Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W mini review - Benchmarks and thermal performance

The Raspberry Pi Foundation launched the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W board yesterday with the main difference against Raspberry Pi Zero W board being the much faster Raspberry Pi RP3A0 SiP with a Broadcom quad-core Cortex-A53 processor clocked at 1.0 GHz and overclockable to 1.2 GHz.

I received my sample shortly after publishing the announcement, and I had time to test it. Since the main difference is the processor, I’ll focus this review on benchmarks and whether additional cooling is required for the board.

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W kit unboxing

If you purchase the board for $15, that’s all you’ll get, but Raspberry Pi Trading sent me a kit with Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W SBC, a USB OTG adapter, a mini HDMI to HDMI adapter, the CSI camera cable, and four rubber pad for the enclosure that comes with three covers: full, hole for 40-pin GPIO header, or hole for the camera.

The board is exactly the same size as the Raspberry Pi Zero W, and so are the ports’ arrangements. I have a Raspberry Pi Zero somewhere, but I’m unable to find it…

First boot and system information

I downloaded the Raspberry Pi OS May 2021 image from the official website and flashed it to a MicroSD card with USB Imager. After inserting the microSD card, an HDMI cable, and Logitech USB dongle for a wireless keyboard and mouse combo, I connected the power supply. I specifically used MINIX NEO P2 100W USB adapter so no joking around!

It would boot to the desktop, but I was unable to use the keyboard or mouse for that matter. I switched to a USB keyboard still no luck. I replaced the USB OTG adapter with mine, but no luck. I tried the microSD card in a Raspberry Pi 4 just to make sure there were no issues with the image itself and tried again in Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. It worked somehow and I could carry on with the setup wizard.

I also enabled SSH to have easier access to the command line, and made sure I had the latest version of the packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

1 2	sudo apt update sudo apt full-upgrade

Some system info:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /etc/issue
Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 \n \l

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ uname -a
Linux raspberrypi 5.10.17-v7+ #1414 SMP Fri Apr 30 13:18:35 BST 2021 armv7l GNU/Linux
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
model name	: ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)
BogoMIPS	: 38.40
Features	: half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32 
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant	: 0x0
CPU part	: 0xd03
CPU revision	: 4
...
processor	: 3
model name	: ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)
BogoMIPS	: 38.40
Features	: half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32 
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant	: 0x0
CPU part	: 0xd03
CPU revision	: 4

Hardware	: BCM2835
Revision	: 902120
Serial		: 00000000e51cb671
Model		: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Rev 1.0

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /etc/issue

Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 \n \l

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ uname -a

Linux raspberrypi 5.10.17-v7+ #1414 SMP Fri Apr 30 13:18:35 BST 2021 armv7l GNU/Linux

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo

processor : 0

model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)

BogoMIPS : 38.40

Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xd03

CPU revision : 4

...

processor : 3

model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)

BogoMIPS : 38.40

Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm crc32

CPU implementer : 0x41

CPU architecture: 7

CPU variant : 0x0

CPU part : 0xd03

CPU revision : 4

Hardware : BCM2835

Revision : 902120

Serial : 00000000e51cb671

Model : Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Rev 1.0

It’s detected as the same Broadcom BCM2835 as found in Raspberry Pi Zero, instead of BCM2710 / BCM2710A0, but it does not matter as four Cortex A53 cores are detected.

 $ inxi -Fc0
System:
  Host: raspberrypi Kernel: 5.10.17-v7+ armv7l bits: 32 Console: tty 3 
  Distro: Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:
  Type: ARM Device System: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Rev 1.0 details: BCM2835 
  rev: 902120 serial: 00000000e51cb671 
Argument "Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Rev 1.0" isn't numeric in sprintf at /usr/bin/inxi line 6969.
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: ARMv7 v7l variant: cortex-a53 bits: 32 
  type: MCP 
  Speed: 1000 MHz min/max: 600/1000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1000 2: 1000 
  3: 1000 4: 1000 
Graphics:
  Device-1: bcm2708-fb driver: bcm2708_fb v: kernel 
  Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A 
  Display: tty server: X.org 1.20.4 driver: fbturbo tty: 80x24 
  Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console. Try -G --display 
Audio:
  Device-1: bcm2835-audio driver: bcm2835_audio 
  Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.17-v7+ 
Network:
  Message: No ARM data found for this feature. 
  IF-ID-1: wlan0 state: up mac: e4:5f:01:10:88:f4 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 14.84 GiB used: 3.10 GiB (20.9%) 
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 vendor: SanDisk model: SL16G size: 14.84 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 14.29 GiB used: 3.05 GiB (21.3%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2 
  ID-2: /boot size: 252.0 MiB used: 48.1 MiB (19.1%) fs: vfat 
  dev: /dev/mmcblk0p1 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 47.2 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 138 Uptime: 2h 06m Memory: 493.0 MiB used: 181.4 MiB (36.8%) 
  gpu: 64.0 MiB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32

