Post by thread:[EE] MIPS32 M4K Core Versus ARM Cortex M3 Core

Surprisingly Microchip becomes the first MCU vendor to adpot MIPS32 M4K Core and the launch party seems to be quite impressive with many third party support (including big names like GreenHill and ThreadX). Normally Microchip is a technology follower. I think they are now a bigger company and they have no way to compete with ARM7/CortexM3 based MCU since PIC24 (still a nice core) has too little to compete with the duo. I believe Microchip must have considered Cortex M3 core as well but decide to use MIPS32 M4K core for some business and technical reasons. Business reasons aside, the M4K core seems to be quite impressive. http://www.mips.com/products/cores/32-bit-cores/mips32-m4k/index.cfm#specifications Cortex M3 core is also gaining momentum now with Luminary/ST come out quite some interesting parts. TI is said to follow but not has not yet released anything. http://www.arm.com/products/CPUs/ARM_Cortex-M3.html What do you think of these two cores in terms of technical features. Xiaofan

I am curious; The M3 boasts the ability to do a single cycle 32-bit multiply. Do they actually mean to say a 32*32 bit? The M4K does 32*16 single cycle, and 32*32 every other... The M4K is 22% faster in terms of DFLOPS/Mhz (approx. 1.53 DFLOPS\Mhz vs 1.25 DFLOPS\Mhz). If I have some time next week, I might just fit all them specs in a single spreadsheet for comparison. Till then I am all tied-up in school stuff.. Hmmmm.... I wonder if this baby is fast enough to blink my led! :-) Sean On Nov 8, 2007 5:04 AM, Xiaofan Chen <spam_OUTxiaofancTakeThisOuTgmail.com> wrote: {Quote hidden}> Surprisingly Microchip becomes the first MCU vendor to adpot MIPS32 > M4K Core and the launch party seems to be quite impressive > with many third party support (including big names like GreenHill and > ThreadX). Normally Microchip is a technology follower. I think > they are now a bigger company and they have no way to compete > with ARM7/CortexM3 based MCU since PIC24 (still a nice core) > has too little to compete with the duo. > > I believe Microchip must have considered Cortex M3 core > as well but decide to use MIPS32 M4K core for some business and > technical reasons. > > Business reasons aside, the M4K core seems to be quite impressive. > http://www.mips.com/products/cores/32-bit-cores/mips32-m4k/index.cfm#specifications > > Cortex M3 core is also gaining momentum now with Luminary/ST come out > quite some interesting parts. TI is said to follow but not has not yet released > anything. > http://www.arm.com/products/CPUs/ARM_Cortex-M3.html > > What do you think of these two cores in terms of technical features. > > Xiaofan > -