Is the Raspberry Pi 5’s single Ethernet port simply not reducing it on your newest venture concept? You would plug that Ethernet port right into a swap and name it good, however that isn’t going to work if you could maintain your machine small or preserve energy. Luckily, there’s now an alternative choice. Waveshare has launched the PCIe To 4-Ch Gigabit/2.5G ETH Board. It provides an extra 4 1GbE or 2.5GbE ports to your Pi.
The Raspberry Pi 5 installs on high of the enlargement board and is linked to it through the 16-pin PCIe interface. This connection additionally gives the enlargement board with energy, so there isn’t any extra wiring required. The software program facet is simply as easy—the board helps Raspberry Pi OS proper out of the field, so no drivers have to be put in on the Pi.
The enlargement board (📷: Waveshare)
Whereas handy, this enlargement board will not be about efficiency. The PCIe Gen2 x1 interface on the Pi has a most theoretical bandwidth of 5.0 GT/s, which falls wanting what 4 maxed-out 2.5GbE ports are able to. Nonetheless, utilizing PCIe Gen3 x1, which isn’t formally supported by Raspberry Pi, would get you nearer with 8 GT/s of bandwidth.
In any case, the PCIe To 4-Ch Gigabit/2.5G ETH Board is a quite simple approach so as to add a number of Ethernet ports on your homelab, check tools, or unique Raspberry Pi tasks. The board presently sells for $40 to $50, relying on whether or not you want the 1GbE or 2.5GbE model.
