In a notable step forward for the RISC-V architecture, the Box86 and Box64 emulator developers have successfully run The Witcher 3 on a RISC-V processor. While performance is far from optimal, even on a Milk-V Pioneer with a 64-core processor and an AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card, the achievement is remarkable.

RISC-V, a free and open-source instruction set architecture, is still in its early stages compared to established platforms like ARM and x86/x64. Despite this, the Box86/Box64 team, known for creating environments to run Windows programs on Linux, has demonstrated that AAA gaming is possible on RISC-V hardware. To accomplish this feat, the developers utilized Box64 with Wine and DXVK to emulate the necessary instructions.

Shenzhen based Milk-V has been busy announcing some very high performance RISC-V based platforms, and has now added another to a rapidly growing list. The Milk-V Mars is a new hobbiest grade RISC-V SBC that intentionally mimics the footprint and layout of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, so much so that existing cases and accessories will fit. The credit-card sized Mars packs a very competent array of features, starting with the StarFive JH7110 SoC. The JH7110 contains four 64-bit SiFive U74 RISC-V cores clocked as high as 1.5 GHz as well as an integrated Imagination Technologies IMG BXE-2-32 graphics engine with support for Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL ES 3.x, OpenCL 3.0, and Android NN HAL. This SoC should be the perfect choice for an SBC in this form factor, as it has proven to be on the similarly sized PINE64 Star64 as well as StarFive's VisionFive 2. Surrounding the SoC is a single LPDDR4 module, configurable at purchase up to 8 GB, the traditional 40-pin GPIO header row, a M.2 E-Key for WiFi/BT expansion, a MIPI display serial interface with 4K30 output and H.264/H.265 4K60 decoding, MIPI camera serial interface, HDMI, a USB-C for 5 V power input, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and finally the rear I/O block which consists of three USB 3.0 Type-A, a single USB 2.0 Type-A, and the RJ-45 for Gigabit Ethernet as well as PoE. Storage is expandable with both eMMC and microSD cards. The last tiny header is for powering a fan, which many R Pi cases opt to include, but is not included with the Mars. Availability of the Milk-V Mars is listed as "Coming Soon" and prices have not yet been announced. However to compete with the other options on the market we hope, and expect, that it does not exceed $75 USD. Unlike the Milk-V Pioneer there hasn't been any word on whether the Mars will be as open-source friendly, but it would behoove them to consider the option for this type of hobbyist oriented device.