In today’s tech world, we often hear about powerful GPUs dominating the landscape, but what about the unsung heroes of computing—the co-processors? Innovator [bitluni] has resurrected this concept with a jaw-dropping creation: a 160-core RISC V supercluster packed onto a single M.2 board, all shared on GitHub!

Now, hold on—before you dismiss it as just another run-of-the-mill processor, let’s talk specs. Each of these cores, powered by the CH32V003, operates at a modest 48 MHz. While this might not sound groundbreaking today, when you combine 160 cores, you’re tapping into the potential of a mini supercomputer that could easily measure up to the tech of the mid-80s!

What’s particularly exciting is how [bitluni] has put this powerhouse to the test. He opted for a raymarcher demonstration—a stunning visual performance, albeit not set to dethrone RTX anytime soon. It’s more of a showcase of the power hidden within these tiny cores!

In comparison to his previous M.2 venture, an LED matrix, this cluster boasts communication via PCIe using a WCH CH382 serial interface. Unfortunately, the glory of blinkenlights is trade-off; prototype issues with power delivery meant those flashy visuals had to be shelved to ensure the cores perform optimally instead.

Yet, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. The current setup reveals a significant bottleneck: the cluster's ability to process data far outpaces its communication speed. It seems the software isn’t fully exploiting the CH382’s bandwidth just yet. But fear not! [bitluni] has plenty of compute-heavy, low-bandwidth tasks up his sleeve, and with his experience in RISC V microcontroller clusters, the possibilities are endless!

In summary, this innovative M.2 co-processor isn’t just a curiosity; it’s a peek into what the future holds for parallel computing. Who knows? This might just be the revival of the co-processor world we didn’t know we missed!