Raspberry Pi has a fancy new toy for its most demanding fans

There's a powerful new toy for DIY-ers who love to customize their gadgets—and it'll only set you back $30.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced the Compute Module 3 (CM3) on Monday, a new board that will help manufacturers produce cost effective, high quality hardware. There's a less powerful Compute Module 3 Lite (CM3L) for $25. 

While the Pi products are directed at casual hobbyists and educators, the Compute Module series offer a more flexible form factor for industrial applications. The original Compute Module has been used in products such as NEC display screens, the Slice media player and Otto, a GIF camera. 

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The Foundation’s flagship product, the Raspberry Pi, is the size of a credit card. Last year, the Foundation announced the Raspberry Pi 3 with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and in 2015, it launched the Raspberry Pi Zero for just $5. 

The products are meant to promote basic computer science and electrical engineering education in schools, particularly in developing countries in a cost-effective way. The Pi has since exploded in popularity, appealing to DIY electronics and robotics enthusiasts, in addition to its original education use case.

Students and engineers around the world have built some awesome creative projects using the Raspberry Pi. Some of the best ones we've seen include a LEGO robot, a robot that can make you coffee, the "GameGirl", and a mini vintage Mac. Mashable's Stan Schroeder tried out a basic project and made a Metronome.

The new CM3 provides about twice the RAM and 10x the CPU performance of the original Compute Module. The CM3L allows users to connect an SD or eMMC card.

Image: raspberry pi foundation

The original Compute Module launched in April 2014 as an industrial companion to the Raspberry Pi, which is meant for personal use. The CM1 saw a lot of uptake from various markets, specifically in “IOT and home and factory automation”, the Foundation said. The original CM1 also saw an application in The UK’s first CubeSat, a miniature satellite. 

The Foundation will also release an updated version of its get-you-started breakout board, the Compute Module IO Board V3 (CMIO3). The board provides USB and HDMi connectors, so that along with the CM1, CM3 or CM3L it forms a complete system capable of booting Raspbian, the Foundation’s official supported operating system, or any other OS. 

As mentioned, the CM3 is available for $30 while the CM3 Lite is $25. The CM1 remains available for sale, now for $25. The CMIO3 is available for £96 or approximately $119. Users can buy single units, or batches of hundreds or thousands.