$ inxi -Fc0

System:

Host: raspberrypi Kernel: 5.10.17-v7+ armv7l bits: 32 Console: tty 3

Distro: Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)

Machine:

Type: ARM Device System: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Rev 1.0 details: BCM2835

rev: 902120 serial: 00000000e51cb671

Argument "Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Rev 1.0" isn't numeric in sprintf at /usr/bin/inxi line 6969.

CPU:

Topology: Quad Core model: ARMv7 v7l variant: cortex-a53 bits: 32

type: MCP

Speed: 1000 MHz min/max: 600/1000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1000 2: 1000

3: 1000 4: 1000

Graphics:

Device-1: bcm2708-fb driver: bcm2708_fb v: kernel

Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A

Display: tty server: X.org 1.20.4 driver: fbturbo tty: 80x24

Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console. Try -G --display

Audio:

Device-1: bcm2835-audio driver: bcm2835_audio

Device-2: bcm2835-hdmi driver: N/A

Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.17-v7+

Network:

Message: No ARM data found for this feature.

IF-ID-1: wlan0 state: up mac: e4:5f:01:10:88:f4

Drives:

Local Storage: total: 14.84 GiB used: 3.10 GiB (20.9%)

ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 vendor: SanDisk model: SL16G size: 14.84 GiB

Partition:

ID-1: / size: 14.29 GiB used: 3.05 GiB (21.3%) fs: ext4

dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2

ID-2: /boot size: 252.0 MiB used: 48.1 MiB (19.1%) fs: vfat

dev: /dev/mmcblk0p1

Sensors:

System Temperatures: cpu: 47.2 C mobo: N/A

Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A

Info:

Processes: 138 Uptime: 2h 06m Memory: 493.0 MiB used: 181.4 MiB (36.8%)

gpu: 64.0 MiB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32

The CPU frequency will vary between 600 and 1000 MHz, the idle temperature is around 47°C, and out of 493 MB total memory, 181.4 MB is used with nothing running. Needless to say, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is not designed to be used as a desktop machine, but for some specific tasks or even headless projects, it should be great value.

I could confirm idle temperature and CPU frequency (600 MHz) with vcgencmd utility:

/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp
temp=46.7'C
/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_clock arm
frequency(48)=600062000

/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp

temp=46.7'C

/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_clock arm

frequency(48)=600062000

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Benchmarks with Phoronix

Let’s install Phoronix

sudo apt install php-cli php-gd php-xml php-zip 
wget http://phoronix-test-suite.com/releases/repo/pts.debian/files/phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb

sudo apt install php-cli php-gd php-xml php-zip

wget http://phoronix-test-suite.com/releases/repo/pts.debian/files/phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i phoronix-test-suite_8.8.1_all.deb

I’m using the older Phoronix Suite 8.8.1 to match the version I used on Raspberry Pi 4 review.

Let’s start the benchmark for a comparison with others:

phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1906240-HV-1709271TY95

1	phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1906240-HV-1709271TY95

The full results can be found on OpenBenchmarking, but let’s check some of the specific results.

John the Ripper is a multi-threaded benchmark, and here the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W performs surprisingly well compared to a Raspberry Pi 3. Software/firmware may have improved since then, as in theory, the latter should be 40% faster with a score of about 729. You’ll also notice Raspberry Pi 4 is only marginally better than Pi Zero 2 W, and there’s an easy explanation the Pi 4 was naked at the time, with the firmware lacking optimizations released later on. That just means the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W performs well without heatsink even in a room at about 28°C.

