Mistral Large 4 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Mistral Large 4 took 51 min 22 s and $0.61 at list price, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning took 10 min 9 s and $0.012 at list price. Mistral Large 4 took 5.1× as long and cost 52× as much.
Mistral Large 4
Mistral · $2.10/M out · 4,689 HN pts
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
NVIDIA · $0.20/M out · free route · 399 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 sits in a former warehouse on Rotterdam's northern edge, where the Maas meets the industrial harbour. Three of us work here—no more, no less—surrounded by oscilloscopes, desoldering stations, and the persistent hum of transformers. We repair vintage synthesizers. That is the whole business.
We are not a museum, and we are not a factory. Every Minimoog, ARP 2600, or Juno that crosses our bench receives the same stubborn attention: traced schematics, replaced capacitors, calibrated voltages, hours spent listening for the note that was never quite right. The machines arrive broken, silent, forgotten. They leave singing.
Rotterdam built its reputation on moving heavy things and keeping them moving. We apply the same pragmatism to circuits that predate us by forty years. If it made sound once, it can make sound again. That is the promise we keep, solder joint by solder joint.
Patchbay is a three-person studio in Rotterdam devoted to the restoration and repair of vintage synthesizers. We believe analog gear holds a living voice, and our purpose is to safeguard that sound for musicians, collectors, and creators who value authenticity. With hands-on experience in circuitry, voltage calibration, and component preservation, we treat every console, drum machine, or modular voice with meticulous care. Rotterdam’s eclectic artistic community fuels our commitment to keeping analog heritage alive, bridging past technology with present music. Whether rescuing a neglected lab unit or reviving a cherished polysynth, we approach each instrument as a unique piece of musical history, ensuring it performs as intended for years ahead. We love helping artists reconnect with the warmth and character only vintage hardware can offer. Our workshop sits in the heart of the city, where dusty circuit boards meet fresh compositions, and every repaired synth becomes part of a new musical story.
Specs and numbers
| Mistral Large 4 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Mistral | NVIDIA |
| Made in | France | US |
| Released | 6 Oct 2026 | 11 Aug 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $0.70 | free route (list $0.07/M) |
| Price out, per M tokens | $2.10 | free route (list $0.20/M) |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Weights | open | open |
| Hacker News points | 4,689 | 399 |
| Time for the six prompts | 51 min 22 s | 10 min 9 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.61 | $0.012 |
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning was cheaper: $0.60 less at list price, and less on each of the 6 prompts. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning was faster: 41 min 13 s less in total, and faster on 4 of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, both Breakout games play.
Rebuild this screen experiment: Mistral Large 4's rebuild matched the screenshot at 46%; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning was not in it. Tea Garden experiment: Mistral Large 4's game passed 2 of 5 checks; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning was not in it.