Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!nsc!grenley
From: grenley@nsc.nsc.com (George Grenley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.nsc.32k
Subject: Re: floating point accelerators
Keywords: nsc 32x32, fpa
Message-ID: <7361@nsc.nsc.com>
Date: 27 Oct 88 17:07:25 GMT
References: <7318@ut-emx.UUCP>
Reply-To: grenley@nsc.nsc.com.UUCP (George Grenley)
Organization: National Semiconductor, Sunnyvale
Lines: 22

In article <7318@ut-emx.UUCP> chcu275@ut-emx.UUCP (Noel Bell) writes:

>  I would like to know what fpa units are commonly used with the 32x32
>  family of chips.  Does Opus market their boards with fpa's?  How much
>  can floating point performance be improved with available fpa's?

We currently offer 3 fpas.  The original unit is the 32081, and works with
CPUs up to the 332.  It uses the older, "slow" interface.

The 32381 is somewhat faster than the 081, plus, it is available at clock
speeds up to 30 mhz.  It works with the 532, as well as the older processors,
and uses a faster slave protocol.

We also offer a 2 chip FPA, based on Weitek's 3164 chip.  (Our 32580 interface
plus their 3164 = seriously fast floating point.  A 30 mhz systems hits
around 8 mWhets.)  This combination only works with the 532.

Opus's boards do have fpas.  I don't know for sure whether they're standard
or optional.

Regards,
George Grenley