Got a R-Pi 3 today and it may have been a mistake. Though it was priced as in any other Pi ($39; $35 + Import Tax raises it to $39) being low on funds it was a desperate buy.
Interesting thing. Though it is on the same board sized as the Model B+ & R-Pi 2 and the ports laid out on the same places, it is very different from the others. The chips are laid out differently and there is a third chip on the bottom of the board. No doubt it is for the built-in Wifi and Bluetooth it is supposed to have. It also has the Micro SD Slot that is not spring loaded like R-Pi:0; the Model B+ and R-Pi 2 Micro SD Slot is spring loaded making inserting and removing the Micro SD Card easy.
Except for those differences, it is nothing more than a faster R-Pi 2. The R-Pi 2 runs at 900MHz as its minimum speed, the R-Pi 3 run at 1GHz. Other than that it is the same Quad Core CPU system. Only things added is the Wifi and Bluetooth, neither of which I was able to test yet. I only tested to see if it boots Jessie Raspbian that was not updated nor upgraded, which it did. The difference between 900MHz and 1GHz was not noticeable. it is supposed to be over-clocked to 1.6GHz but that was not tested either. The R-Pi 2 can be over-clocked to 1.4GHz.
In all, between the R-Pi 2 with a Bluetooth/Wifi combo USB Adapter is the same thing as the R-Pi3. Is it worth it? The Model B+, R-Pi 2 and R-Pi 3 are priced the same - $35. for making projects, it depends on what one needs to complete it but I always say - use the Model B+ as a starting off point and work up from there a a robot drone may not need the power of an R-Pi 2 or R-Pi 3. And if it does not need Ethernet or Multiple USB Ports - then the Model A+ or R-Pi:0 would be a better choice.
But the faster CPU brings up an issue on the R-Pi 3 that was not so bad in the R-Pi 2 - It Gets Hot! So hot, it is recommended that one buys a set of heatsinks for it (which I did). So when running it, it did not get so hot as expected.
http://liliputing.com/2016/03/raspberry-pi-3-hot-hotter-raspberry-pi-2.html In my short simple test, the board remained cool but I noticed when I turned it off, the heatsinks were hot. They did their job in keeping the rest of the R-Pi 3 cool by drawing the heat away from the board. And this was a 10 minute test. I can image what it would be like for something like a few hours. I will say that the heatsinks were hot but they were not burning hot that I had to pull away. It is just hot enough to get your attention.
Personally, unless I'm going to over clock the R-Pi 2, they are not going to need a heatsink, but the R-Pi 3 does need them.
Future test will include the following - testing Wheezy Raspbian on it, testing the Wifi and BlueTooth, and battery life on it.
But is it worth it? Unless you want or need the built0in Wifi and Bluetooth, the R-Pi 2 might be better as you do not need to buy heatsinks for it unless you are over-clocking it. The speed difference between them is not that great under normal use.
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Raspberry Pi 3 Review (Read 131 times)