C-Ray should the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W getting very close to Pi 3 performance.

FLAC audio encoding is no different, except we’ll notice the superior performance on Raspberry Pi 4 which must have some specific instructions that accelerate encoding.

For reference, this is what the temperature chart looked like during testing, so never above 75°C.

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W benchmarks with SBC Bench

We can have a closer look at the performance and temperature under by various loads installing SBC Bench scripts:

sudo apt install lm-sensors
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ThomasKaiser/sbc-bench/master/sbc-bench.sh

1 2	sudo apt install lm-sensors wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ThomasKaiser/sbc-bench/master/sbc-bench.sh

Let’s run the benchmark:

$ sudo /bin/bash ./sbc-bench.sh -c

sbc-bench v0.7.9

Installing needed tools. This may take some time... Done.
Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.
Executing tinymembench. This will take a long time... Done.
Executing OpenSSL benchmark. This will take 3 minutes... Done.
Executing 7-zip benchmark. This will take a long time... Done.
Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

It seems neither throttling nor frequency capping has occured.

Memory performance:
memcpy: 1302.7 MB/s (0.3%)
memset: 1635.5 MB/s (0.4%)

7-zip total scores (3 consecutive runs): 2977,3053,3044

OpenSSL results:
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes  16384 bytes
aes-128-cbc      24198.92k    34367.04k    38367.23k    39361.88k    39848.62k    39905.96k
aes-128-cbc      24145.26k    34310.49k    38395.14k    39541.42k    39766.70k    39987.88k
aes-192-cbc      22062.28k    29737.75k    32984.75k    33854.12k    33944.92k    34138.79k
aes-192-cbc      22034.17k    29824.26k    32785.07k    33819.65k    34100.57k    33887.57k
aes-256-cbc      20372.60k    26886.70k    29192.28k    30035.29k    30244.86k    30233.94k
aes-256-cbc      20250.58k    26861.33k    29321.13k    29845.16k    30223.02k    30233.94k

Full results uploaded to http://ix.io/3DdQ. Please check the log for anomalies (e.g. swapping
or throttling happenend) and otherwise share this URL.

$ sudo /bin/bash ./sbc-bench.sh -c

sbc-bench v0.7.9

Installing needed tools. This may take some time... Done.

Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

Executing tinymembench. This will take a long time... Done.

Executing OpenSSL benchmark. This will take 3 minutes... Done.

Executing 7-zip benchmark. This will take a long time... Done.

Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

It seems neither throttling nor frequency capping has occured.

Memory performance:

memcpy: 1302.7 MB/s (0.3%)

memset: 1635.5 MB/s (0.4%)

7-zip total scores (3 consecutive runs): 2977,3053,3044

OpenSSL results:

type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes 16384 bytes

aes-128-cbc 24198.92k 34367.04k 38367.23k 39361.88k 39848.62k 39905.96k

aes-128-cbc 24145.26k 34310.49k 38395.14k 39541.42k 39766.70k 39987.88k

aes-192-cbc 22062.28k 29737.75k 32984.75k 33854.12k 33944.92k 34138.79k

aes-192-cbc 22034.17k 29824.26k 32785.07k 33819.65k 34100.57k 33887.57k

aes-256-cbc 20372.60k 26886.70k 29192.28k 30035.29k 30244.86k 30233.94k

aes-256-cbc 20250.58k 26861.33k 29321.13k 29845.16k 30223.02k 30233.94k

Full results uploaded to http://ix.io/3DdQ. Please check the log for anomalies (e.g. swapping

or throttling happenend) and otherwise share this URL.

No throttling was detected, and the temperature never went over 63°C. The room temperature was about 26 to 27°C at the time of the benchmark.

This is how results compare to other Raspberry Pi boards at stock frequency.

