Tuesday, January 28, 2003
New Intel Xscale CPU Coming
Posted by Jason Dunn in "HARDWARE" @ 03:00 PM
Thomas Wolfram just sent us an email few minutes ago, and considering the topic, I got a little excited when I read it: a new Xscale chip is coming! Now here's the interesting part: it doesn't appear to be any faster, which makes me think this is the typical Intel strategy of "release a chip to market, then fix it later". If you haven't already done so, be sure to read our Xscale article on the subject - you'll find it interesting. This solidifies my opinion that the bulk of the speed issues we're seeing with the Xscale-based Pocket PCs are due to issues and limitations with the Xscale chip itself, not a lack of software optimization. Thomas writes:
"Intel has filed a Product Change Notification (Change Number D0102973) announcing a new stepping C1 of the XScale PXA250 processor. According to this document there are both functional and errata fix differences between the previous PXA250 steppings and the new PXA250 C1 stepping. It states that then new stepping is a new die and that hardware changes in the target system are required to take advantage of the new enhancements/features. It lists following new enhancements/features to previous releases:
Hardware Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter (HWUART)
Low Power SDRAM Mode Register Set Configuration Register
400 Run Mode / 200 PxBus
Core Clock Configuration Register (CCCR)
Core Phase Locked Loop
UDC Control Function Register (UDCCFR)
NSSP
Intel as assigned a new processor ID to the C1 stepping too. A detailed description of the enhancements will be available January 31, 2003. In the inital version of the document the new C1 stepping of the PXA250 was renamed to PXA255. But the current, third revision of the document dropped the PXA255 designation and states only: 'PXA250 C1 is Intel's manufacturing designation for the new stepping. The formal Marketing name will be announced no later than the end of Q1'03'. The Product Change Notification can be found on Intel's Web site. I think this could suggest that Intel plans to market the new XScale stepping as a kind of "improved XScale" (that is in addition to the PXA261/262 versions for mobile phones) maybe even under a new name, by end of Q1."
"Intel has filed a Product Change Notification (Change Number D0102973) announcing a new stepping C1 of the XScale PXA250 processor. According to this document there are both functional and errata fix differences between the previous PXA250 steppings and the new PXA250 C1 stepping. It states that then new stepping is a new die and that hardware changes in the target system are required to take advantage of the new enhancements/features. It lists following new enhancements/features to previous releases:
Hardware Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter (HWUART)
Low Power SDRAM Mode Register Set Configuration Register
400 Run Mode / 200 PxBus
Core Clock Configuration Register (CCCR)
Core Phase Locked Loop
UDC Control Function Register (UDCCFR)
NSSP
Intel as assigned a new processor ID to the C1 stepping too. A detailed description of the enhancements will be available January 31, 2003. In the inital version of the document the new C1 stepping of the PXA250 was renamed to PXA255. But the current, third revision of the document dropped the PXA255 designation and states only: 'PXA250 C1 is Intel's manufacturing designation for the new stepping. The formal Marketing name will be announced no later than the end of Q1'03'. The Product Change Notification can be found on Intel's Web site. I think this could suggest that Intel plans to market the new XScale stepping as a kind of "improved XScale" (that is in addition to the PXA261/262 versions for mobile phones) maybe even under a new name, by end of Q1."
