RISC-V SoCs and SBCs

March 7, 2023    Article    1588 words    8 mins read

RISC-V is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on established RISC principles. Unlike most other ISA designs, RISC-V is provided under open source licenses that do not require fees to use. A number of companies are offering or have announced RISC-V hardware, open source operating systems with RISC-V support are available, and the instruction set is supported in several popular software toolchains.

Below is a small list of some of the most important RISC-V SoCs (System on a Chip) and their development boards. I chose not to list the prices of the SBCs (Single-Board Computer) because they shift quite a bit depending on availability, location and the current Moon period.

StarFive JH7110

JH7110 is equipped with a 64-bit high-performance quad-core RISC-V processor core sharing 2 MB of cache coherency, whose working frequency is 1.5 GHz. JH7110 has a rich high-speed native interface, supports the Linux operating system, and has powerful image and video processing system. The StarFive ISP is compatible with mainstream camera sensors, built-in image/video processing subsystem supports H.264/H.265/JPEG codec. The integrated GPU makes its image processing capabilities stronger, such as 3D rendering. With high-performance, OpenCL/OpenGL ES/Vulkan support, JH7110 can further enhance intelligence and efficiency. JH7110 can complete a variety of complex image/video processing and intelligent visual calculations. Also, it meets multiple visual real-time processing requirements at the edge. source

  • manual
  • four RV64GC SiFive U74 application cores, one RV64IMAC SiFive S7 monitor core and one RV32IMFC SiFive E24.
  • 1.5GHz
  • 28nm

Boards

  • VisionFive 2: High-performance quad-core RISC-V single board computer (SBC) with an integrated 3D GPU, 2G/4G/8G LPDDR.
  • Pine64 STAR64: RISC-V based Single Board Computer powered by StarFive JH7110 Quad-Core SiFive U74 64-Bit CPU, Imagination Technology BX-4-32 GPU and supports up to 8GB 1866MHz LPDDR4 memory. It provides an eMMC module socket, MicroSD Card slot, PCI-e, Pi-2 Bus, USB 3.0, and many other peripheral interfaces for makers to integrate with sensors and other devices.

StarFive JH7100

Equipped with dual-core U74, JH7100 shares 2MB of L2 cache and supports Linux OS. The StarFive ISP is compatible with mainstream camera sensors and the built-in image/video processing subsystem supports H265/H264/JPEG codec. With high-performance, low-power Vision DSP and NNE integrated, JH7100 will make thinking more intelligent and efficient. JH7100 can meet the various real-time visual processing needs of the edge end thanks to the capabilities of various complex image/video processing and intelligent visual calculations. source

  • datasheet
  • two RV64GC SiFive U74 application cores and one RV32IMAFC SiFive E24.
  • 1.2GHz
  • 28nm

Boards

  • VisionFive 1: VisionFive is the world’s first generation of affordable RISC-V boards designed to run Linux. Based on the RISC-V architecture, VisionFive pushes open-source to the next level and gives developers more freedom and power to innovate and design industry-leading solutions.

T-Head C910 ICE

ICE is a XuanTie C910 based high performance SoC board developed by T-Head. The ICE SoC has integrated 3 XuanTie C910 cores (RISC-V 64) and 1 GPU core; featuring speed and intelligence with a high cost-effective ratio. The chip can provide 4K@60 HEVC/AVC/JPEG decoding ability, and varieties of high-speed interfaces and peripherals for controlling and data exchange; suits for 3D graphics, visual AI and multimedia processing. source

  • datasheet
  • two RV64GC T-Head C910 application cores and one T-Head C910 RV64GCV core.
  • 1.2GHz
  • 28nm

Boards

  • T-head RVB-ICE: Development board based on ICE. It is equipped with 7-inch LCD touch screen, integrates WIFI and GMAC network communication interface, has 16GB EMMC memory, and supports interfaces such as Bluetooth kevboard and mouse.

Allwinner D1-H

D1-H is Allwinner’s first SoC based on the RISC-V ISA. It integrates the 64-bit C906 core of Ali T-Head, supports RVV, 1GHz frequency, and supports Linux, RTOS and other systems. At the same time, it supports up to 4K H.265/H.264 decoding, a built-in HiFi4 DSP, and an external connection of up to 2GB DDR3, which can be used in many fields like smart cars, HMI, Smart home, education, etc. source

Boards

  • Allwinner Nezha: Nezha is a AIoT development board customized by AWOL based on Allwinner’s D1-H chip. It is the world’s first mass-produced development board that supports 64bit RISC-V instruction set and Linux system.

  • SiPeed Lichee RV: Lichee RV - Nezha CM is a compute module with modular design, equipped with Allwinner D1 chip (based on T-Head XuanTie C906 core), 512MB DDR3 RAM. It can boot from TF card or SD-NAND, uses two sets of M.2 b key 67 pin connectors to route all IO, making it convient for wide use and easy to replace.

Kendryte K210

K210 is the most powerful edge computing chip, designs for both visual and semantic recognition, widely used in various scenarios. source

  • datasheet
  • two RV64GC application cores.
  • 400MHz
  • 28nm

Boards

  • SiPeed M1, M1w, M1n and MF0: These four modules are based on Canaan Kanzhi Technology’s edge intelligent computing chip K210 (RISC-V architecture). The main control chip has a built-in 64-bit dual-core high-performance low-power processor, each core has a floating-point unit (FPU), a convolutional artificial neural network intelligent hardware accelerator (KPU) and a fast Fourier transform accelerator (FFT) , Equipped with Field Programmable IO Array (FPIOA), supports a variety of mainstream AI programming frameworks.

