Welcome to the Forums.I've variously configured RPI 3, 4 and 5 running a variety of workloads in my home 'computer lab'.
I understand the fundamental's of, e.g., https://www.raspberrypi.com/about/.
It would however be a wonderful thing if there was an 'enthusiast option' that actually matches the "...We're on a mission to put high-performance,..." option that was "...(a little less) low-cost...".
Still within the single-board and modular computers legacy of RPI but something that was clearly '2nd level' from the RPI mainstream offering such things as 8+ core, higher clock speeds with larger 16/32GB (and more) ram that clearly worked in the lower-end Intel/AMD processing capacity configuration options.
This would maintain the low-power ARM feature while realizing a more low-end 'server' capacity at a price point below those Intel/AMD options but still being single board system-on-a-chip consistent with the current RPI while providing peripheral capacities competitively so full speed Ethernet, USB, etc could be used. The current RPI 5 w/ 16GB Ram is pushing the $125+ price range so an enthusiast option would probably cost just a but more reflecting the 8-core (or more) costs.
There is a lot going on in the ARM space.
One can (at least) wish....
My advice... Be patient. The first Pi had a single core running at 700MHz, 256MB of RAM, and only two USB 2.0 ports. That was a mere 13 years ago. The board you're describing may well come to be...in a few years. Of course, by that time the Intel processors will probably be even bigger, but you really can't get inexpensive and really powerful at the same time.
Statistics: Posted by W. H. Heydt — Mon Sep 15, 2025 3:31 am