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RISC-V has specs to suit everything from microcontrollers through high performance multi-core server level machines. It's not realistic or a good idea to use id

by zik 2y ago

RISC-V has specs to suit everything from microcontrollers through high performance multi-core server level machines. It's not realistic or a good idea to use identical features for such different applications. For example a microcontroller can't be made economically with 64-bits, SIMD, quad-precision floating point, transactional memory and so on. So it makes sense to provide flexibility rather than locking in a single high-end feature set.

brucehoult 2y ago
Note that the $2.99 Milk-V Duo has two 64 bit CPUs, including one 1 GHz Linux capable core with MMU, FPU, and a 128 bit length-agnostic vector unit that supports 32 and 64 bit FP and 8, 16, 32, 64 bit integer. It also has 64 MB RAM. If you're talking microcontrollers at the level of the $0.10 CH32V003 then sure. https://arace.tech/products/milk-v-duo https://arace.tech/products/milk-v-duo
- zik 2y ago
  The CV1800B in the Milk-V Duo looks very cool - but it's not an MCU. According to the product page it actually even has an auxiliary MCU in it, in addition to its two high-performance processors.
  - brucehoult 2y ago
    It's a full-featured applications processor at MCU prices. Just compare it to the $23.80 Teensy 4.0 which has 1 MB RAM (vs 64 MB) and runs a Cortex M7 at 600 MHz. That is definitely an MCU. And, when it came out, very good value for money -- I love mine. But the $3 Duo blows it away in pretty much every way. If you want to talk about just the chip, the MIMXRT1062DVL6B in the Teensy goes for $14.48 qty 1, $9.17 qty 960. https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nxp-usa-inc/MIMXRT1062DVL6B/13635843 https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nxp-usa-inc/MIMXR... The CV1800B goes for $18 for 5 chips, $3.60 each. https://arace.tech/products/sophon-cv1800b-5pcs https://arace.tech/products/sophon-cv1800b-5pcs "can't be made economically with 64 bits [etc]". Yeah it can.

by zik 2y ago

brucehoult 2y ago

Note that the $2.99 Milk-V Duo has two 64 bit CPUs, including one 1 GHz Linux capable core with MMU, FPU, and a 128 bit length-agnostic vector unit that supports 32 and 64 bit FP and 8, 16, 32, 64 bit integer. It also has 64 MB RAM. If you're talking microcontrollers at the level of the $0.10 CH32V003 then sure. https://arace.tech/products/milk-v-duo https://arace.tech/products/milk-v-duo

zik 2y ago
The CV1800B in the Milk-V Duo looks very cool - but it's not an MCU. According to the product page it actually even has an auxiliary MCU in it, in addition to its two high-performance processors.
- brucehoult 2y ago
  It's a full-featured applications processor at MCU prices. Just compare it to the $23.80 Teensy 4.0 which has 1 MB RAM (vs 64 MB) and runs a Cortex M7 at 600 MHz. That is definitely an MCU. And, when it came out, very good value for money -- I love mine. But the $3 Duo blows it away in pretty much every way. If you want to talk about just the chip, the MIMXRT1062DVL6B in the Teensy goes for $14.48 qty 1, $9.17 qty 960. https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nxp-usa-inc/MIMXRT1062DVL6B/13635843 https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nxp-usa-inc/MIMXR... The CV1800B goes for $18 for 5 chips, $3.60 each. https://arace.tech/products/sophon-cv1800b-5pcs https://arace.tech/products/sophon-cv1800b-5pcs "can't be made economically with 64 bits [etc]". Yeah it can.