Gemini 4 Argon vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Gemini 4 Argon took 13 min 43 s and $0.68 at list price, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) took 77 min 11 s and $1.20 at list price. Qwen3.8 Max (0902) took 5.6× as long and cost 1.8× as much.
Gemini 4 Argon
Google · $10.00/M out · 2,036 HN pts
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Alibaba · $6.00/M out · 3 HN pts
Pelican
Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle
Watch
Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.
Landing
Build the landing page for Lumen Cycles, a Copenhagen workshop that builds custom cargo bikes to order. Make it look like a real brand you would trust with 4,000 euros.
Breakout
Make a Breakout game I can play right now with the keyboard or the mouse. Give it several levels, a score and some juice.
Logo
Design a logo for Night Heron, an independent bookshop that only opens after dark.
About
Write the opening of the About us page for Patchbay, a three-person studio in Rotterdam that repairs vintage synthesizers. About 150 words.
In a quiet industrial building overlooking the Maas, the air smells of warm dust, solder flux, and ozone. This is Patchbay, a three-person workshop in Rotterdam dedicated to keeping the golden age of electronic music alive. We don’t view vintage synthesizers as museum pieces to be locked behind glass. To us, a Roland Jupiter-8 or an ARP Odyssey is a living, breathing instrument meant to be played, gigged, and pushed to its sonic limits.
Between the three of us, we have spent decades deciphering faded schematics, hunting down obsolete transistors, and cleaning decades of club grime from beneath weighted keys. Rotterdam is a city built on raw electronics and relentless rhythms, and we take pride in keeping its hardware running. Whether you bring us a touring workhorse with a dead voice chip or a garage-find modular rig that hasn’t powered on since 1984, we are here to make it sing again.
Patchbay is a small repair studio in Rotterdam dedicated to vintage synthesizers. We are three people who care about old instruments, their history, and the players who keep them alive. From classic analog polys to rare drum machines, we take the time to understand each machine before we touch it. Our work is practical and respectful: careful diagnosis, honest advice, and repairs that preserve the character of the instrument. We know these synths are more than circuits and knobs. They carry stories from studios, stages, and secondhand shops, and they deserve to be treated with patience. Whether a machine needs a simple clean, a full restoration, or help finding a hard-to-source part, we aim to make the process clear and personal from start to finish. Based in Rotterdam, we help musicians, collectors, and studios keep old synthesizers making sound for years to come. We do it with patience and respect.
Specs and numbers
| Gemini 4 Argon | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Alibaba | |
| Made in | US | China |
| Released | 13 Oct 2026 | 3 Sep 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Price out, per M tokens | $10.00 | $6.00 |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Weights | closed | closed |
| Hacker News points | 2,036 | 3 |
| Time for the six prompts | 13 min 43 s | 77 min 11 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.68 | $1.20 |
Gemini 4 Argon was cheaper: $0.53 less at list price, and less on each of the 6 prompts. Gemini 4 Argon was faster: 63 min 28 s less in total, and faster on each of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, both Breakout games play.
Rebuild this screen experiment: Gemini 4 Argon's rebuild matched the screenshot at 69%, Qwen3.8 Max (0902)'s 81%. Tea Garden experiment: Gemini 4 Argon's game passed 5 of 5 checks, Qwen3.8 Max (0902)'s 5 of 5.





