News RISC-V CPU demoed with RX 7900 XTX GPU in Debian Linux — AMD flagship GPU paired with Milk-V Megrez board and SiFive P550 cores

[Admin]

RISC-V firm Milk-V demonstrated that it can get AMD’s RX 7900 XTX graphics card to work on one of its RISC-V boards.

RISC-V CPU demoed with RX 7900 XTX GPU in Debian Linux — AMD flagship GPU paired with Milk-V Megrez board and SiFive P550 cores : Read more

 

[brucehoult]

> The P550 core has been around since 2021, so it’s nothing cutting-edge at the tail end of 2024.

What a stupid comment! Announced in June 2021, the P550 is the newest and most powerful RISC-V CPU core available in a product you can buy today.

Of course we are hoping that the P670, announced 1 November 2022, will make it into something you can buy in the next 6 to 12 months, though Sophgo's SG2380 has reportedly hit sanctions-related snags.

Three to four years from announcement of a core until its availability in cheap SBCs is the normal standard.

That's how long the A53 took to get into the Pi 3 and Odroid C2. That's how long the A72 took to get into the Pi 4. That's how long the A76 took to get into the Rock 5. That's how long the U74 and C910 took to get into the VisionFive 2 and LicheePi 4A (JH7110 and TH1520 SoCs), both released in 2023.

Limited volume and more expensive manufacturer's dev boards can be available a year or two earlier, using "shuttle run" (MPW) test chips.

 

[erazog]

Windows is not a requirement for mainstream adoption. The Steam Deck though targeting a specific market is proof of that. There are also Linux PC makers likes Tuxedo and System76.

The problem is that most of the Linux distros are far too nerdy for mainstream users, even Ubuntu which brands itself as Linux for regular people. The distros which try to be more friendly have no corporate backing so aren't a popular choice to ship on a system out of the box.

PC makers want a company that does support/testing etc. which is why Valve, Tuxedo etc all have their own inhouse distro, that's the main problem with Linux distros, there is no equivalent to Microsoft the company.

RISC-V is quite different from x86/Arm even if Windows was running on it without native software the performance could be terrible, the developer of Linux translation layer FEX-Emu has mentioned that x86 does not map well to RISC-V.

 

[bit_user]

Although no RISC-V CPU is in a position to realistically take advantage of support for AMD’s flagship gaming CPU, the support’s existence certainly won’t hurt.

The main point is for it to support any dGPU, as the one incorporated in the SoC is likely Imagination and the state of their drivers usually isn't good.

The fact that they demonstrated it with a flagship dGPU was probably just to grab headlines. Real world developers are more likely to use something cheap and low power, like a RX 6400.

SoC specs:

• https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/0...-95-tops-npu-for-edge-ai-vision-applications/
• https://www.eswincomputing.com/en/bocupload/2024/06/19/17187920991529ene8q.pdf

As far as boards go, I'd rather have one of these (which uses the same SoC):

https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-premier-p550
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It's interesting that they stipulate an AMD dGPU is required for display output, apparently confirming the iGPU isn't properly supported.

 

[bit_user]

Windows is not a requirement for mainstream adoption.

Yeah, I think first class Android and ChromeOS support will be more consequential.