AES benchmarks — AES-256 with 16KB blocks

Let’s try to overclock the board to 1.2 GHz by editing /boot/config.txt:

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
arm_freq=1200

1 2	#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default. arm_freq=1200

then reboot and check and check the frequency:

$ inxi -Fc0 | grep Speed
Argument "Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Rev 1.0" isn't numeric in sprintf at /usr/bin/inxi line 6969.
  Speed: 1200 MHz min/max: 600/1200 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1200 2: 1200 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A

$ inxi -Fc0 | grep Speed

Argument "Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Rev 1.0" isn't numeric in sprintf at /usr/bin/inxi line 6969.

Speed: 1200 MHz min/max: 600/1200 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1200 2: 1200

Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A

Let’s run SBC Bench again:

sbc-bench v0.7.9

Installing needed tools. This may take some time... Done.
Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.
Executing tinymembench. This will take a long time... Done.
Executing OpenSSL benchmark. This will take 3 minutes... Done.
Executing 7-zip benchmark. This will take a long time... Done.
Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

ATTENTION: Silent throttling has occured. Check the log for details.

Memory performance:
memcpy: 1318.1 MB/s (0.5%)
memset: 1792.6 MB/s (0.3%)

7-zip total scores (3 consecutive runs): 3590,3614,3556

OpenSSL results:
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes  16384 bytes
aes-128-cbc      28932.81k    40689.81k    45636.27k    46985.22k    47726.59k    47748.44k
aes-128-cbc      29164.73k    41186.97k    46110.12k    47579.14k    47830.36k    48016.04k
aes-192-cbc      26448.70k    35596.67k    39434.92k    40473.26k    40673.28k    40796.16k
aes-192-cbc      26448.22k    35890.86k    39352.75k    40634.71k    40957.27k    40801.62k
aes-256-cbc      24446.27k    32250.50k    35081.90k    36007.94k    36276.91k    36301.48k
aes-256-cbc      24305.59k    32267.09k    35204.27k    35892.22k    36298.75k    36317.87k

Full results uploaded to http://ix.io/3Dea. Please check the log for anomalies (e.g. swapping
or throttling happenend) and otherwise share this URL.

sbc-bench v0.7.9

Installing needed tools. This may take some time... Done.

Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

Executing tinymembench. This will take a long time... Done.

Executing OpenSSL benchmark. This will take 3 minutes... Done.

Executing 7-zip benchmark. This will take a long time... Done.

Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

ATTENTION: Silent throttling has occured. Check the log for details.

Memory performance:

memcpy: 1318.1 MB/s (0.5%)

memset: 1792.6 MB/s (0.3%)

7-zip total scores (3 consecutive runs): 3590,3614,3556

OpenSSL results:

type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes 16384 bytes

aes-128-cbc 28932.81k 40689.81k 45636.27k 46985.22k 47726.59k 47748.44k

aes-128-cbc 29164.73k 41186.97k 46110.12k 47579.14k 47830.36k 48016.04k

aes-192-cbc 26448.70k 35596.67k 39434.92k 40473.26k 40673.28k 40796.16k

aes-192-cbc 26448.22k 35890.86k 39352.75k 40634.71k 40957.27k 40801.62k

aes-256-cbc 24446.27k 32250.50k 35081.90k 36007.94k 36276.91k 36301.48k

aes-256-cbc 24305.59k 32267.09k 35204.27k 35892.22k 36298.75k 36317.87k

Full results uploaded to http://ix.io/3Dea. Please check the log for anomalies (e.g. swapping

or throttling happenend) and otherwise share this URL.

SBC Bench detects “Silent throttling” but I’m not sure what that means with the temperature not exceeding 70C, and no apparent drops in frequencies in the log:

System health while running 7-zip multi core benchmark:

Time        fake/real   load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq   Temp   VCore
09:13:15: 1200/1200MHz  2.52  21%   0%  19%   0%   0%   0%  59.1°C  1.2250V
09:13:35: 1200/1200MHz  2.76  71%   1%  70%   0%   0%   0%  65.0°C  1.2250V
09:13:56: 1200/1200MHz  2.91  74%   1%  73%   0%   0%   0%  67.7°C  1.2250V
09:14:16: 1200/1200MHz  2.94  73%   1%  72%   0%   0%   0%  68.8°C  1.2250V

System health while running 7-zip multi core benchmark:

Time fake/real load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Temp VCore

