Really great! RISC-V is one of the most interesting things going on in CPU architecture right now -- right up there with Intel's MIC architecture (Xeon Phi) and the Mill CPU architecture -- not so much because its novel, but because its free and because its a clean, modern design (not encumbered by the past's poor ideas. Delay slots anyone?) and designed for extensibility.
As a next step, I'd really love to see them seed the Maker/Startup community and kickstart software ports by getting a basic hard SOC in production (4C+GPU+basic audio interface, no ISA extensions, or accelerators) and put it on something like a raspberry Pi or BeagleBone -- maybe with a small FPGA area to prototype extensions (this would surely raise costs, but would also make this hard SOC a viable product beyond this board.) Maybe a smaller version with the Freedom Everywhere SOC design, on something more akin to an Arduino too.
RISC-V's momentum is absolutely fascinating to watch.
Google is apparently porting a lot of Linux tools and its own internal tools to RISC-V, they are very bullish on it (they don't want Android to be at the mercy if ARM)
RISC-V workshops are attracting ever more growing number of people from big industry heavyweights as well as academic researchers.
There is also the lowRISC project, a not-for-profit which is designing an open source Linux capable SoC based on RISC-V ISA, they aim to finish their design this year.
From a commercial point of view, I think products are still 2-3 years away, but this is absolutely fascinating and one thing to keep a close eye on going forward.
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Eden-K121D - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
Great news!tat tvam asi - Tuesday, July 19, 2016 - link
Not so great news for ARM/Soft Bank. Nor for Intel.AMD will do well to jump on this bandwagon.
powerarmour - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
What happened to all the new GPU reviews?tsk2k - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
Show yourself out.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, July 19, 2016 - link
Because he expects anandtech to deliver on it's promise?fanofanand - Tuesday, July 19, 2016 - link
Not to worry, Ryan promised us 2 weeks ago that it was "just about finished". By 2017 you will know just how great or not great the GTX 1080/1070 is!prisonerX - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
They attract the wrong sort of crowd.ravyne - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
Really great! RISC-V is one of the most interesting things going on in CPU architecture right now -- right up there with Intel's MIC architecture (Xeon Phi) and the Mill CPU architecture -- not so much because its novel, but because its free and because its a clean, modern design (not encumbered by the past's poor ideas. Delay slots anyone?) and designed for extensibility.As a next step, I'd really love to see them seed the Maker/Startup community and kickstart software ports by getting a basic hard SOC in production (4C+GPU+basic audio interface, no ISA extensions, or accelerators) and put it on something like a raspberry Pi or BeagleBone -- maybe with a small FPGA area to prototype extensions (this would surely raise costs, but would also make this hard SOC a viable product beyond this board.) Maybe a smaller version with the Freedom Everywhere SOC design, on something more akin to an Arduino too.
aryonoco - Tuesday, July 19, 2016 - link
RISC-V's momentum is absolutely fascinating to watch.Google is apparently porting a lot of Linux tools and its own internal tools to RISC-V, they are very bullish on it (they don't want Android to be at the mercy if ARM)
RISC-V workshops are attracting ever more growing number of people from big industry heavyweights as well as academic researchers.
There is also the lowRISC project, a not-for-profit which is designing an open source Linux capable SoC based on RISC-V ISA, they aim to finish their design this year.
From a commercial point of view, I think products are still 2-3 years away, but this is absolutely fascinating and one thing to keep a close eye on going forward.
MaxWatts - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
That's exciting!