10 sats \ 3 replies \ @Dash_1971 28 Sep 2023 \ on: Raspberry Pi 5 – Raspberry Pi tech
It looks like RAM is fixed at 4 or 8 gb options. My understanding is that since the UTXO set is at around 8gb already nodes should have 16gb memory to perform decently. Therefore, this looks to me DOA in terms of using as a Bitcoin full node. Even if it had a 16gb option, why would anyone pick this over a used Thinkpad or else an Odroid or an Intel NUC or something like that? It looks like it's going to use more power too and recommends active cooling. One of the advantages of the pi 4B was low power draw and passive cooling so really not seeing much point in this. I think the reality is that the Bitcoin Blockchain has grown beyond a low power ARM SBC, anyway.
There's no need to keep the whole UTXO set in memory. Most of it is rarely read from disk during normal operation. The
dbcache (i.e. UTXO set cache) is 450MB by default and you usually only want to increase that for IBD performance.10% of transactions spent UTXOs created in the same block (https://transactionfee.info/charts/transactions-spending-newly-created-utxos) and a big chunk of UTXOs is spent after a few blocks anyway
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I guess low consumption is still the reason why to use these devices. Orange Pi 5 plus with 16gb of ram would still be my preferred option today, but it is a bit expensive.
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Pi nodes are pointless already. For personal use (i.e. full node for cold storage and occasional on chain spending) they introduce more complexity and security risks than simply buying an old laptop, replacing the SSD and running Bitcoin Core with Sparrow.
For "professional" use (i.e. running a lightning node) then mini PC or server hardware is far more appropriate.
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