 Model B

image

Raspberry Pi: 3 Model B - Overclocked - Oops!

image

Raspberry Pi: 3 Model B+

Cool Runnings

If you were around for the Raspberry Pi 3 launch you may remember that there were photographs circulating that showed it ran a bit warm (Raspberry Pi Operating Temperature Comparison (A+, B+, Zero, Pi 2, Pi 3) ). You'll be pleased to know that with the Pi 3 Model B+ the thermal management is performing really well. With the new SoC package the processor can dissipate heat a lot better, even when it is under load.

Thanks to FLIR's C2 thermal cameraFLIR's C2 thermal camera, we're able to take photographs, and thanks to a touch of thermal tape, even the emissivity of the metal cover on the SoC managed to not get in the way (you can adjust for it with the camera, but I was taking no chances!)

{gallery} Raspberry Pi Thermal Imagery

image

Raspberry Pi: The original Pi 1 Model B

image

Raspberry Pi: 1 Model A+

image

Raspberry Pi: 1 Model B+

image

Raspberry Pi: 2 Model B v1.2

image

Raspberry Pi: 2 Model B v1.1

image

Raspberry Pi: 3 Model B

image

Raspberry Pi: 3 Model B+

In Summary - It's Cooler and Faster

There appears to be no doubt that with each version of the Raspberry Pi there are improvements. If I was upgrading from even an original Raspberry Pi this is a significant improvement, and from the last version of Raspberry Pi, it's a very good step up.

We will soon be in a position with the Raspberry Pi, thanks to the Power over Ethernet HAT, where we can purely power and boot it from the end of an Ethernet cable. Making the device a cool, energy efficient Internet of Things capable device, or thin client. Especially with the other connectivity on board.

This appears to be an improvement that addresses those concerns a lot of people had, and I'm very interested to see where we can go from here.

What do you think? Is this fast enough for you? What improvements would you like to see and why? Or do you have any suggestions or recommendations for benchmarks that I can run? Let me know by clicking 'add comment' after registering.

image
NEW! Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Technical Specifications | Compliance Documentation | GPIO Pin Out | Unboxing Video | Benchmark Tests | Frequently Asked Questions | Comparison Chart | Pi PoE Hat | Pi Accessories | Pi Projects

  • raspberry pi 3 model b+
  • raspberry pi 3 model b plus benchmark
  • raspberry pi 3 model b plus (b+)
  • raspberry pi 3 model b plus (b+) benchmark
  • Share
  • History
  • More
  • Cancel
  • Sign in to reply

Top Comments

  • rsc
    rsc over 5 years ago +5
    “That being said, we're seeing the Model B+ actually use less voltage at idle than its previous counterparts.” I don’t think you understand what your instruments are telling you. The Model B+ is drawing…
  • rew
    rew over 5 years ago in reply to cstanton +4
    In Electronics, voltages and currents are each others "mirror" image, or dual. When there is a circuit with voltages, currents, resistors, capactors and inductors, EXACTLY the same numbers can show up…
  • bernhardmayer
    bernhardmayer over 5 years ago in reply to rsc +3
    Hi. Today I also made some power measurements on the Raspberry Pi 2, 3 and 3+. Here are my results: ModelCurrent (A)Power (W)Raspberry Pi 20.1281.53Raspberry Pi 30.1471.76Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+0.203 2…
  • opaceis
    opaceis over 5 years ago

    Its good to read that the higher power consumption is made less dangerous thanks to an improved heat conduction. I suggest to add a simple test.  How much will the temperature rise inside a standard raspberry pi housing which respect to room temperature.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • bernhardmayer
    bernhardmayer over 5 years ago in reply to rsc

    Hi.

    Today I also made some power measurements on the Raspberry Pi 2, 3 and 3+. Here are my results:

    ModelCurrent (A)Power (W)Raspberry Pi 20.1281.53Raspberry Pi 30.1471.76Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+0.203

    2.43

     

    Unfortunately I used a power regulator which transforms a 12 V input to a 5 V output for the Raspberry Pi. The measurements were made on the 12 V side so the current is lower than it would be on the 5 V rail. The measured power should be a little bit higher than the consumption of the Raspberry Pi since there are some losses in the power regulator. Nevertheless one can see the tendency and that the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ consumes more power than its predecessors.