09:13:15: 1200/1200MHz 2.52 21% 0% 19% 0% 0% 0% 59.1°C 1.2250V

09:13:35: 1200/1200MHz 2.76 71% 1% 70% 0% 0% 0% 65.0°C 1.2250V

09:13:56: 1200/1200MHz 2.91 74% 1% 73% 0% 0% 0% 67.7°C 1.2250V

09:14:16: 1200/1200MHz 2.94 73% 1% 72% 0% 0% 0% 68.8°C 1.2250V

An overclocked Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W now performs just as well as Raspberry Pi 3 B+ in the 7-zip test, at least with the numbers we’ve got.

7-zip Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Overclocked — 7-zip results

It’s too easy, so let’s put the board inside its enclosure to warm things up a bit…

SBC bench:

sbc-bench v0.7.9

Installing needed tools. This may take some time... Done.
Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.
Executing tinymembench. This will take a long time... Done.
Executing OpenSSL benchmark. This will take 3 minutes... Done.
Executing 7-zip benchmark. This will take a long time...
Decoding ERROR
 Done.
Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

ATTENTION: Silent throttling has occured. Check the log for details.

Memory performance:
memcpy: 1277.0 MB/s 
memset: 1751.6 MB/s (0.2%)

7-zip total scores (3 consecutive runs): 3566,3632

OpenSSL results:
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes  16384 bytes
aes-128-cbc      28668.64k    40634.58k    45655.38k    47111.51k    47710.21k    47639.21k
aes-128-cbc      29062.07k    41242.58k    46195.71k    47622.49k    47893.16k    48043.35k
aes-192-cbc      26042.25k    35612.10k    39425.96k    40457.56k    40719.70k    40976.38k
aes-192-cbc      26447.15k    35880.23k    39428.44k    40486.57k    40924.50k    40774.31k
aes-256-cbc      24333.79k    32131.61k    34937.09k    35891.88k    36145.83k    36164.95k
aes-256-cbc      24343.63k    32254.85k    35214.42k    35908.95k    36287.83k    36312.41k

Full results uploaded to http://ix.io/3Dei. Please check the log for anomalies (e.g. swapping
or throttling happenend) and otherwise share this URL.

sbc-bench v0.7.9

Installing needed tools. This may take some time... Done.

Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

Executing tinymembench. This will take a long time... Done.

Executing OpenSSL benchmark. This will take 3 minutes... Done.

Executing 7-zip benchmark. This will take a long time...

Decoding ERROR

Done.

Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

ATTENTION: Silent throttling has occured. Check the log for details.

Memory performance:

memcpy: 1277.0 MB/s

memset: 1751.6 MB/s (0.2%)

7-zip total scores (3 consecutive runs): 3566,3632

OpenSSL results:

type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes 16384 bytes

aes-128-cbc 28668.64k 40634.58k 45655.38k 47111.51k 47710.21k 47639.21k

aes-128-cbc 29062.07k 41242.58k 46195.71k 47622.49k 47893.16k 48043.35k

aes-192-cbc 26042.25k 35612.10k 39425.96k 40457.56k 40719.70k 40976.38k

aes-192-cbc 26447.15k 35880.23k 39428.44k 40486.57k 40924.50k 40774.31k

aes-256-cbc 24333.79k 32131.61k 34937.09k 35891.88k 36145.83k 36164.95k

aes-256-cbc 24343.63k 32254.85k 35214.42k 35908.95k 36287.83k 36312.41k

Full results uploaded to http://ix.io/3Dei. Please check the log for anomalies (e.g. swapping

or throttling happenend) and otherwise share this URL.

