Computers · single-board computer
SpacemiT K3
Hacker Approved
Fast enough for everyday desktop use, with RVA23 vector support and strong multi-core speed. Critics say it costs too much for what it delivers.
Summarized from 34 comments.
Fast enough for everyday desktop use, with RVA23 vector support and strong multi-core speed. Critics say it costs too much for what it delivers.
- recommend
- 12
- criticize
- 2
- months recommended
- 8 of 13
Why people love it
Strong multi-core speed beats Pi · 5
It's quite pleasant, and if I use all 16 cores (8x X100 and 8x A100) then it builds a Linux kernel almost 3x faster than my one year old Milk-V Megrez
Feb 2026 · commentIt's quite pleasant, and if I use all 16 cores then it builds a Linux kernel almost 3x faster than my one year old Milk-V Megrez
Feb 2026 · commentIt has single core performance about the same as a Pi 4 but with multi-core performance of more than double the Pi 4.
Feb 2026 · commentRVA23 and SIMD vector support · 4
If you have a higher budget, I'd recommend the SpacemiT K3, which is the fist RISC-V SBC with RVA23 support.
Jul 2026 · commentSpacemiT K3 based machines are probably your best bet when it comes to RISC-V processors with SIMD support
Jul 2026 · commentThe SpaceMIT K3 is exciting because it may still be the first RVA23 hardware
Jan 2026 · commentFast enough for everyday computing · 4
These won't be the fastest CPUs available, but they'll meet the "fast enough" criteria for many uses and users.
Apr 2026 · commentThey are quite close in feel for general use, web browsing, code editing, watching YouTube etc.
May 2026 · commentdramatically faster than earlier chips, enough for most people's everyday computing needs
Mar 2026 · commentMuch faster than K1 predecessor · 2
in fact significantly faster than the previous generation K1 chip
Jun 2026 · commentThe SpacemiT K3 is 4 times faster than the K1 for example.
Aug 2026 · comment
What hackers pick instead
- Raspberry PiRecommended for its reliable long-term software support, huge community and flexibility as a small Linux box with GPIO, though critics say prices have climbed and performance-per-watt lags.425recommend
- Raspberry Pi ZeroPeople recommend it for low power draw, low cost, wifi, GPIO and a large body of online information. Critics point to limited I/O ports and scarce stock.77recommend
- NVIDIA JetsonRecommended for running AI models and robotics on a small, low-power board with strong GPU performance, though critics say software support is short and poorly maintained.28recommend
- Orange Pi 6 PlusPeople recommend it for strong multicore CPU performance, large RAM and fast I/O for an ARM board. Critics agree its driver and kernel support lags, so it suits SBC tinkerers.18recommend
- Raspberry Pi 2Long-lived board that people run unattended for years; the older model still gives good value, though one critic found it struggled with heavy workloads.12recommend
Every quote
The 29 most detailed of 34 comments. Each links to the original.
It's quite pleasant, and if I use all 16 cores (8x X100 and 8x A100) then it builds a Linux kernel almost 3x faster than my one year old Milk-V Megrez
Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Jupiter 2 – RVA23-compliant SBC features SpacemiT K3 octa-core RISC-V AI SoC”
It's quite pleasant, and if I use all 16 cores then it builds a Linux kernel almost 3x faster than my one year old Milk-V Megrez
Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “RISC-V is coming along quite speedily: Milk-V Titan Mini-ITX 8-core board”
It has single core performance about the same as a Pi 4 but with multi-core performance of more than double the Pi 4.
Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “RISC-V is coming along quite speedily: Milk-V Titan Mini-ITX 8-core board”
These won't be the fastest CPUs available, but they'll meet the "fast enough" criteria for many uses and users.
Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Proton Meet Isn't What They Told You It Was”
If you have a higher budget, I'd recommend the SpacemiT K3, which is the fist RISC-V SBC with RVA23 support.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “RISC-V Is Inevitable: State of the Union Keynote Argues”
SpacemiT K3 based machines are probably your best bet when it comes to RISC-V processors with SIMD support
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “RISC-V Is Inevitable: State of the Union Keynote Argues”
already faster than a Pi 4 and even substantially faster than a Pi 5 for multi-core and vector stuff
Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “A 3rd World Embedded Engineer Responds to "RISC-V They Should Have Known Better"”
They are quite close in feel for general use, web browsing, code editing, watching YouTube etc.
Mixed · May 2026 · in “RISC-V and Floating Point”
dramatically faster than earlier chips, enough for most people's everyday computing needs
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “The RISE RISC-V Runners: free, native RISC-V CI on GitHub”
The SpaceMIT K3 is exciting because it may still be the first RVA23 hardware
Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “RISC-V is coming along quite speedily: Milk-V Titan Mini-ITX 8-core board”
The K3 scores higher than a 2017 Macbook Air for multi-core on Geekbench 6.
Mixed · Feb 2026 · in “RISC-V is coming along quite speedily: Milk-V Titan Mini-ITX 8-core board”
seriously cool stuff coming like the SpacemiT K3 with 1024-bit vectors
Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “AVX2 is slower than SSE2-4.x under Windows ARM emulation”
in fact significantly faster than the previous generation K1 chip
Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “The MilkV Jupiter 2/SpacemiT K3 (RISC-V vector compute)”
The SpacemiT K3 is 4 times faster than the K1 for example.
Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “A 3rd World Embedded Engineer Responds to "RISC-V They Should Have Known Better"”
fast enough for everyday desktop use
Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “RISC-V Is Inevitable: State of the Union Keynote Argues”
It is one of the most interesting developments for me hardware wise in the last decade, and I definitely want to show my support by buying one or more of the boards.
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “RISC-V Is Sloooow”
That new SpacemiT K3 chip which started shipping last month is certainly impressive.
Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “"RISC-V Is Now" – RISC-V Summit Europe 2026 (YouTube) [video]”
If it were less expensive, the K3 would already be good enough for many people.
Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “The RISE RISC-V Runners: free, native RISC-V CI on GitHub”
We have one in house (as usual, cannot discuss benchmarks, but it's good)
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “RISC-V Is Sloooow”
Look up the fab process node and die area of that chip, and think again.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “RISC-V Is Inevitable: State of the Union Keynote Argues”
Even the SpacemiT K3 has better AI performance than an Apple Silicon M4.
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “RISC-V Is Sloooow”
even the K3 has faster AI than Apple Silicon or Qualcomm X Elite
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “RISC-V Is Sloooow”
SpacemiT K3 is about the same performance as a Rockchip RK3588
Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “RISC-V Is Sloooow”
You buy a https://www.spacemit.com/products/keystone/k3 board.
Recommends · May 2026 · in “RISC-V and Floating Point”
doing around 7 tok/s on 32B models while using 14W of power
Recommends · Jun 2026
It's an extra 40% of scalar processing power, for free.
Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “The MilkV Jupiter 2/SpacemiT K3 (RISC-V vector compute)”
on some things the K3 wins from having lots of cores
Mixed · May 2026 · in “Initial Benchmarks of the SpacemiT K3 RVA23 RISC-V CPU with the K3 Pico-ITX”
Kind of slow, but using only 14W of electricity
Mixed · Aug 2026 · in “Qwen3.8-Max: A New Bar for Coding and Cowork”
The SpacemiT K3 is faster than QEMU.
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “The RISE RISC-V Runners: free, native RISC-V CI on GitHub”
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