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From: elm@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (ethan miller)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc,comp.os.misc,comp.misc,comp.arch
Subject: Re: The NeXT machine has been announced! (was long)
Message-ID: <6483@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 15 Oct 88 05:25:37 GMT
References: <360@elan.UUCP> <2070@cloud9.UUCP>
Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU
Reply-To: elm@ernie.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (ethan miller)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 31

In article <2070@cloud9.UUCP> cme@cloud9.UUCP (Carl Ellison) writes:
->In article <360@elan.UUCP>, jlo@elan.UUCP (Jeff Lo) writes:
->> 
->> The entire CPU board consists of 45 chips as compared to 100+ for a fast
->> PC and 300+ for a typical workstation. Everything has been crammed onto
->> a 12 inch square board through the use of very dense surface mounted
->> devices, and a few large custom CMOS chips. 
->
->By my calculator, 45 chips in 144 square inches
->gives 3.2 sq.in. per chip, on the average.
->Since a number of those need to be memory (therefore not monster PGAs),
->I don't see the need to cram.
->What's up here?
->--Carl Ellison          ...!harvard!anvil!es!cme    (normal mail address)

I saw a picture of the board today.  The guest speaker in our graduate
computer architecture class had it with him.  I'd say the 45 chips can't
include the memory.  There must be 64 1Mx1 bit chips to get 8MB on board, and
that's already more than 65.  There are also 2 large custom chips, a DSP, a
68030 and 68882, and assorted drivers and buffers.  Jobs even left about
four or so square inches free for his name.  Those custom chips and
the other "main" chips are pretty big, especially the custom gate arrays.
If you exclude the memory area and the name plate, you're down to
about 100 square inches or less, which is not so much considering
how many chips with 200 pins are on the board.

ethan
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ethan miller (EECS graduate serf)      | "Quod erat demonstrandum, baby."
bandersnatch@ernie.berkeley.edu        | "Oooh, you speak French!"
They're my opinions; don't abuse them. |    - Thomas Dolby, "Airhead"