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From: ron@brl-sem.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>)
Newsgroups: net.arch
Subject: Re: Are "discrete" CPUs faster than VLSI?  And why?
Message-ID: <555@brl-sem.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 26-Nov-85 16:13:26 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-sem.555
Posted: Tue Nov 26 16:13:26 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Nov-85 08:13:48 EST
References: <1795@peora.UUCP> <277@l5.uucp>
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab
Lines: 14

In article <1795@peora.UUCP>, jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) writes:
> More generally, ...CPUs built with discrete
> components (as vs. all on a single IC) tend to be faster.  This was
> something I was skeptical of myself back during my days of faith in
> the microprocessor, and I still tend to believe that is true largely due
> to practical considerations than theoretical ones.
> 
I have a big black thing in my computer room which is a supercomputer
built out of ECL MSI chips.  It's about the best that could ever be done
with discrete components.  The distance between the chips is just too far
for the speed of the electron (when you are dealing with nanoseconds,
the farthest you can go is a little under a foot).

-Ron