Pi3+ - worth upgrading to?

pjft

@sirhenrythe5th to be fair, @psyke83 's done a fantastic job backporting bluetooth drivers to Jessie (there's a thread about it), and those worked perfectly for me.

drake999

@jono Yeah that is what I suspected. Since there is no improvement to the GPU and I only emulate up to PSX with enhanced resolution, my standard Pi3 works fine for what I'm doing with it. I higher CPU clock than what I've already got with overclocking and cooling will be of no benefit. Here is hoping the Pi4 gets an updated VideoCore V GPU or something. I'll hold out and see what they have in store for the Pi4.

Ecks

@bobberella said in Pi3+ - worth upgrading to?:

I could tell you my setting if you want to but i broke all of the warranty. You also need a fan.

Apparently, the raspberry pi designed for 1.4 Ghz and then they lowered it to 1.2 Ghz to get rid of a heat issue.

I dont think the 3B+ pi can be overclocked... it would be nice to get rid of the fan situation. And I dont need to break any of the warrenty.

There is people that are overclocking it to 1.5 - 1.6GHz already which runs a little smooth but still needs a fan cause i believe when it was around 1.6GHz it was getting like 75°c.

Alturis

So far I have noticed a marked performance increase when transferring files over wifi. Like night and day. Feels more like you are copying files to and from your own PC when using \\RETROPIE from windows. (or it could just be the placebo effect because I haven't taken any steps to measure it)

Other than that I don't expect any games that used to run slow to run much better. The temperature seems to be considerably lower too.

drake999

@alturis Yeah that's not surprising. I think the biggest upgrade was the dual-band wireless module. Yeah we got a gigabit NIC now, but we can only use about 30 to 40 percent of it since its interfaced with the USB 2.0 controller still, so yeah its better but meh, lol. I'm far more enthusiastic about running on 5GHz wireless.

mediamogul

@alturis

I live in a decently big house with lots of brick everywhere and it's murder getting wifi to every corner. I see the Pi losing it's connection all too often as a result. Better wifi performance might actually be reason enough for me to upgrade.

Ulysses

Doesn't hurt, I mean, it's just $35. The biggest complaint right now (or at least that I have) is that there's not a lot out there for the B+. I gave my old board to my brother and now I have the newer one and there's just nothing for it. No Ubuntu MATE, Retropie is only in beta and my Bluetooth controller doesn't want to connect (but otherwise is fine). Mostly now my Pi just sits on the shelf.

If you're on a 3B, just stick with it for a while until more software options become available, once there are sufficient hardware options, then certainly a good buy. Not to mention you can do so much with these little things, you just can't have too much Pi.

drake999

@mediamogul Yeah, I live in a condo complex and the 2.4 GHz band is absolutely flooded. Literally like 30 distinct signals in range when I do a wireless scan. There's even a couple of schmuck's using repeaters even though the unit size in no way warrants it, lol. As a result my 2.4 GHz performance really suffers in my environment. I can't even get my full internet speed when using 2.4 GHz band. 5 GHz is pretty busy to but not as bad and I can get my full internet speed on it. This is why the new wireless module is the most appealing upgrade in the Pi3+ to me. I've had a difficult time finding a low-profile USB dual-band wireless module, and I have tried.

quicksilver

@drake999 Another nice thing with 5ghz band is that it doesnt travel through walls as well as 2.4ghz. This isnt good if you are in a big house but it would be nice for a condo/apartment where you wouldnt want as many competing signals making it into your home.

drake999

@quicksilver Yeah I imagine that is part of the reason my my 5 GHz band performs so much better. That and the fact that less people in my building are using that band. I use my 2.4 GHz band for low-priority stuff and my 5 GHz band for gaming and media streaming.