Kendryte K510

The Kendryte K510 chip is a mid-to-high-end edge inference chip that is equipped with an upgraded version of the independently developed IP core KPU2.0. Adopting a unique computing data stream and multiplexing method, the K510 is able to triple its computing power, while reducing power consumption. It integrates a next generation image processor that supports 2D/3D noise reduction, WDR wide dynamic, fisheye correction and hardware 3A functions. The K510 supports a wide variety of applications at the edge including high-definition video conferencing, high-definition aerial photography, and robotics. source

  • datasheet
  • two RV64GC application cores and one RV64GC core with DSP extensions.
  • 800MHz

Boards

  • Kendryte K510 CRB-KIT: Kendryte K510 CRB-KIT developer kit is manufactured based on K510-CORE core board module, equipped with high-precision reasoning AI chip and is rich in peripheral interfaces. These features help customers shorten their product design process to accelerate prototyping. Designed for early stage product design software development, AI algorithm testing and verification, as well as the development of educational applications.

SiFive FU740

The FU740-C000 is a Linux-capable SoC powered by SiFive’s U74-MC, the world’s first com- mercially available superscalar heterogeneous multi-core RISC-V Core Complex. The FU740-C000 is built around the U7 Core Complex, configured with 4xU74 cores and 1xS7 cores integrated with a high speed DDR4 memory controller, PCIe Gen3 X8 PCIe and standard peripherals. The FU740-C000 is compatible with all applicable RISC‐V standards, and this document should be read together with the official RISC‐V user-level, privileged, and external debug architecture specifications. source

  • user manual
  • four RV64GC SFive U74 application cores and one RV64IMAC SiFive S71 monitor core.
  • 1.2GHz
  • 28nm

Boards

  • HiFive Unmatched: The HiFive Unmatched from SiFive ushers in a new era of RISC-V Linux development platform in a PC form factor. Powered by the SiFive Freedom U740 RISC-V SoC and targeted for creating RISC-V applications, the platform features 16 GB of 64-bit DDR4 memory operating at 2400 MT/s, high-speed interconnects with PCIe Gen 3 x8 operating at 7.8 GB/s, Gigabit Ethernet, and USB 3.2 Gen 1. Software development is supported with Freedom U-SDK from SiFive, which provides a fast and convenient software environment to quickly build and modify a custom Linux distribution for this RISC-V PC.

SiFive FU540

The FU540-C000 is the world’s first 4+1 64-bit RISC‐V SoC, capable of supporting full-featured operating systems, such as Linux. It is the basis for the HiFive Unleashed Development Plat- form for the Freedom U500 family. The FU540-C000 is built around the U54-MC Core Complex instantiated in the Freedom U500 platform and fabricated on TSMC 28HPC 28 nm process. This manual describes the specific configuration for the FU540-C000. The FU540-C000 is compatible with all applicable RISC‐V standards, and this document should be read together with the official RISC‐V user-level, privileged, and external debug architecture specifications. source

  • manual
  • four RV64GC SiFive U54 application cores and one RV64IMAC SiFive E51.
  • 1.5GHz
  • 28nm

Boards

  • HiFive Unleashed: Featuring the Freedom U540 (FU540) SoC, the world’s first Linux-capable, multi-core, RISC-V processor, this developer board marks a brand-new era for RISC-V software - the beginning of support for rich operating systems. With 3 execution modes (Machine, Supervisor, User), Sv39 Virtual Memory, 8GB of DDR4, Gigabit Ethernet, and a ChipLink expansion port, modern operating systems have an ideal RISC-V target. A 5th core (monitor core) is also available for real time applications. SiFive Mix+Match technology offers a potent combination of application and real-time processing.The SiFive Essential S51 (RV64IMAC) can service auxiliary functions and cooperate with the SiFive Essential U54-MC cluster, making this an ideal heterogeneous software development platform where Linux and an RTOS can co-exist

Bouffalo Lab BL808

BL808 series chips mainly include wireless and multimedia subsystems. With one RISC-V 32-bit high-performance CPU and Wi-Fi/BT/Zigbee, the wireless subsystem supports wireless connection and data transmission in multiple ways, creating diversified experience. With one RISC-V 64-bit ultra-high performance CPU and DVP/CSI/H264/NPU, the multimedia subsystem can be widely used in AI fields like video surveillance and smart speakers. source

  • datasheet
  • manual
  • one RV64IMAFCV T-Head C906 application core, one RV32IMAFCP T-Head E907 and one RV32 T-Head E902.
  • 480MHz/320MHz/150MHz (each of the cores)
  • 28nm

Boards

  • Pine64 Ox64: The Ox64 is a RISC-V based Single Board Computer powered by Bouffalo Lab BL808 C906 64-Bit RISC-V CPU, 32-Bit CPU, embedded 64MB PSRAM memory and build-on 3 radio RF (Wifi, BT, Zigbee). It provides breadboard friendly form factor, MicroSD Card slot, USB 2.0, and many other peripheral interfaces for makers to integrate with sensors and other devices.

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created March 7, 2023

words 1588

tags #hardware, #risc-v

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