Gemini 4 Argon vs Step 5 Preview
Gemini 4 Argon took 13 min 43 s and $0.68 at list price, Step 5 Preview took 10 min 44 s and $0.33 at list price. Gemini 4 Argon took 1.3× as long and cost 2.1× as much.
Gemini 4 Argon
Google · $10.00/M out · 2,036 HN pts
Step 5 Preview
StepFun · $2.70/M out · 155 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 three-person workshop based in Rotterdam, dedicated to keeping vintage synthesizers alive and playable. We are technicians, musicians, and obsessive tinkerers who believe that classic analog instruments deserve better than silence. From temperamental Jupiter-8s to worn-out ARP Odysseys, we restore, repair, and maintain the machines that shaped the sound of modern music. Every repair starts with listening—both to the instrument and to the person who plays it. Whether you are chasing a rare fault, need a full calibration, or simply want your old synth to feel new again, our bench is open. We understand that no two synthesizers arrive with the same story, and we treat each circuit, slider, and key with the care its history deserves. At Patchbay, we are here to make sure the sounds of tomorrow are built on those that came before.
Specs and numbers
| Gemini 4 Argon | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | StepFun | |
| Made in | US | China |
| Released | 13 Oct 2026 | 8 Oct 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $2.00 | $1.00 |
| Price out, per M tokens | $10.00 | $2.70 |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | closed | open |
| Hacker News points | 2,036 | 155 |
| Time for the six prompts | 13 min 43 s | 10 min 44 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.68 | $0.33 |
Step 5 Preview was cheaper: $0.35 less at list price, and less on 5 of the 6 prompts. Step 5 Preview was faster: 2 min 59 s less in total, and faster on 5 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%; Step 5 Preview was not in it. Tea Garden experiment: Gemini 4 Argon's game passed 5 of 5 checks; Step 5 Preview was not in it.





