YouTuber MadEDoctor upgrades 1GB version of Raspberry Pi 4 to 8GB of RAM
Although officials previously announced that Raspberry Pi 4 would gradually resume supply this year, it is still difficult to find, and even if it can be purchased, it is mostly the 2GB or 4GB version, while the 8GB version is basically sold at inflated prices. Therefore, some players have demonstrated their DIY spirit and replaced the 1GB Raspberry Pi 4 with an 8GB memory chip by themselves.
Nowadays, memory is mostly integrated on the board, and it is not very difficult to replace a larger capacity chip. Even complex devices like Apple’s MacBook Pro have mature memory upgrade services available. The core operation is simply to remove the original high-temperature chip and then solder on the newly BGA-planted chip (or you can have the seller plant it for you) – the key is to know the memory model.
Image credit: MadEDoctor
YouTuber MadEDoctor has compiled the memory chip models used in different versions of Raspberry Pi 4 and replaced the suitable 8GB memory on his 1GB version of Raspberry Pi 4, which ran smoothly. He demonstrated the transplantation process in his video, including the temperature and wind speed of the heat gun, so it should be relatively easy to do it yourself if you have some manual ability (or you can find a repair shop to do it for you if you prefer).
However, to be honest, if you don’t need a large amount of memory for your project, upgrading to 8GB on Raspberry Pi 4 won’t provide a significant performance boost. After all, Raspberry Pi 4 has been around for a while and its SoC performance is not that impressive, but it is said that Raspberry Pi 5 will not arrive until 2024.
