Researching the Sipeed Nano Cluster -

Over the weekend, I learned about the existence of the Sipeed Nano Cluster.

It’s a neat concept, and these are my notes on what I’ve learned so far.

NOTE: This is a collection of research notes. I do not actually own this hardware.

What Is It?

NanoCluster is an ultra-miniature cluster board developed by Sipeed, featuring 7 SOM slots interconnected
via a RISC-V-based Gigabit switch. It supports USB-C PD power supply and optional PoE expansion. Additionally,
NanoCluster provides independent UART and power control, making it an ideal entry-level platform for HomeLab
users exploring distributed computing, Kubernetes, Docker, and edge computing.

Holding a Nano Cluster

Use Case

I currently run a 3-node Proxmox cluster on older Intel NUCs. While I have no immediate plans or desire to replace that setup, I was curious how a Nano Cluster might stack up as a potential alternative or learning platform.

NOTE: I’m relatively new to Proxmox and learned during this research that Proxmox does not natively support ARM. However, there is a fork called Pimox. If I ever decide to pull the trigger on one of these setups, I’d likely give Pimox a try.

Observations & Learnings

One early observation is that most of the online material was produced while the Nano Cluster was still in pre-release. Based on the dates of the videos I watched, I suspect this device was released sometime in the second half of 2025, which makes it a relatively new product.

I also struggled a bit to understand the bare minimum parts required to get up and running. There are pre-made kits available on AliExpress, but AliExpress does a terrible job of clearly listing what’s included. I spent a large portion of my research time just figuring out what hardware is actually required to give this thing a test drive.

Cost

I’m not someone who goes top-end or maxes everything out—I tend to stick to the middle of the road. With that in mind, I wanted to understand what it might realistically cost to experiment with this setup.

As far as I can tell, there are only two places to buy this right now:

I’ve never used Taobao, and when I followed the link everything was in Chinese and required signing up—so that’s a hard pass for me. All cost analysis below is based solely on AliExpress pricing.

Packages

Buried under the Description tab (and presented as a non-searchable image) is a breakdown of the available packages:

Packages

Package	Price	Included	Not Included
Basic Package	$49.00	Dock Board Cooling system (fan) Case / shell	Power supply Compute modules
CM45 Package	$99.00	Dock Board Cooling system (fan) CM4 / CM5 adapters (carrier boards) Case / shell	Power supply Compute modules
7× LM3H Package	$299.00	Dock Board Cooling system (fan) 7× LM3H SOMs (4GB RAM + 32GB eMMC) Case / shell	Power supply CM4 / CM5 adapters (not needed for LM3H)
4× M4N Package	$699.00	Dock Board Cooling system (fan) 4× M4N SOMs + adapters (8GB RAM + 32GB eMMC) Case / shell	Power supply

Individual Components

Component	Price	Notes
USB-to-4-UART adapter cable	$5.00	Likely used for serial access and debugging; not strictly required for basic operation
65W USB-C PD power supply + cable	$15.00	Primary recommended power option
60W PoE power adapter	$20.00	Optional alternative power source if using PoE
LM3H SOM (4GB RAM + 32GB eMMC)	$35.00	RISC-V-based compute module
M4N SOM (8GB RAM + 32GB eMMC) + adapter	$164.00	Higher-end compute module; requires adapter

MVP

The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) appears to be:

Power supply
Dock Board
Cooling system / fan
1× LM3H (4GB RAM + 32GB eMMC)

It does not appear possible to buy the Dock Board on its own, so even if you already had a fan, there doesn’t seem to be a way to save a few dollars there. You can, however, bring your own power supply.

Item	QTY	Unit Cost
Basic Package	1	$49.00
LM3H 4+32	1	$35.00

Total		$84.00

So, excluding taxes and shipping, you could technically be up and running for $84.00. That said, this would give you a single node—which kind of defeats the purpose of a cluster. Still, it could be a low-cost way to get a feel for the platform before committing further.

MVP: Actual Cluster

A single-node setup isn’t very compelling, so let’s look at what it would cost to run a more reasonable 3-node cluster. Three nodes are generally considered the minimum for any quorum-based clustering solution. We’ll also assume we do not already have a compatible power supply.

Item	QTY	Unit Cost	Subtotal
Basic Package	1	$49.00	$49.00
LM3H 4+32	3	$35.00	$105.00
Power Supply	1	$15.00	$15.00

Total			$169.00

Pi 5 Cluster (Comparable)

For comparison, let’s look at a 3-node cluster based on Raspberry Pi 5 Compute Modules.

Pricing here uses the CM5104032, which includes 4GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC, roughly aligning it with the LM3H modules above.

Item	QTY	Unit Cost	Subtotal
CM45 Package	1	$99.00	$99.00
CM5 Module	3	$63.00	$189.00
Power Supply	1	$15.00	$15.00

Total			$303.00

Pi 5 Bare Bones

Sticking with Compute Module 5 for a moment, what if we choose the absolute lowest-end option: CM5002000, which has 2GB of RAM and no eMMC storage, relying instead on an SD card?

Item	QTY	Unit Cost	Subtotal
CM45 Package	1	$99.00	$99.00
CM5 Module	3	$45.00	$135.00
Power Supply	1	$15.00	$15.00

Total			$249.00

It’s not entirely clear what you’d realistically run on a cluster with only 2GB per node. To be fair, this compute module is likely intended for smaller IoT-style projects—but, at least in theory, it is an option.

Conclusion

While this is a neat little setup, I don’t think I’ll be pulling the trigger on it.

If I were to do it, I’d likely go with the LM3H 4GB + 32GB configuration—but not as a pre-built package.

The package pricing feels odd to me. The 7× LM3H package is listed at $299.00 and includes:

The base dock ($49.00)
7× LM3H modules at $35.00 each ($245.00)

That totals $294.00, which is actually $5.00 cheaper than the package price.

Given this, there’s very little incentive to buy the bundle. If I were going to try this out, I’d buy the Basic Package for the dock and then add three LM3H modules. If I liked it and wanted to expand later, I’d buy four more LM3Hs.

Yes, that means paying shipping twice, and I’d probably end up spending a little more overall if I expanded to all seven nodes—but that feels like a reasonable hedge against paying an extra $140 up front for hardware I don’t yet have a solid use case for.

References