Raspberry Pi CM4-alternative SBC from Banana Pi goes on sale with competitive pricing

Banana Pi introduced the BPI-CM6 roughly around seven months ago, powered by an octa-core RISC-V processor and the same functionality and size as the Raspberry Pi CM4. The BPI-CM6 SBC is now available for purchase directly from Banana Pi's official online store, priced at just $67.

Banana Pi CM6: Tiny compute module for RISC-V enthusiasts

As mentioned, the 50 mm x 44 mm Banana Pi BPI-CM6 SBC is powered by the SpacemIT K1, which happens to be an octa-core RISC-V CPU with 2 TOPS of AI compute. The chip can be paired with up to 8 GB of LPDDR4 memory, although the CM6 SBC is only available with 8 GB for now. On-board storage requirements are handled by 16 GB of eMMC storage.

The SoC also packs a decent iGPU, the IMG BXE-2-32 iGPU clocked at 819 MHz with support for OpenCL 3.0, Vulkan 1.3, and OpenGL ES 3.x. Like the Raspberry Pi CM4 (currently $55 on Amazon), the Banana Pi CM6 is just a compute module, and requires a carrier board for I/O ports, priced at $17 on Banana Pi's official store. The detailed list of I/O interfaces supported by the CM6 is as follows:

• Dual USB 2.0
• Single USB 3.0
• RTL8211F gigabit Ethernet
• HDMI 1.4, single MIPI-DSI
• Triple MIPI-CSI
• 5-lane PCIe 2.1 slot
• 10x UART serial interface
• WiFi, BT

The carrier board, on the other hand, packs dual M.2 M-key slots, dual Ethernet, USB-C, microSD slot, as well as a 26-pin header. For folks looking to purchase the Raspberry Pi CM4, the Banana Pi CM6 can prove to be a decent alternative with a RISC-V flavor.