If you think (and I know you do), that there is too much computing power at the moment, and that price rather than features will be the demand driver (at least until the world ex America gets out of its funk), then tight integration is the way to go. Frankly, I think a discrete host DSP is a nonstarter.
Intel is already now selling their bits with a software MPEG2/AC3 decoder (from Zoran). Their upcoming Whitney chipset will integrate the 740i video processor in the chipset, almost certainly using system RAM rather than have its own. It has been surprising to me that Intel hasn't been more aggressive integrating LAN, audio, and modem onto not only their motherboards, but their chipsets. In any case, it looks like the MMX2 instruction set, which includes double precision floating point SIMD (single instruction multiple data), would be a natural for DSP-type stuff.
I notice that I have already gone through every component subsystem except storage. In the interest of completeness, the drive boys have suggested that moving the drive controller back into the host would be a way to attack the low-end segment. I dunno if they're really serious about this; it would require a lot of cooperation between the industry and Intel. And besides, it smells too much like the old MFM days, remember those? |
