Try to investigate the differences between the x86 and ARM processor families (or x86 and the Apple M1), and you'll see the acronyms CISC and RISC. It's a common way to frame the discussion, but not a ...

Prompted by the chipmaker's announcement of the SSE5 instruction-set extensions, Glaskowsky analyzes the ultimate outcome to this old controversy. Peter N. Glaskowsky is a computer architect in ...

I was just wanting to know if anyone can tell me if the new athlon mp and xp's are risc chips or if they went to cisc. I know the older AMD chips were all RISC, but not sure of the newer ones. When ...

There are a ton of inventions out in the world that are almost complete accidents, but are still ubiquitous in our day-to-day lives. Things like bubble wrap which was originally intended to be ...

A new instruction set by the original creator of MIPS aims to reinvent the ultra-low power, high-efficiency processor -- and to do so with an architecture that's fundamentally open and available to ...

The ARM-based M series is a RISC design rather than Intel's x86 CISC architecture. RISC circuits use less complex instructions, run cooler and thus save battery, which is why an ARM chip is used in ...

The Mac's best quality: software A Pioneer Press piece opines that the best part of the Macintosh platform is elegant, well-designed software. "So what does Macintosh have going for it? The most ...

With MCU performance and peripherals largely determining the overall capabilities of an embedded design it is easy to see why preoccupation with a popular core drives many MCU-based projects. But when ...

Important financial and market forces are creating unprecedented growth and dynamism in the semiconductor industry. The present dynamics include: • A worldwide chip shortage impacting industries large ...

Closed systems stagnate innovation—Linux users know this. Licenses, royalties, and fees keep the well-funded in control. RISC-V throws that out the window because it's free to adopt, adapt, and ...