MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Nemotron 3 Ultra
MiniMax M3.1 Flash took 23 min 37 s and $0.095 at list price, Nemotron 3 Ultra took 14 min 14 s and $0.15 at list price. MiniMax M3.1 Flash took 1.7× as long, and Nemotron 3 Ultra cost 1.6× as much.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax · $0.60/M out · 550 HN pts
Nemotron 3 Ultra
NVIDIA · $2.40/M out · free route · 48 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.
Patchbay is a three-person studio in Rotterdam dedicated to bringing vintage synthesizers back to life. We repair analog and digital instruments that shaped the sound of music, from classic drum machines and polyphonic synths to quirky, characterful machines that rarely leave a musician’s side. Our work combines technical knowledge with respect for each instrument’s history, because a synth is more than a circuit board: it carries the decisions, compromises, and personality of its original design.
We diagnose faults, restore unreliable voices, and carefully service aging components without erasing the character that made an instrument worth keeping. Whether a machine has been silent for years or simply needs a thoughtful tune-up, we treat every repair as a careful act of restoration.
Based in Rotterdam, Patchbay works with musicians, studios, collectors, and anyone who believes electronic instruments deserve another chapter. We restore them to sound as they should, preserving the details that make each one unique.
Patchbay began in a narrow workshop on the edge of Rotterdam’s Noord district, where the hum of aging oscillators meets the rhythm of the city’s canals. Founded by three synth enthusiasts — a former studio engineer, a circuit designer, and a musician who still plays the same Juno‑106 he bought in 1986 — the studio grew from late‑night repair sessions into a dedicated space for restoring the instruments that shaped electronic music’s golden era. Every unit that passes through our bench is treated with the same reverence we give a first‑press vinyl: capacitors are swapped, contacts cleaned, and calibration traced back to original service manuals. We don’t just fix synthesizers; we listen to their history, understand their quirks, and return them to the stage or studio ready to inspire the next generation of sound. Patchbay is small, intentional, and built on the belief that vintage gear deserves a future as vivid as its past.
Specs and numbers
| MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Nemotron 3 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | NVIDIA |
| Made in | China | US |
| Released | 19 Oct 2026 | 4 Jun 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $0.15 | free route (list $0.60/M) |
| Price out, per M tokens | $0.60 | free route (list $2.40/M) |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Weights | open | open |
| Hacker News points | 550 | 48 |
| Time for the six prompts | 23 min 37 s | 14 min 14 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.095 | $0.15 |
MiniMax M3.1 Flash was cheaper: $0.052 less at list price, and less on each of the 6 prompts. Nemotron 3 Ultra was faster: 9 min 23 s less in total, and faster on 5 of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, MiniMax M3.1 Flash's Breakout game plays; Nemotron 3 Ultra's loads but doesn't start.
Rebuild this screen experiment: MiniMax M3.1 Flash's rebuild matched the screenshot at 78%; Nemotron 3 Ultra was not in it. Tea Garden experiment: MiniMax M3.1 Flash's game passed 5 of 5 checks; Nemotron 3 Ultra was not in it.