"The HiFive Unleashed has a companion Expansion Board from Microsemi which features a mating connector, Polarfire FPGA and a bunch of peripheral I/O."

"For developers, this looks to be an ideal solution for application design, testing, and implementation."

"Microsemi and SiFive Launch HiFive Unleashed Expansion Board, Enabling Linux Software and Firmware Developers to Build RISC-V PCs for the First Time"

"The HiFive Unleashed Expansion Board allows developers to implement custom peripherals in the on-board PolarFire field programmable gate array (FPGA)."

"The HiFive Unleashed Expansion Board and HiFive Unleashed allow designers to develop complete Linux applications on a modern RISC-V CPU running at 1 GHz+."

"For the architecture to really take off, it’s products like these that are required, products that encourage and simply software development."

"The PCIe support makes it easier to build a fully configured RISC-V PC, such as a 'Linux development workstation"

At its core, the HiFive Unleashed Expansion Board adds PCIe root port capability to the HiFive Unleashed board, enabling you to create a RISC-V PC. Use it to add HDD’s, SSDs, audio cards, network adapters, and/or graphics cards. You can port your linux distro to this platform along with all of your favorite packages. Accelerate software development with an out-of-the-box solution.

Features and Specifications

The board is 10.7" long by 4.62" wide. It comes with a power supply, USB cable, and a FlashPro4 FPGA programmer.

The board comes pre-programmed with a chiplink to PCIe Root Port bridge enabling easy connectivity to PCIe add in cards. The board also has additional expansion capabilities for bit streams yet to come.

300K logic element, low power PolarFire FPGA

24 lane PCIe Switch

x1 PCI Express card connector

x16 PCI Express card connector with four lanes of PCIe gen2 connected

SSD M.2 connector

SATA connector

HDMI connector

eMMC Nand Flash

uSD card slot

USB to Uart bridges

4 Gbit DDR4 x16

SPI Flash for remote FPGA updates, QSPI Flash connected to GPIO

Two CAN transceivers

FMC connection to HFU540-4A00 kit

FPGA Design Software

Included with the purchase of the kit is a free, one year Libero GOLD License ($995 value). Initially, the kit will include only a fixed bitstream that can enable a PCIe Root Complex. In the future, we will open up the kit to other solutions. At that time, developers can take advantage of the Libero license. Sign up for updates to stay informed.

Block Diagram

As you can see from the block diagram, there is more to this board than just adding PCIe to the [HiFive Unleashed Board] (https://www.crowdsupply.com/sifive/hifive-unleashed). Sign up to be notified of future FPGA bitstream upgrades that enable more functionality for you.

Use Cases

Build a RISC-V PC

Add a graphics card, an HDD, and/or a PCIe USB card for keyboard and mouse

Use as a linux development workstation

Port your favorite packages

Board Dimensions

The board measures approximately 10.7” x 4.62.”

Board Layout

Here’s a cool picture of the layout. Connect an M.2 SSD drive on the backside for fast storage.

HiFive Unleashed Expansion connected to the HiFive Unleashed board

All together now!

Getting Started

Find a getting started guide, schematics, and FPGA bitstreams on the product page.

Community Support

Get support from the SiFive support forums.

Manufacturing Plan

The HiFive Unleashed Expansion Boards will be manufactured by Pactron Incorporated in Santa Clara California.

Shipping & Fulfillment

The boards will be shipped by the Crowd Supply team from Portland, Oregon. To learn more about ordering, paying and shipping, please review the Crowd Supply Guide.