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> I'll take 6watts consumption in a router in exchange for quad-core, IOMMU-enabled, fault-tolerant, open CPU. The router vendor surely looks at the cost of th

by wolfgke 11y ago

> I'll take 6watts consumption in a router in exchange for quad-core, IOMMU-enabled, fault-tolerant, open CPU. The router vendor surely looks at the cost of the CPU - ARM and MIPS cores are probably much cheaper.

nickpsecurity 11y ago
Remember, I mentioned the SOC vendors as well. They currently license MIPS and ARM. Many choose MIPS due to cheap license. ARM's license, royalties, and restrictions are ridiculously expensive. SPARC has a cost advantage over it. So, once again, it's neither energy nor costs that are reasons they chose MIPS and ARM over SPARC. Keep guessing.
- wolfgke 11y ago
  I'm not so sure: Because currently ARM processors are currently sold in a large volume (if not for a technical reason then by momentum) they can be made a cheaper by economy of scale. This does not mean that this has to stay in the future, but currently this seems to be the case.
  - nickpsecurity 11y ago
    Now there's a good argument. Here's the real value, though, straight from ARM themselves: the ecosystem. They've built a whole ecosystem of boards, firmware, software, everything around ARM you get when you license their tech. It might be cheaper with economy of scale as well although licensing and royalties have to factor in. I'd default on MIPS there since they can be up to 10x cheaper than ARM. But yeah, a Freescale iMX ARM was like $4 per 100 units last time I looked it up. So, it's mainly the ecosystem with companies and FOSS people wanting to benefit from what's already there instead of improve FOSS HW ecosystems. There's currently, but not indefinitely as you said, a cost advantage for the mass market SOC's as well for PPC, ARM, MIPS, and possibly SuperH.
    - sokoloff 11y ago
      > a Freescale iMX ARM was like $4 per 100 units last time I looked it up. $4 per 100 units (4 pennies each), or $4 per unit in quantity of 100?

by wolfgke 11y ago

nickpsecurity 11y ago

Remember, I mentioned the SOC vendors as well. They currently license MIPS and ARM. Many choose MIPS due to cheap license. ARM's license, royalties, and restrictions are ridiculously expensive. SPARC has a cost advantage over it. So, once again, it's neither energy nor costs that are reasons they chose MIPS and ARM over SPARC. Keep guessing.

wolfgke 11y ago
I'm not so sure: Because currently ARM processors are currently sold in a large volume (if not for a technical reason then by momentum) they can be made a cheaper by economy of scale. This does not mean that this has to stay in the future, but currently this seems to be the case.
- nickpsecurity 11y ago
  Now there's a good argument. Here's the real value, though, straight from ARM themselves: the ecosystem. They've built a whole ecosystem of boards, firmware, software, everything around ARM you get when you license their tech. It might be cheaper with economy of scale as well although licensing and royalties have to factor in. I'd default on MIPS there since they can be up to 10x cheaper than ARM. But yeah, a Freescale iMX ARM was like $4 per 100 units last time I looked it up. So, it's mainly the ecosystem with companies and FOSS people wanting to benefit from what's already there instead of improve FOSS HW ecosystems. There's currently, but not indefinitely as you said, a cost advantage for the mass market SOC's as well for PPC, ARM, MIPS, and possibly SuperH.
  - sokoloff 11y ago
    > a Freescale iMX ARM was like $4 per 100 units last time I looked it up. $4 per 100 units (4 pennies each), or $4 per unit in quantity of 100?