By BDTI, 4/11/2005
Last month Freescale added two new parts to its
MSC711x family of StarCore SC1400-based DSPs. The two new family
members, the MSC7118 and MSC7119, resemble existing family members in
most respects. The main difference is that the new parts will operate
at 300 MHz—50% faster than the existing 200 MHz parts. Both new chips
will also feature 472 Kbytes of on-chip memory, up from a maximum of
408 Kbytes on existing chips. Not surprisingly, the new chips are also
more expensive: the MSC7118 and MSC7119 will cost $33 and $35,
respectively, up from a maximum of $25 for the existing family members.
(All prices are for 10,000-unit orders.)
Until recently, there was a large gap between Freescale's low-cost, low
performance DSPs (such as the 56800E family) and its expensive,
high-performance DSPs (such as the MSC81xx family). The original
MSC711x family members helped fill this gap by offering moderate speeds
at modest prices. The MSC7118 and MSC7119 go a long way towards
bridging the remaining gap between Freescale's low-end and high-end
parts.
Interestingly, the new MSC711x parts also fill a gap in its
competitors' lineups. The MSC711x family competes with a number of
popular DSP families, including Analog Devices' Blackfin and TI's 'C55x
and 'C64x families. Some of these competitors offer faster parts at
lower prices, and some offer parts with more on-chip memory. However,
none of these competitors offer parts with a comparable combination of
moderate speed, moderate cost, and large on-chip memory. (For more
information on these competing families, see BDTI's Pocket Guide to Processors for DSP.)
It will be interesting to see if Freescale's unique combination of
attributes enables it to win business away from these competitors.
The new MSC711x parts also further Freescale's newfound focus on
compatibility. Until recently, Freescale's low-end and high-end parts
were completely incompatible. The low-end parts used variants of the
DSP56000 architecture, while high-end parts used the StarCore
architecture. In contrast, the MSC7118 and MSC7119 are binary- and
pin-compatible with lower-performance MSC711x family members, and are
binary compatible with the higher-performance MSC81xx family.
The MSC7118 and MSC7119 are expected to begin sampling this quarter.
Full production is expected in the third quarter of 2005.
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