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is it an fpga?
by wklm 9y ago
is it an fpga?
- nine_k 9y agoNo, as far as I can tell, it's an actual RISC-V ASIC; it has 5 cores on a 28nm die. I'm afraid the amount of FPGA required for 4 beefier cores + 1 simpler core + 2 MB coherent L1 cache could cost more than $999, but I may be wrong.
- tyingq 9y agoI get the difference between FPGA and ASIC. But... What's the difference between a CPU core on an ASIC and a normal CPU core?
- q3k 9y agoYou seem to be confused about the terminology. A typical CPU core is an ASIC. An ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) is exactly what it says on the tin - an integrated circuit designed to perform one function - in this case, executing machine code. Most of the chips you see inside electronics are ASICs (everything from operational amplifiers to ethernet PHYs and CPUs).
- tyingq 9y agoI don't usually see the two terms used together, because of the "application specific" vs "general purpose" thing. So I thought there might be something I was missing.
- nine_k 9y agoFPGA is more "general purpose" because you can reconfigure it for almost any purpose. A CPU, compared to it, is more "application-specific", though not as specific as e.g. an ASIC for handling crypro. I probably added too much contrast into my original comment.