Single-Chip x86 Chipsets Around the Corner?

An anonymous reader writes "Kontron, a giant among industrial single-board computer vendors, yesterday revealed a credit-card sized board apparently based on a single-chip x86 chipset that clocks to 1.5GHz and supports a gig of RAM. It targets portable devices — not x86's usual forte. Kontron isn't saying whether the board uses a Via or an Intel chip(set) — both vendors reportedly have single-chip chipsets in the works, part of their respective missions to drive 'x86 everywhere.'"

Comments

Re:It's VIA

[Zwack]

I guess you didn't read the fine article... They state that it looks like a single chipset system and then state that VIA have been working on such a chipset codenmaed John and Intel have been working on a different one codenamed something else.

Z.

Re:Great idea

[Anonymous Coward]

ARM processors max out at about 700-900 Mhz

And this is quite amusing, because the key idea behind RISC (MIPS, SPARC, ARM, Alpha, PA-RISC, PowerPC, you name it) was to simplify hardware and do less work per cycle but ramp clockspeed up even more. Not knowing this history is called "The Megahertz Myth Myth" ;-)

How the roles have been reversed! But this was mainly due to Intel's/AMD's massive volumes and investements on fabbing tech -- you could say *despite* the architectures. And of course ever since Pentium Pro, "CISC" has just been a code compression method in the front-end of a RISC back-end...

Needless to say, it's silly to compare mere clockspeed (and not performance) between two different approaches; and one should compare performance at branchy jumpy iffy code as well as smooth simple floating-point throghput; and then look hard at the performance per Watt so crucially important in the handheld market.

I suppose the best thing to do with 900MHz ARMs is to throw a boatload of them into single chip with a hefty shared cache and good interconnect. Instant ownage in transaction computing (which is load/store time dominated) or more complex packet manipulation. Doubling the clockspeed would likely triple or quadruple power consumption (because you typically have to increase voltage along with clockspeed which makes you lose the linear power/heat ramping).

Re:x86 cores?

[CBravo]

Just like a monoculture of GSM has hurt the innovation of mobile phones in Europe. ROTFLOL. I always perceived the US as a fragmented market for cell phone manufacturers and a closed market which is expensive for the end user.

Re:x86 cores?

[johnwbyrd]

Is this irony? Japanese cell phones run at least two to three years ahead of the functionality in US cell phones.