At first glance, the HiFive Unmatched from SiFive looks like just another mini ITX computer motherboard. But rather than an x86 chip, this system is powered by RISC-V processor.
First introduced last fall, the board is aimed at developers rather than the general public, and with a $665 price tag, it’s a lot more expensive than some other RISC-V development boards. But the HiFive Unmatched is also one of the most powerful products in this emerging category to date, thanks to SiFive’s FU740 processor.
The HiFive Unmatched was originally scheduled to ship last year, but global chip and component shortages caused that date to slip a few times. Now SiFive says the computer is finally shipping.
Folks who have already pre-ordered from Crowd Supply or Mouser Electronics should receive their shipments by mid-June, while customers who buy one now will probably have to wait longer for orders to be filled.
At the heart of the SiFive HiFive Unmatched is the company’s FU740 system-on-a-chip which is a 64-bit processor with four SiFive U74 CPU cores and a single SiFive S7 embedded core. The system also has 16GB of DDR4 memory, a PCIe Gen3 slot, M.2 key slots for NVMe SSD storage and wireless cards, and four USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a microSD card reader and micro USB console port.
It’s compatible with GNU/Linux distributions including Debian, Fedora, and Yocto.
The board measures 170mm x 170mm (6.7″ x 6.7″) and should fit in any PC case designed for a mini-ITX motherboard. You can find documentation and more details at the HiFive Unmatched website.
