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How are we defining SoC era? Maybe before SoC's were accessible in the consumer market but the first ARM based SoC, the ARM250, dates back to 1992. Plus I'm pre

How are we defining SoC era? Maybe before SoC's were accessible in the consumer market but the first ARM based SoC, the ARM250, dates back to 1992. Plus I'm pretty sure there are SoC's based on other architectures older than that.

catblast 7y ago
Indeed most handsets including the old iPhones and all pre iPhone pocketpc used SoCs of some sort. In fact the original iPhone had a part with stacked SDRAM. ARM and MIPS SoCs have been a staple of consumer devices for at least 20 years.
numpad0 7y ago
Yeah, mobile CPUs were always called SoC since at least flip phones era. Absurd some Apple fanboys think they made it mainstream or even invented it. Those are entirely false. System on Chip are called System on Chip because they don’t expose I/O ports(like PORTA through PORTD on AVR) to the pins thus can’t interface RAM or ROM or other peripherals natively, but only over narrower buses through internal interface chips/logics. In my rule of thumb, every surface mounted “CPU” between 80 to 200MHz across industries were called SoC from 2003 through 2010s. Those CPUs/MPUs that do expose I/O directly to be interfaced to SDRAM, LCD or equivalents of North Bridge chip on PC were usually called either MPU or CPU, often MPU for they integrate some peripherals. Those were roughly 200MHz and above, including PowerPC for NAS or x86 for PC for which heat or footprint were not concerns. Those under 80-120MHz were often called Microcontrollers(uC). They were also often self contained like SoC but didn’t count, also got a lot higher clocked recently but still don’t. Intel and AMD refer to their systems as SoC since Apple started doing custom SoC, and that might give you an impression that it’s new and better. That’s not true. SoC means CPU’s main I/O ports are not exposed to pins.
- floatboth 7y ago
  > Intel and AMD refer to their systems as SoC since Apple started doing custom SoC Intel and AMD refer to their systems as SoC since they integrated the north bridge (which includes the memory controller) into the chip, has nothing to do with Apple. > CPU’s main I/O ports That's a weird definition. Most architectures don't have "I/O ports" and use memory-mapped I/O exclusively. And even if we read that as "any kind of I/O pins" and go back to the > can’t interface RAM or ROM or other peripherals natively part: the vast majority of mobile SoCs in the 2010s use external RAM (and storage). The memory controller is onboard and the external connection is directly to DDR3/4/.. chips.
- MisterTea 7y ago
  You are inventing definitions here. > System on Chip are called System on Chip because they don’t expose I/O ports(like PORTA through PORTD on AVR) to the pins thus can’t interface RAM or ROM or other peripherals natively, but only over narrower buses through internal interface chips/logics. What does IO port multiplexing of the AVR have to do with the definition of SoC? > In my rule of thumb, every surface mounted “CPU” between 80 to 200MHz across industries were called SoC from 2003 through 2010s. No. I dont see how the physical mounting of the package changes anything. Most processors are surface mount, even some bga x86 chips. > Those CPUs/MPUs that do expose I/O directly to be interfaced to SDRAM, LCD or equivalents of North Bridge chip on PC were usually called either MPU or CPU, often MPU for they integrate some peripherals. No. MPU = MicroProcessor Unit. > Those under 80-120MHz were often called Microcontrollers(uC). They were also often self contained like SoC but didn’t count, also got a lot higher clocked recently but still don’t. So modern highly integrated microcontrollers, an effective system on a chip with 300+MHz core speed, sram, flash, eeprom, can, uarts, ethernet, pwm, counters, dac's, adc's, arent system on chips? > SoC means CPU’s main I/O ports are not exposed to pins. Uh, No.

catblast 7y ago

Indeed most handsets including the old iPhones and all pre iPhone pocketpc used SoCs of some sort. In fact the original iPhone had a part with stacked SDRAM. ARM and MIPS SoCs have been a staple of consumer devices for at least 20 years.

numpad0 7y ago

Yeah, mobile CPUs were always called SoC since at least flip phones era. Absurd some Apple fanboys think they made it mainstream or even invented it. Those are entirely false. System on Chip are called System on Chip because they don’t expose I/O ports(like PORTA through PORTD on AVR) to the pins thus can’t interface RAM or ROM or other peripherals natively, but only over narrower buses through internal interface chips/logics. In my rule of thumb, every surface mounted “CPU” between 80 to 200MHz across industries were called SoC from 2003 through 2010s. Those CPUs/MPUs that do expose I/O directly to be interfaced to SDRAM, LCD or equivalents of North Bridge chip on PC were usually called either MPU or CPU, often MPU for they integrate some peripherals. Those were roughly 200MHz and above, including PowerPC for NAS or x86 for PC for which heat or footprint were not concerns. Those under 80-120MHz were often called Microcontrollers(uC). They were also often self contained like SoC but didn’t count, also got a lot higher clocked recently but still don’t. Intel and AMD refer to their systems as SoC since Apple started doing custom SoC, and that might give you an impression that it’s new and better. That’s not true. SoC means CPU’s main I/O ports are not exposed to pins.

floatboth 7y ago
> Intel and AMD refer to their systems as SoC since Apple started doing custom SoC Intel and AMD refer to their systems as SoC since they integrated the north bridge (which includes the memory controller) into the chip, has nothing to do with Apple. > CPU’s main I/O ports That's a weird definition. Most architectures don't have "I/O ports" and use memory-mapped I/O exclusively. And even if we read that as "any kind of I/O pins" and go back to the > can’t interface RAM or ROM or other peripherals natively part: the vast majority of mobile SoCs in the 2010s use external RAM (and storage). The memory controller is onboard and the external connection is directly to DDR3/4/.. chips.
MisterTea 7y ago
You are inventing definitions here. > System on Chip are called System on Chip because they don’t expose I/O ports(like PORTA through PORTD on AVR) to the pins thus can’t interface RAM or ROM or other peripherals natively, but only over narrower buses through internal interface chips/logics. What does IO port multiplexing of the AVR have to do with the definition of SoC? > In my rule of thumb, every surface mounted “CPU” between 80 to 200MHz across industries were called SoC from 2003 through 2010s. No. I dont see how the physical mounting of the package changes anything. Most processors are surface mount, even some bga x86 chips. > Those CPUs/MPUs that do expose I/O directly to be interfaced to SDRAM, LCD or equivalents of North Bridge chip on PC were usually called either MPU or CPU, often MPU for they integrate some peripherals. No. MPU = MicroProcessor Unit. > Those under 80-120MHz were often called Microcontrollers(uC). They were also often self contained like SoC but didn’t count, also got a lot higher clocked recently but still don’t. So modern highly integrated microcontrollers, an effective system on a chip with 300+MHz core speed, sram, flash, eeprom, can, uarts, ethernet, pwm, counters, dac's, adc's, arent system on chips? > SoC means CPU’s main I/O ports are not exposed to pins. Uh, No.