Orange Pi's new SBC continues its budget-friendly advantage over the Raspberry Pi

Given how popular the Raspberry Pi is, it can be easy to forget that there are alternatives out there that suit different use cases. For example, when we compared the Raspberry Pi vs. the Orange Pi, we noted how the latter kept things budget-friendly for the hardware you get. Now, a brand new Orange Pi is here, and while it won’t win any awards for sheer power, it still maintains the mantra of being very affordable.

The Orange Pi RV2 is a RISC-V board that keeps the price down

As spotted by LinuxGizmos, Orange Pi has announced the RV2 board. Its main feature is the Ky X1 octa-core RISC-V AI CPU, which gives you two TOPS to work with; not a great deal, but as we’ll get into soon, the price feels just right for that kind of performance. Besides, Orange Pi claims this is enough to make it “optimized for DeepSeek-R1 distillation models,” which means on-board AI processing is feasible.

If you’re not interested in AI processing, the Orange Pi RV2 still puts up a pretty good fight on the hardware front. We’re looking at 8GB of RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, an optional eMMC module that goes up to 128GB, HDMI 2.0 support, five USB ports (three 3.0, two 2.0) and even two camera interfaces.

If you want the full list of hardware, here it is:

Alright, so how about that price point? Well, as per the Orange Pi X account, you have three options: you can grab the 2GB model for $30, the 4GB model for $39.99, and the 8GB for $49.99. That’s a good price for the hardware you’re getting, and well worth a look if you want to save some cash on your next SBC purchase.

If you’re a huge fan of the Raspberry Pi and you’re unsure about jumping ship to another brand, why not give it a go? Exploring other SBCs can open up new avenues and expand your arsenal when it comes to picking the perfect board for your next project. In our piece on the reasons why you should pick a non-Raspberry Pi SBC, the Orange Pi brand turns up a few times due to its cost effectiveness and decent hardware specs.