Atom vs ARM9

>On Jul 15, 11:42=A0am, Theo Markettos <theom
>+n...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>> dawydiuk <dawyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > > It's a bit like comparing a 386 with a Pentium. Atom would indeed
be
>> > > about twice as fast at the same clockspeed, but the ARM9 would use
>> > > significantly less power even if you clocked it faster to get the
sam=
>e
>> > > performance.
>>
>> > Interesting, this is exactly what I was looking for.
>>
>> I can't find the report to cite, but there's one kicking around that
says
>> the above... but it's rather meaningless in that you can't actually
clock
>> that particular ARM that fast. =A0It's a bit like saying a Ford will
beat=
> a
>> Bugatti at fuel consumption at 250mph... only none of Ford's cars can
>> actually go that fast at the moment.
>>
>> Of course, if the ARM's performance is sufficient the above suggests
it'l=
>l
>> win over an underclocked Atom. =A0Or maybe you can find another ARM to
ru=
>n at
>> a sufficient rate to match the Atom.
>>
>> Theo
>
>Hi,
>
>I did read about an ARM9 running @ 1 GHz a while ago, not too much
>information but a 2 page product brief was there:
>http://mcu-related.com/the-news/3-newsflash/50-marvell-55nm

Thats the family of ARM9s I was referring to :)

Regards,
Eddie

dawydiuk wrote:

> I'm not familiar with the architecture of the Atom, or what tricks
> Intel has come up with recently.

You might find the following articles interesting.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3276
Intel's Atom Architecture: The Journey Begins
Date: April 2nd, 2008

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3565
Intel Unveils Next-Generation Atom Details
Date: May 19th, 2009

Wikipedia also provides some information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Atom#Future

> > Intel is trying to break into the embedded industry again, so they have
> > been doing a few things differently to try to appeal embedded designers=
.
> > For instance several versions of the Atom will be guarenteed to be
> > available for at least five years.
>
> Hasn't Intel made that promise before? =A0As I recal they lost that marke=
t
> for a very good reason.

Actually, Intel commits to keeping chips on their "Embedded Roadmap"
in production for 7 years.  They have an excellent history of meeting
this commitment.  If you are concerned about long production life,
make sure you stick to their Embedded Roadmap devices.

BTW, the Embedded Roadmap XScale CPUs that "lost that market" as you
say are still in production as their time isn't up yet.