# Homebrew computer using RISC-V CPU? **URL:** \ **Category:** RISC-V\ **Created:** [November 4, 2017, 9:38am UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856 "2017-11-04T09:38:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![whm1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@whm1974](https://forums.sifive.com/u/whm1974)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 9:38am UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/1 "2017-11-04T09:38:34Z")
Hello guys, I’m new and I’ve been keeping track of RISC-V since I heard of it last year or the year before. Now as far I as I can tell SiFive is the only company that has RISC-V hardware available for sell, and I’m wondering when the U54-MC CPUs will be available. At this stage is it possible to build a Homebrew personal computer around RISC-V hardware. The free and open nature of RISC-V highly appeals to me as I’m a Linux user who no longer even uses Windows anymore. Thanks for any answers . ---
**Author:** ![brucehoult](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.sifive.com/brucehoult/32/24_2.png) [@brucehoult](https://forums.sifive.com/u/brucehoult)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 10:20am UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/2 "2017-11-04T10:20:50Z")
SiFive have said 1st quarter 2018 for the U54-MC. With 1.5 GHz quad core that will be quite a usable PC. Hopefully it will be closer to an Odroid C2 than to a Raspberry Pi in performance. For the moment if you want to run a real OS then you’re limited to a soft core in an FPGA and maybe 100 MHz. I’m old enough to remember when I’d have thought that was a pretty good PC, but it would be a bit painful running a web browser these days. It’s also going to cost a lot more than an ARM or x86 based machine. The question of GPU also hasn’t been addressed. Those are fairly vital to the experienced performance of PCs these days. ---
**Author:** ![whm1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@whm1974](https://forums.sifive.com/u/whm1974)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 11:28am UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/3 "2017-11-04T11:28:37Z")
Thanks, I was wondering about what GPUs were being looked at. Are there any free and open GPUs in development even on “paper”? If U54-MC boards are available with PCIe x16 slots I supposed we could use AMD Radon Rx 550 GPUs and higher since they have FOSS drivers available to examine. BTW I’ve been building my own x86 computers since late 2000. ---
**Author:** ![brucehoult](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.sifive.com/brucehoult/32/24_2.png) [@brucehoult](https://forums.sifive.com/u/brucehoult)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 12:17pm UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/4 "2017-11-04T12:17:31Z")
What do you define as “building”? With all my x86 desktops since whenever the Athlon “Thunderbird” came out, which was … yeah … 2000, I’ve “build” them myself, defined as: pick a CPU, ATX motherboard with the same socket, RAM to fit the MB, disk with appropriate IDE/SATA/M.2 interface to suit the motherboard, case, power supply … and plugged it all together. A process taking an hour maybe. In 1983 two friends and I built a 6809 computer by buying a 6809, some RAM chips, a ROM chip, some TTL logic chips, and we figured out which pins to connect to which pins and we wire-wrapped the whole thing. I was particularly proud of the clock circuit I designed which ran at 1 MHz while accessing the UART, at 2 MHz while accessing the RAM, and at 1,33 MHz (500 ns high, 250 ns low) when accessing the ROM as I noticed that although it was spec’d as 1 MHz it was only actually one half of the cycle that was critical. We also wrote our own OS and compiler back end (from BCPL ocode). There is quite a difference between the two versions of “building a computer”! ---
**Author:** ![whm1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@whm1974](https://forums.sifive.com/u/whm1974)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 12:36pm UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/5 "2017-11-04T12:36:00Z")
At the moment assembling out of already made parts, although I well aware such parts for RISC-V will be not available for awhile yet. ---
**Author:** ![dgrubb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.sifive.com/dgrubb/32/23_2.png) [@dgrubb](https://forums.sifive.com/u/dgrubb)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/6 "2017-11-04T16:44:39Z")
> [@brucehoult](#): > > There is quite a difference between the two versions of “building a computer”! If you want to spend an interesting hour on Hackday it’s [practically a sub-culture unto itself](https://hackaday.com/?s=homebrew+computer). ---
**Author:** ![whm1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@whm1974](https://forums.sifive.com/u/whm1974)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/7 "2017-11-04T16:59:48Z")
Thanks I’ll look into that. ---
**Author:** ![whm1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@whm1974](https://forums.sifive.com/u/whm1974)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 10:18am UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/8 "2017-11-05T10:18:43Z")
Thanks again guys. I just got started with learning C yesterday using this book on [Wikibooks.org](http://Wikibooks.org) [https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C\_Programming](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C_Programming) I figure that even if I don’t do any sort of programming, I can at least learn how to compile source code and help with bringing over more Linux distros for RISC-V such as Arch Linux and Manjaro Linux once RiSC-V hardware is available. ---
**Author:** ![dgrubb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.sifive.com/dgrubb/32/23_2.png) [@dgrubb](https://forums.sifive.com/u/dgrubb)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/9 "2017-11-05T21:52:15Z")
Worthy aspirations, good luck! ---
**Author:** ![whm1974](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@whm1974](https://forums.sifive.com/u/whm1974)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://forums.sifive.com/t/homebrew-computer-using-risc-v-cpu/856/10 "2017-11-06T20:41:34Z")
Thanks I found learning C and using GCC to compile the source files to be easier then I expected once I found a good tutorial herer: > **[C Tutorial - Learn C Programming](https://www.w3schools.in/c-tutorial/)** > > C Tutorial - C is the most popular and widely used programming language. This C tutorial series will help you to start learning the C programming language. The hardest part was simply getting started and sticking with it. On the plus side, I also getting better at using the CLI as well.