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What would it take for Apple to switch to making RISC-V CPUs? I mean wouldn't it mostly be a change in the instruction decode logic? Once you are inside the chi
by Pet_Ant 5y ago
What would it take for Apple to switch to making RISC-V CPUs? I mean wouldn't it mostly be a change in the instruction decode logic? Once you are inside the chip most conventional chips (eg not The Mill or many-core) basically the same logically?
- Macha 5y agoThey've already got a lot of licenses for ARM already set up as perpetual licenses, and a lot of expertise, and an already deployed ARM toolchain. So there's no reason for Apple to switch to Apple manufactured RISC-V over Apple manufactured ARM, and given how Apple got burned by Intel's stagnation from Sandy Bridge until Alder Lake, I'm not sure there's a run of success long enough for another company to convince Apple to drop their own control in the medium term future.
- Pet_Ant 5y agoI meant specifically, besides rewriting the instruction decode unit, and maybe tweaking the memory access to meet some technicalities, what would be involved to taking the M1 and making it support a different instruction set.
- snvzz 5y agoNot really worth pondering. Apple has enough funds to do it just as an experiment, without much care about cost.
- dehrmann 5y agoThat has very little to do with Apple. What you're really asking is how hard would it be to add support to a CPU for a second instruction set.
- Pet_Ant 5y agoWell, Apple was only an example of a company with the money and perhaps the inclination to do so. But no, it isn't really an Apple specific question.