Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!bbn!oberon!sm.unisys.com!ism780c!ico!clover!rcd From: rcd@ico.ISC.COM (Dick Dunn) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: RISC as a "technology window"? Message-ID: <15702@clover.ICO.ISC.COM> Date: 21 Mar 89 06:16:35 GMT References: <1552@vicom.COM> <15690@cup.portal.com> <1562@vicom.COM> <37196@bbn.COM> Organization: Interactive Systems Corp, Boulder, CO Lines: 45 In article <37196@bbn.COM>, slackey@bbn.com (Stan Lackey) writes: > RISC is indeed a technology window, driven largely by the amount of > stuff you can fit in a chip... OK, fair 'nuff. As soon as we can put an unlimited amount of stuff on a chip (and do it without increasing delays or other limitations), we'll be beyond that technology window, I guess... >...Look at what is being added now that you > can fit more than a simple CPU core in a chip: [7 examples which are not in the least at variance with RISC approach] > The trend in computer evolution is truly toward greater hardware > complexity. This has been demonstrated countless times... Sure. Just look how much more complex a CDC 6600 is than, say, a 7090. (For the younger set: It's several times less complex.) No, the trends for faster machines have frequently involved producing *simpler* designs because it wasn't possible to make a machine fast with all the extra baggage. > There is a true need for complexity... not demonstrated. >...How many times when reading this > newsgroup do you see things like, "Yes but that chip doesn't have favorite feature>"... Rarely, if ever...but even if I did, so what? is a lousy criterion for what to put in hardware. Folks, we're not discussing machines to indulge your whims; we're talking about what it takes to get a job done. > Companies must make money. They will do this by making not tiny > low-cost RISC micros, but the most complex thing they can fit in a > chip... Sure. That's why Sun introduced the very complex SPARC as a successor to the much simpler 680x0 machines...or why intel came out with the more complex 860 to up the ante over the RISCy 386, right??? -- Dick Dunn UUCP: {ncar,nbires}!ico!rcd (303)449-2870 ...Never offend with style when you can offend with substance.