# NEC V20 9 Hacker News commenters recommended NEC V20 and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months. **Verdict:** A faster replacement for the IBM 8088 that keeps compatibility while boosting performance, though one tester saw no difference in real applications. ## Why people recommend it - Faster than the 8088 (5 comments): "It's a better 8088 that maintains compatibility while increasing performance" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45953964)) "NEC V20/V30 improved by almost 2x to 8 cycles/byte V20 or unaligned V30" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46260484)) "instant 20% speed boost replacing the IBM 8088 with the v20 chip" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46378685)) - Easy drop-in upgrade for XT (3 comments): "instant 20% speed boost replacing the IBM 8088 with the v20 chip" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46378685)) "a nice little upgrade for an XT" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49798726)) "instant speed boost for IBM PC" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49602911)) - Reliable in use (2 comments): "Never had a problem, except for formatting floppies." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45947504)) "It worked well. I used a few V20 and V30 PCs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49799705)) ## What people warn about - Confusing chip naming scheme (1 comments): "If anybody's interested in the V20 from a programming perspective, The User's Manual from NEC is here" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49603529)) - No gain in some applications (1 comments): "I never saw a difference for any real application that I tested" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49603442)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [MOS 6502](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mos-6502.md): 28 recommend - [Zilog Z80](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zilog-z80.md): 21 recommend - [Motorola 68000](https://hackerapproved.com/p/motorola-68000.md): 17 recommend ## Where to get it - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=NEC+V20+processor+chip&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "NEC V20", https://hackerapproved.com/p/nec-v20/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).