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There are official RISC V tests you can run: https://github.com/riscv/riscv-compliance
I recommend SymbiYosys for formally testing your CPU before ever placing it into a simulation. You can use the riscv-formal property set to get you started, but I'd personally go for an inductive proof of some type and the riscv-formal property set may not get you that far.
If you wish to build a SOC design, you'll need some approach to assembling the bus together. There will be a lot of wires to connect, and a lot of logic to build just to get you off the ground. You'll find several SOC based building tools out there to use. I've built my own, AutoFPGA, which I use for assembling peripherals around a CPU based design. You might find an open source crossbar interconnect to be quite valuable as well. I've built crossbars for AXI, AXI-lite, and Wishbone (pipeline). I know there's a good Wishbone classic crossbar out there as well, I just don't have the link at my fingertips. (Good? It'll slow down your overall clock speed, while yielding poorer performance compared to Wishbone pipeline--but that's just the reality of working with Wishbone classic.)
I'd then recommend Verilator for simulation testing--but only after your formal design checking is complete. You can find online C++ models of a QSPI flash, RAM, and a serial port which should be good enough to get you going here. When you are ready for more permanent storage, there's also a decent C++ model of an SD card (SPI only).