A $260 x86 SBC That Outmuscles the Raspberry Pi 5

Now that the once inexpensive Raspberry Pi single-board computers (SBCs) are topping $300 at the higher end, people are increasingly looking into alternatives. Is a computer with a moderately powerful ARM processor and a not-entirely-impressive amount of RAM the right choice for your project at this price point? If you can do without the incredible ecosystem that Raspberry Pi has built up around its hardware, the answer may be no.

A new option from Hardkernel called the ODROID-H5, for instance, is worth a look. It is a low-power SBC, but it comes equipped with an Intel Core i3-N300 processor that is considerably more powerful than the Broadcom BCM2712 found in a Raspberry Pi 5. Rather than an Arm architecture, the N300 is an x86 chip, which could also improve compatibility with many of your favorite software packages. Despite the additional horsepower, the ODROID-H5 is selling for $260 — but with a few caveats.

Unlike a fully assembled mini PC, the ODROID-H5 is sold as a barebones system. Buyers still need to provide DDR5 memory, storage, and a power supply before the board is operational. Even so, the hardware specifications are unusually aggressive for the price. The board centers around Intel’s eight-core N300 processor, which offers turbo frequencies up to 3.8 GHz.

The ODROID-H5 replaces the dual 2.5 GbE configuration of earlier H-series boards with a single onboard 10 GbE interface powered by the Realtek RTL8127 controller. According to Hardkernel, the board sustained roughly 9.5 Gbit/s during extended iperf3 testing while maintaining stable thermals. That kind of bandwidth is ideal for network-attached storage, virtualization, and distributed computing applications.

Instead of a single PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 slot, the ODROID-H5 offers four M.2 sockets directly on the PCB: three PCIe Gen3 x2 slots and one PCIe Gen3 x1 slot. Users can populate these with NVMe drives, additional networking adapters, Wi-Fi modules, AI accelerators, or SATA expansion cards.

In headless operation, the board reportedly idles as low as 2.2 W with networking disconnected, and around 3.3 W when connected to a 10 GbE network. Under full CPU and GPU stress, power consumption rises to approximately 25 W. Those figures make the ODROID-H5 attractive for always-on server deployments where electricity usage matters.

The board also includes triple-display support through one HDMI 2.0 port and two DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, allowing up to three simultaneous 4K/60 displays. Combined with Intel VT-x virtualization support and x86 software compatibility, the ODROID-H5 sits somewhere between a traditional SBC and a compact desktop workstation. More details are available on the Hardkernel product page.