But most packages don't have as solid (or any) cross-build infrastructure as those projects.
I did some benchmarks on RISC-V Linux kernel builds (commit 7503345ac5f5, defconfig) this week. Native on SBCs, cross-build on a couple of x86, docker (qemu-user) on x86.
- 1m45s i9-13900HX cross-compile
- 4m29s Milk-V Pioneer (youtube video from 9 months ago .. close enough)
- 10m10s Ryzen 5 4500U (6 cores, Zen2) laptop cross-compile
- 22m48s RISC-V docker on 24 core i9-13900HX laptop
- 67m35s VisionFive 2 (4x U74)
- 88m4s Lichee Pi 4A (4x C910)
I need a figure for SpacemiT in BPI-F3 / Jupiter / LPi3A / DC-Roma II / MuseBook. I think it'll be more or less the same as the VF2.
My guess is the Milk-V Megrez (EIC7700X @1.8 GHz) might come in around 25 minutes, and this HiFive Premier (same Soc @1.4 GHz) 30 minutes.
So the P550 machines will probably be a little slower than qemu on the i9. Not a lot. But even the VF2 and LPi4A are going to be much faster than qemu on that 6 core Zen2 -- I haven't measured it, but I'm guessing around 130m.
So if you already have that high core count x86, maybe you don't need a P550 machine.
On the other hand it's good to verify on real hardware.
On the gripping hand, with a 16 GB Megrez costing $199 and my i9 costing $1600, if you want a build farm with 5 or 10 or 100 machines then the P550 is looking pretty good.
VF2 (or Mars) is still looking pretty good for price/performance. The problem there is that being limited to 8 GB RAM isn't good. That's not enough for example to do riscv-gnu-toolchain without swapping. That build is fine on my 16 GB LPi4A, but not my VF2.
16 GB or 32 GB on the P550 boards is much more robust.