Yup, the CPUs are around half the speed of those in a Pi4, and around the same or a bit better than a Pi3. The RAM is much bigger and better than a Pi3 (16 GB of DDR4), and also bigger than the biggest Pi4. You can run a real GPU in the PCIe slot and a fast SSD in the M.2, so things that use a lot of I/O rather than CPU tend to be pretty snappy. The gig Ethernet also works well. So does ethernet on the Pi4, but Pi3 is a bit lacking.

RISC-V CPU cores equivalent to the Pi4 were announced around 1.75 years ago and the way these things go are probably getting to the stage of working test chips right about now, and boards in the first half of next year.

Obviously the price is much higher than a Pi, bit it's not out of line with x86 PCs (just a low slower). If you're actually working professionally on RISC-V software then the HiFive Unmatched is affordable, and enough more productive than the current alternatives to be worth it.

Later in the year, the BeagleBoard BeagleV "StarLight" will have the same CPU specs as the HiFive Unmatched for $120 (4 GB RAM) to $150 (8 Gb RAM). That's still above Pi prices, but much closer. It will have I/O closer to Pi specs than PC specs.

RISC-V is still in its infancy, but progress is rapid.