3 ms·
Does MIPS have some advantage for applications like NICs, or is it just a matter of using what they’ve been using?
by mikeash 8y ago
Does MIPS have some advantage for applications like NICs, or is it just a matter of using what they’ve been using?
- monocasa 8y agoIt's just hard to beat MIPS perceptibly at perf/gate at the gate counts they're willing to expend, but that's more or less true of any not braindead RISC. Beyond that it's just one of those "it's what we've always done". Sort of like how HBAs had i960s for an obnoxiously long time. For what ever reason some Patterson & Hennessy 5-stage RISC gains a foothold in an embedded niche and it's hard to make an argument to switch. RISC-V has the best argument right now; it's hard to beat zero licensing fees.