Waveshare has released the CM5-DUAL-ETH-BASE-B, a compact fanless mini PC built around the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 that measures just 10.1 x 6.2 x 2.34 cm (4.0 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches). The aluminum enclosure houses a carrier board with dual Ethernet ports (one 2.5GbE, one Gigabit), HDMI 2.0 output supporting 4K at 60fps, USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0 ports, plus a microSD card slot and USB-C power input.
Inside the case, an M.2 Key-M socket accommodates 2230, 2242, or 2280 NVMe SSDs or AI accelerators via PCIe Gen 2.1/3 x1. The board also includes two MIPI DSI/CSI connectors for cameras or displays, with flat cables routing through an opening near the HDMI port. A 40-pin GPIO header is accessible through a removable cover on the bottom of the enclosure. The 2.5GbE port appears to use a Realtek transceiver, likely the RTL8156BG connected via USB 3.0 rather than native PCIe. The RTL8156BG chipset has been supported in the mainline Linux kernel since version 5.13, making the dual Ethernet configuration well suited for running OpenWrt as a compact router or firewall appliance. Additional features include a power button, RTC battery connector, dual-color status LED, and an onboard boot switch for eMMC flashing mode.
The system runs Raspberry Pi OS and documentation covers OS installation, SSD configuration, MIPI device setup, and RTC configuration. The kit includes thermal pads for the CM5 and optional storage, plus a screwdriver and mounting hardware. The Raspberry Pi CM5 module itself is sold separately, available in configurations from 2GB to 16GB RAM and 16GB to 64GB eMMC storage, or as a Lite variant without eMMC.
The CM5-DUAL-ETH-BASE-B kit is available for $73 (€67) from Waveshare's shop, $86 (€79) on AliExpress, or $99 (€91) on Amazon. A 5V/5A power supply and the CM5 module are required but not included.
