Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!gandalf.cs.cmu.edu!lindsay
From: lindsay@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Delivering Power
Message-ID: <11334@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: 8 Dec 90 18:57:04 GMT
References: <1990Dec07.194407.29083@digibd.com>
Organization: Carnegie Mellon Computer Science, or maybe Robotics Institute
Lines: 23

In article <1990Dec07.194407.29083@digibd.com> 
	rhealey@digibd.com (Rob Healey) writes:
>	Not to burst any bubbles but, my toaster oven and thermostat
>	don't need 28MIPS of CPU power to function. Hell, I'll even
>	throw in my microwave, 'fridge, VCR, Stereo, TV and dishwasher!

I found this particularly apt, since I had in my hand a brochure on
the ITT DataWave chip. This is intended to go into consumer HDTV
sets, will cost $30-$40, and it does 4000 MOPS. A quick rummage came
up with the C-Cube CL550 JPEG Image Compression Processor, which will
do 9400 MOPS. (And it only does NTSC TV in real time - HDTV requires
four CL550's in parallel.)

Why so white hot? The C-Cube brochure starts the mind-numbing process
by multiplying 24 bits/pixel * 477 kPixels/frame (== NTSC) * 30
frames/second. The ITT brochure starts the mind-numbing process by
multiplying 100 M samples/second * 100 operations/sample.

I have more compute power in my wristwatch than Eniac had. In a
decade, the average household may have a million times more.

-- 
Don		D.C.Lindsay .. temporarily at Carnegie Mellon