I got a few problems with RPI Monitor going down during the review, so no chart this time, but we can check the temperature in the log:

System health while running tinymembench:

Time        fake/real   load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq   Temp   VCore
09:33:17: 1200/1200MHz  1.07  20%   1%  17%   0%   1%   0%  53.2°C  1.2188V
09:35:17: 1200/1200MHz  1.01  25%   0%  25%   0%   0%   0%  58.0°C  1.2188V
09:37:17: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  25%   0%   0%   0%  55.8°C  1.2188V
09:39:18: 1200/1200MHz  1.01  25%   0%  25%   0%   0%   0%  55.8°C  1.2188V

System health while running OpenSSL benchmark:

Time        fake/real   load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq   Temp   VCore
09:40:11: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  22%   0%  20%   0%   0%   0%  55.8°C  1.2188V
09:40:21: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  25%   0%   0%   0%  56.4°C  1.2188V
09:40:31: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  25%   0%   0%   0%  56.9°C  1.2188V
09:40:41: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  24%   0%   0%   0%  58.0°C  1.2188V
09:40:51: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  24%   0%   0%   0%  57.5°C  1.2188V
09:41:01: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  24%   0%   0%   0%  56.9°C  1.2188V
09:41:11: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  24%   0%   0%   0%  58.0°C  1.2188V
09:41:21: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  25%   0%   0%   0%  58.0°C  1.2188V
09:41:32: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  25%   0%   0%   0%  58.0°C  1.2188V
09:41:42: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  24%   0%   0%   0%  58.0°C  1.2188V
09:41:52: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  25%   0%  24%   0%   0%   0%  58.0°C  1.2188V

System health while running 7-zip single core benchmark:

Time        fake/real   load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq   Temp   VCore
09:41:59: 1200/1200MHz  1.00  22%   0%  21%   0%   0%   0%  58.5°C  1.2188V
09:42:59: 1200/1200MHz  2.29  25%   0%  24%   0%   0%   0%  58.0°C  1.2188V

System health while running 7-zip multi core benchmark:

Time        fake/real   load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq   Temp   VCore
09:43:06: 1200/1200MHz  2.43  22%   0%  21%   0%   0%   0%  58.0°C  1.2188V
09:43:29: 1200/1200MHz  2.39  71%   1%  70%   0%   0%   0%  64.5°C  1.2188V
09:43:49: 1200/1200MHz  2.79  77%   1%  75%   0%   0%   0%  66.1°C  1.2188V
09:44:10: 1200/1200MHz  2.88  75%   1%  74%   0%   0%   0%  68.8°C  1.2188V

System health while running tinymembench:

Time fake/real load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Temp VCore

09:33:17: 1200/1200MHz 1.07 20% 1% 17% 0% 1% 0% 53.2°C 1.2188V

09:35:17: 1200/1200MHz 1.01 25% 0% 25% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 1.2188V

09:37:17: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 25% 0% 0% 0% 55.8°C 1.2188V

09:39:18: 1200/1200MHz 1.01 25% 0% 25% 0% 0% 0% 55.8°C 1.2188V

System health while running OpenSSL benchmark:

Time fake/real load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Temp VCore

09:40:11: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 22% 0% 20% 0% 0% 0% 55.8°C 1.2188V

09:40:21: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 25% 0% 0% 0% 56.4°C 1.2188V

09:40:31: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 25% 0% 0% 0% 56.9°C 1.2188V

09:40:41: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 24% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 1.2188V

09:40:51: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 24% 0% 0% 0% 57.5°C 1.2188V

09:41:01: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 24% 0% 0% 0% 56.9°C 1.2188V

09:41:11: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 24% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 1.2188V

09:41:21: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 25% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 1.2188V

09:41:32: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 25% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 1.2188V

09:41:42: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 24% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 1.2188V

09:41:52: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 25% 0% 24% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 1.2188V

System health while running 7-zip single core benchmark:

Time fake/real load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Temp VCore

09:41:59: 1200/1200MHz 1.00 22% 0% 21% 0% 0% 0% 58.5°C 1.2188V

09:42:59: 1200/1200MHz 2.29 25% 0% 24% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 1.2188V

System health while running 7-zip multi core benchmark:

Time fake/real load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Temp VCore

09:43:06: 1200/1200MHz 2.43 22% 0% 21% 0% 0% 0% 58.0°C 1.2188V

09:43:29: 1200/1200MHz 2.39 71% 1% 70% 0% 0% 0% 64.5°C 1.2188V

09:43:49: 1200/1200MHz 2.79 77% 1% 75% 0% 0% 0% 66.1°C 1.2188V

09:44:10: 1200/1200MHz 2.88 75% 1% 74% 0% 0% 0% 68.8°C 1.2188V

Still always under 70°C. I find the average load a bit low at 2.88, so I repeated the test to double-check, and there are indeed there are four p7zip processes running at the same time. It’s just the benchmark may not run long enough to get close to a load average of 4.

