The introduction of the DSP56321VF275 is evidence of Freescale’s continued support of the DSP563xx, an architecture that is now about nine years old. The DSP563xx family is one of the few non-VLIW DSPs still being actively supported and hasn’t seen many additions in recent years (the last new chip in the family was announced back in January 2003). The DSP56321VF275’s relatively high price tag is surprising given its modest speed, though the chip does include a large bank of on-chip SRAM (576 Kbytes). The price is particularly interesting in comparison to those of two new chips from Texas Instruments: the TMS320C6418 and TMS320C6711D.
TI’s TMS320C6418, announced this month, is a relatively low-cost addition to the high-performance fixed-point ’C64x family. The chip is sampling at 600 MHz and, like the DSP56321VF275, will cost about $50 in 10,000-unit quantities when it reaches production in October. The 16-bit ’C6418 targets telecom, software radio, and satellite broadcasting and includes specialized peripherals—such as a Viterbi coprocessor and two audio serial ports—that are well-suited for these applications.
At 600 MHz, the ’C6418 has a BDTImark2000 score of 5480, which gives it a BDTImark2000/$ score of 110. (The BDTImark2000/$ is a cost-performance metric.) In comparison, the DSP56321VF275 scores just 17 on this metric, though its 24-bit data word does offer better precision. Interestingly, the lowest-cost version of Analog Devices’ competing TigerSHARC family—the ADSP-TS203S, which sells for $47 and runs at 500 MHz—has a nearly identical 16-bit fixed-point BDTImark2000/$ score of 109.
Texas Instruments has also added a new member to its 32-bit floating-point ’C67x family. The TMS320C6711D is a faster and cheaper version of the existing TMS320C6711 chip, bumping up the speed from 200 MHz to 250 MHz and lowering the 10,000-unit price from $19 to $18. The combination gives the new chip a BDTImark2000/$ score of 68. ADI’s ADSP-TS203S, by comparison, has a slightly better floating-point BDTImark2000/$ score of 77. (The ADSP-TS203S efficiently supports both fixed-point and floating-point math and thus has two BDTImark2000 scores.) The TMS320C6711D targets imaging and speech recognition, among other applications, and is currently in production.
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