Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!eecg.toronto.edu!leblanc
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: leblanc@eecg.toronto.edu (Marcel LeBlanc)
Subject: Re: RISC Amiga
Message-ID: <1990Oct31.010748.26176@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Keywords: well there's going to be a RISC Mac!!
References: <1156@iceman.jcu.oz> <22914@grebyn.com>
Date: 31 Oct 90 06:07:49 GMT
Lines: 23

ckp@grebyn.com (Checkpoint Technologies) writes:

>In article <1156@iceman.jcu.oz> cpca@iceman.jcu.oz (C Adams) writes:
>>So what would we want a RISC Amiga to be based on, 88k? Sparc? i860? MIPS?
>>What about compatibility with existing software? 

>Forget about it.  RISC is a new architecture, a new instruction set, a
>new philosophy.

>On the other hand, the 68040 is as fast as current-generation RISC
>chips.  So why go RISC at all?

Sorry, this simply isn't true.  Even if you assume that 68040's will be
shipping RSN at a top speed of 25MHz, this is already well behind the top
speed of popular RISC processors.  You can buy a 33MHz R3000 or a 40MHz
SPARC in CMOS *today*!  By the time the 68040 is available in volume
quantities, we should also be seeing volume 40MHz R3000s.  And don't forget,
the R3000 has been around for a while.  You can bet the next generation
R4000 will be available long before the 68050 is.

Marcel A. LeBlanc  --  Electrical Eng. Computer Group, Univ. of Toronto
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