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AMD's New Low-Power CPUs

Posted by timothy on from the you-fools-you're-helping-people dept.

illumina+us writes "AMD has released a new family of CPUs targeted at the portable computing market. The new CPUs, collectively named Alchemy, consume less than 1Watt of power. The CPUs have already been named the CPU of choice for Tivo's new Tivo-To-Go technology and are powerful enugh to run DivX, WMV9, and MPEG. The AU1550 consumes just 0.5 Watts at 400 MHz and the AU1100 consumes 0.25 at the same clock speed. These processors consume so little energy they don't even need a heatsink."

5 of 321 comments (clear)

  1. Not x86 processors by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Informative
    These are based upon the MIPS32 RISC processor. Remember the R4000? These are 32 bit, how about that MIPS64 ;-)

    upgrade from your SGI workstation to a tablet today!

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. From the Product Briefs linked to in the article: by grommit · · Score: 5, Informative

    # Support for MPEG1, 2, 4, and WMV9 scaled up to 1024x768
    # MPEG2 main profile/main level (720x480, 10Mbps, 30fps)
    # MPEG4 advanced simple profile/level 5 (720x480, 8Mbps, 30fps)
    # WMV9 main profile/medium level (720x480, 2Mbps, 30fps)

    Doesn't look too bad to me. This was for the Au1200 btw.

  3. Re:how long.... by Ironsides · · Score: 5, Informative

    Please look at the Crusoe Processor They consume under 2 watts and I believe they have broken the Ghz barrier.

    --
    Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
  4. These are not new by Weaselmancer · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've had an Alchemy Au1100 devboard on my desk for over a year. The disk that came with the devboard is dated 1-27-2003.

    There is already a very complete Linux port mostly done by Montavista.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  5. We use these (they are smokin!) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    We have ported eCos RTOS to Au1x00 and have used Alchemy CPUs in two embedded products. They have outstanding performance, good GNU tool support, and easy-to-understand MIPS risc goodness.

    One thing to watch for: The onboard peripherals are geared more to PDAs (no real watchdog, limited-feature timers, etc). You would want to check your embedded application requirements. On the plus side, the JTAG TAP makes board support and debugging a snap.