Although it will not be needed in most cases, I still decided to test the board with a heatsink to see how much the temperature would lower.

But the heatsinks I used with Raspberry Pi 4 were not quite suitable for the smaller board, especially the “ICE Tower CPU cooling fan“… So I went with a smaller heatsink that could also be used within the enclosure.Let’s run SBC Bench script one last time for today:

sbc-bench v0.7.9

Installing needed tools. This may take some time... Done.
Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.
Executing tinymembench. This will take a long time... Done.
Executing OpenSSL benchmark. This will take 3 minutes... Done.
Executing 7-zip benchmark. This will take a long time... Done.
Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

ATTENTION: Silent throttling has occured. Check the log for details.

Memory performance:
memcpy: 1316.2 MB/s (0.5%)
memset: 1792.5 MB/s (0.2%)

7-zip total scores (3 consecutive runs): 3633,3648,3646

OpenSSL results:
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes  16384 bytes
aes-128-cbc      29132.32k    41185.60k    46159.53k    47391.74k    47819.43k    47879.51k
aes-128-cbc      29103.23k    41169.15k    46142.63k    47549.78k    47852.20k    47939.58k
aes-192-cbc      26416.25k    35749.70k    39497.56k    40605.35k    40798.89k    40970.92k
aes-192-cbc      26366.24k    35887.02k    39429.03k    40619.01k    40919.04k    40828.93k
aes-256-cbc      24448.12k    32238.36k    35092.05k    36043.09k    36268.71k    36312.41k
aes-256-cbc      24352.68k    32264.49k    35101.61k    35921.24k    36246.87k    36290.56k

Full results uploaded to http://ix.io/3DeL. Please check the log for anomalies (e.g. swapping
or throttling happenend) and otherwise share this URL.

sbc-bench v0.7.9

Installing needed tools. This may take some time... Done.

Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

Executing tinymembench. This will take a long time... Done.

Executing OpenSSL benchmark. This will take 3 minutes... Done.

Executing 7-zip benchmark. This will take a long time... Done.

Checking cpufreq OPP... Done.

ATTENTION: Silent throttling has occured. Check the log for details.

Memory performance:

memcpy: 1316.2 MB/s (0.5%)

memset: 1792.5 MB/s (0.2%)

7-zip total scores (3 consecutive runs): 3633,3648,3646

OpenSSL results:

type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes 16384 bytes

aes-128-cbc 29132.32k 41185.60k 46159.53k 47391.74k 47819.43k 47879.51k

aes-128-cbc 29103.23k 41169.15k 46142.63k 47549.78k 47852.20k 47939.58k

aes-192-cbc 26416.25k 35749.70k 39497.56k 40605.35k 40798.89k 40970.92k

aes-192-cbc 26366.24k 35887.02k 39429.03k 40619.01k 40919.04k 40828.93k

aes-256-cbc 24448.12k 32238.36k 35092.05k 36043.09k 36268.71k 36312.41k

aes-256-cbc 24352.68k 32264.49k 35101.61k 35921.24k 36246.87k 36290.56k

Full results uploaded to http://ix.io/3DeL. Please check the log for anomalies (e.g. swapping

or throttling happenend) and otherwise share this URL.

Same silent throttling warning, but 7-zip results were marginally better (up to 3,648 points), and the temperature only went up to about 64°C.

That’s about 6°C cooler than our overclocked test without a heatsink.

Conclusion

The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W performs nearly as well as a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ especially when overclocked, and despite its small size has no problem staying cool. That means most people will not need to add a heatsink to the board, unless possibly for full loads for an extended time, or higher room temperature (35°C+). However, the smaller memory capacity (512MB) and available connectors will probably make it suitable for different use cases.

I’d like to thank Raspberry Pi Trading and Eben Upton for sending a review sample. I may continue this review a little later by checking out the power consumption in different configurations using Qoitech Otii Arc power supply.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.