Banana Pi BPI-M6: This Raspberry Pi alternative offers powerful AI performance and PCIe and is now available

Some time ago, we reported on the Banana Pi BPI-M6, a powerful single-board computer. Now, the model is actually available and can be purchased via Amazon, for example.  

The single-board computer is equipped with a VS680 SoC, which has four Cortex A73 cores. An Imagination GE9920 graphics solution and a particularly high-performance NPU are installed. This is intended to accelerate AI applications with up to 6.75 TOPs, which means that the Banana PI BPI-M6 may also be suitable for projects with image recognition, such as in the area of surveillance, but also as a basis for vehicle prototypes. Thanks to the GPIO pin header, the Banana Pi BPI-M6 can also act directly on actuators.

The version offered has 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM and the eMMC flash storage measures 16 GB. A microSD card slot is available, but a corresponding SSD can also be installed via PCIe. This means that even larger amounts of data can be accessed quickly and reliably.

Connection to a network is also possible at Gigabit speed via Ethernet; if necessary, a WiFi connection must be retrofitted via a USB solution. Four USB 3.0 ports are available for this purpose. In total, there are 40 connections for sensors and actuators on the 92 x 62 millimeter board. An HDMI 2.1 port is also available, as well as MIPI DSI.