SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Technology Stocks : Transmeta (TMTA)-The Monster That Could Slay Intel
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: axp who wrote (88)1/23/2000 11:07:00 AM
From: Bill Fischofer  Read Replies (3) of 421
 
Re: Competition

I agree that all-hardware designs will always give the fastest raw performance, however TM is not competing in the "muscle chip" segment. In the areas of initial competition they will be unbeatable, however. Anything that relies primarily on battery power will run a lot longer with a Crusoe chip than with an INTC or AMD chip inside. Beyond this, there is real opportunity on the desktop and in the living room for quiet PCs since TM chips don't need cooling fans. I would happily trade a few MHz for a dramatic decibel reduction. A PC with the accoustic properties of a stereo receiver or a DVD player would find a sizeable ready market.

I'm quite familiar with software emulation, having worked briefly in this area while I was still with IBM, however what appears unique here is that TM's chips are specifically designed to support efficient emulation through the use of such features as hardware shadow registers. The whitepaper on the TM site gives an interesting overview of these capabilities but I suspect there is a lot more going on than has been fully disclosed at this point. Previous emulation efforts have been confined to software working on generic chips which were not designed specifically to support emulation so it will be very interesting to see the first independent system-level benchmarks of Crusoe-based systems. I suspect the performance gap in real-world use will be a lot less than one might at first suppose. Clearly TM's emphasis on developing appropriate benchmarking awareness points to this. Most chips today spend much of their cycles bottlenecked on memory, I/O, busses, etc., so it is not inconceivable that Crusoe chips, which tend to have much larger caches since they don't need chip area for a lot of other hardware functions, will be very competitive in the performance department.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News