Innovations In Computer Audio
The speed of the computer audio recording software has hovered around the 333MHz figure for the G3 PowerPC and the Pentium II, with the exc Computer Audio Recording Software eption of the Alpha chip that runs Windows NT at an earth-shaking 533MHz.
Intel is developing a new generation of chips using 64-bit/128-bit bytes of data at every iteration where current chips process only at the 32-bit/64-bit level. These IA-64 chips (supposedly code named Merced) will initially appear in servers and workstations; although the technology is expected to quickly find its way to desktop PCs.
Semiconductor manufacturing partners Motorola and IBM are developing a new version of the PowerPC called the G4 that will ostensibly equal or better the performance of the new Intel chips. The G4 does use different design parameters in its architecture which will require Apple Computer to redesign some portions of the Macintosh if it intends to use it for that platform.
If these new Intel chips and PowerPC chips are manufactured with copper, they could well perform at Gigahertz speed (1000MHz) or better. The Alpha chip gone copper would equal or better that performance. These chips are expected by the end of 1998, with copper fabrication possible either at that time or at some point in 1999.
The second innovation in microprocessor design is initially for the PowerPC chip family, but could evolve in other directions much as the innovation of 'going copper' suggests. It involves fabricating PowerPC chips with entire families of PowerPC processors mounted on a single assembly, in a similar way to the mounting of millions of transistors on a single chip. Although not as likely to emerge in the very short term, this innovation of diminution in fabrication size and mounting efficiency will increase computing power even more than mere speed increases.
The memory that is directly on the microprocessor to store certain basic repeatable operating instructions is known as level one cache. It has been relatively small, the range of 16k to 32k of RAM being the average. That amount is larger on the new chip families, further enhancing processor speed.
More important, level two cache, which is much larger and stores repeatable application code as well as operating system instructions typically in the 256k to 512k RAM level, will rise to 1Mb or better. Further, this RAM will be of a higher speed variety and located potentially on the same assembly with the processor for the time being, with direct fabrication with the processor on the same chip in the not so distant future. The idea being that optimum level two cache to processor performance which directly effects digital audio efficiency is accomplished with a minimum of distance between the processor and the cache.
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