It sounds like Toshiba has its act together with Mpact.....
Notebooks...............
For its part, Toshiba will spin a notebook graphics chip by coupling the
Mpact 2 core with embedded DRAM when it moves to its 0.25-micron ASIC
process in the middle of next year. The plan is to add 4 Mbytes of
synchronous DRAM to the core linked by a 128-bit internal bus, Nogaki
said.
Low power..............
Such a device would suit the Chromatic chip for both desktops and
portable PCs because of its inherently low power dissipation and small
die size. Nogaki said he expects the first devices with embedded DRAM
will be available by mid-1998. [BillyG NOTE: The devices released in October will be 5 watt cookers interfaced to RAMBUS DRAM]
"With embedded DRAM you can get 128-bit I/O in addition to low power
dissipation," he said. "In addition, these derivatives will have support
for flat-panel displays."
Both the Mpact 1 and the Mpact 2 interface to Rambus DRAMs and dissipate
about 5 W total. "I anticipate that by embedding the memory and not
having Rambus [it] could save you a couple of watts," he said. "It's
speculation, but a full-blown Mpact 2 with embedded memory, modem,
graphics and the works might dissipate 2 W. If you're doing graphics
only, it will be less than a watt."
The embedded-DRAM scheme would place Toshiba among a short list of
suppliers that have merged DRAM with their graph-ics cores, or plan to
within the next year. Ironically, the company has agreed to manufacture
graphics chips with integrated memory under a foundry arrangement for
would-be competitor NeoMagic Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.)
Mpact has been focused to perform DVD and graphics functions. The processor couldn't support the marketing hype of being a do-it-all device...............
Chromatic plans to release only 2-D/3-D and DVD portions of its
Mediaware firmware next month, when the first samples of the Mpact 2 are
expected to arrive from Toshiba. That strategy is in marked contrast to
the company's initial attempt to bundle everything from graphics to
video and telephony in one firmware release.
"Our first attempt was going after the all-in-one [multimedia]
approach," said David Wilt, corporate marketing manager for Chromatic.
"But we've decided to take a more modular approach to pinpoint
particular market segments." They include desktop and low-cost PCs,
PC/TV hybrids and add-in cards that could sell in high volumes for less
than $100.
I have to say that it sounds like an impressive device. We'll see how it performs. |