    You can find more information on my measurements in my blog post: Deep Neural Network Benchmark with Raspberry Pi 2, 3 and 3+

    Bernhard

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +3 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • rsc
    rsc over 5 years ago

    There are another set of benchmark tests in this months MagPi magazine:

    https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/MagPi68.pdf

    Scott

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • mcb1
    mcb1 over 5 years ago in reply to cstanton
    the power consumption tests weren't performed on the official power supply unit

    Oh that can make a difference.

     

     

     

    Perhaps we should arrange for a couple of people to do the test on the official power supply to see how good (or bad) they actually are.

    The regulation of 5% concerns me more than the ripple figure.

     

    Mark

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • cstanton
    cstanton over 5 years ago in reply to mcb1

    > I haven't seen a benchmark test done on the Official 2.5A Supply

     

    Neither have I. It's worth noting that the power consumption tests weren't performed on the official power supply unit, because I didn't have the in-line adaptor suitable for it, though all of the benchmark tests were performed using the official supply.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • mcb1
    mcb1 over 5 years ago in reply to cstanton

    cstanton

    That being said, we're seeing the Model B+ reported a drop in voltage at idle than its previous counterparts, with a significant increase in current, it's almost double.

    The power supplies typically provided for Raspberry Pi are designed for charging 3.6v batteries in phones, and are generally unregulated.

     

    I haven't seen a benchmark test done on the Offical 2.5A Supply, however the previous ones weren't anything special. (this one has 120mV ripple according to the specs)

    The +/- 5% regulation is the trick here. That means it can range from 4.845v to 5.355v

     

    They nominally supply 5 or 5.1v, but because the aren't designed as a constant voltage they will sag.

    The sag is dependant on the load, and therefore more sag equates to more current.

    The cable is also a factor, so any resistance in the wires will result in your measuring device showing a lower voltage.

     

    Ideally all loads are resistive, (an equivalent would be a smooth flat road with no wind) however this is not the case (real world, different surface, gradient, winds), and the 5v regulators and filtering on the RPi have changed over the models.

    So the earlier B+ probably had the worst regulator out in terms of it's affect on the power supply and the loading.

     

     

     

    The real test would be to use a regulated 5.1v supply with 5-10A capablity wired directly to your tester and check the current consumption.

    I suspect you'll see the B+ current consumption slightly higher.

     

     

    Cheers

    Mark

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • Former Member
    Former Member over 5 years ago

    Thanks for the effort on this blog post.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • Former Member
    Former Member over 5 years ago

    Pi-tops with the RPi3 B+ are going to love the much faster WiFi @ 5GHz when near a router that supports it.  Hopefully, someone will come out with an add-on board compatible with the internal pi-top rail that supports mounting of an mSATA or small-ish SSD to the USB port on the pi-top hub.  Then, you have a laptop that doesn't suffer as much from the 1GB fixed RAM.  This could be your everyday laptop.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • DAB
    DAB over 5 years ago

    Nice post.

     

    As always, you should take all benchmarks with a grain of salt.

     

    The comparisons are useful for rough planning and capability assessment.

     

    When you conduct a MCU selection, the Benchmarks are just one of many factors to consider.

     

    Overall I would say the new version is an improvement, but you lose some things when you gain the speed.  The RPi is still a very useful component.

     

    DAB

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • cstanton
    cstanton over 5 years ago in reply to rew

    I can see where you're coming from with your points, and thanks for the explanation. Thank you for taking the benchmarking seriously enough to comment. Though you should be wary of making assumptions as you have done, as they're not entirely correct. image I may revisit this blog post in the future, until then I welcome anyone to post their own findings.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
>
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2023 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

ICP 备案号 10220084.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube