Berkeley Out-of-Order Risc-V Processor (boom) (2020)
Posted2 months agoActive2 months ago
docs.boom-core.orgTechstory
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Risc-VProcessor DesignOpen-Source HardwareComputer Architecture
Key topics
Risc-V
Processor Design
Open-Source Hardware
Computer Architecture
The Berkeley Out-of-Order RISC-V Processor (Boom) is an open-source RISC-V processor design that has garnered interest and support from the tech community, with discussions highlighting its potential and technical details.
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Oct 29, 2025 at 8:33 AM EDT
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Oct 29, 2025 at 4:01 PM EDT
2 months ago
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I also want to be able to run it on a cheap FPGA, something like Artix A7.
I haven't tried any of them, though, so take this with a Himalayan salt lamp.
I've been meaning to update my toolbox to at least a pipelined processor of some sort (to up the IPC rate to at least 1), but so far just had no strong need. For applications that really need CPU power, I use SoC FPGAs like Zynq.
https://openhwfoundation.org/
Or because its part of OpenTitan, Ibex sees a lot of development: https://github.com/lowRISC/ibex
If you want something very tiny and completely understandable, and don't mind that it's 32 bit, then PicoRV32 (https://github.com/YosysHQ/picorv32).
this one is well tested in real life and works well (it is the RV core in RP2350)
XiangShan is currently the fastest open-source CPU implementation: https://github.com/OpenXiangShan/XiangShan
uarch slides: https://tutorial.xiangshan.cc/hpca25/slides/20250302-HPCA25-...
uarch slides with WIP features: https://tutorial.xiangshan.cc/micro25/slides/Microarchitectu...
Actually available for pre-order, take a look at the UltraRISC DP-1000 (unrelated to the chip above).
Many companies have production ready/fully verified IP that are much faster than XiangShan, but they haven't taped out and productized it yet.
E.g. Tenstorrent Ascalon IP is available and at 21 SPECint2006/GHz. They want to release a lower clocked devboard on TSMC 12nm in 2026 Q2.
XiangShan is currently at 15 SPECint2006/GHz, but are targeting 22 SPECint2006/GHz in the next iteration, that is currently in the works. Well have to see who gets there first.
The inherent gap between RTL design and final product may be large enough that open-source RTL can keep up in terms of IPC, if XiangShan continues their momentum. But I think open-source trailing 1-3 years is a more realistic long term outcome.
https://github.com/riscv-boom/riscv-boom
But this project seems to have stagnated with one significant commit in the last year.