undefined | Better HN

0 pointsJoachimSchipper9y ago0 comments

I'm also doing embedded work, but I don't really see - or expect - performance from the RISC-V cores above similar CPU designs that consume about the same area/gate-equivalents; did I miss some recent results?

Of course, freely-available and well-supported CPU IP can be very cool!

0 comments

2 comments · 2 top-level

joezydeco9y ago

Embedded designer here. Came to say RISC-V as well, but not because of performance. It will be because of price.

A significant hunk of a Cortex-M die is the ARM licensing fee. If we can drop that? That would be an order of magnitude of savings on my BOM.

1 more reply

phkahler9y ago

Here, see slides 24, 43, 44 in particular. RISC-V cores run about half the area and power of the competition.

https://riscv.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Wed1345-RISCV-W...

The SiFive chip is >300MHz on a 180nm process, but the higher end rise-v chips while having competitive perf/clock still have lower clock speeds than the big guys. That is probably just a matter of time though.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse