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Mil/Aero Insider: October 2008
Freescale’s 8640 and 8640D Processors are here!
Since Freescale has announced the new 8640/8640D, processor board vendors have seen the opportunity to provide high end PowerPC processing associated with existing 8641/8641D based boards with the option of the 8640/8640D processor giving customers a real chance at power/heat reduction from their single board computer, digital signal processing and multiprocessing products.
Electing to use the MPC8640 will allow customers to achieve the same level of processing performance to those achievable with the MPC8641 – which is widely used throughout the embedded computing industry – but with significantly lower power/heat dissipation: boards supporting the MPC8640 and MPC8640D will offer superior performance per watt. The MPC 8640 is also code-compatible with the MPC8641, meaning that no changes to software are required.
In a typical dual node, dual core configuration, the MPC8640 dissipates between 7 and 14 watts less when compared to its MPC8641 equivalent, providing a worthwhile reduction in heat dissipation – meaning that the resulting system is easier to cool (and thus more robust) or that additional computing capabilities can be configured without exceeding the cooling capacity of the system. The power/heat savings become even more significant in sophisticated quad node computers which are often used in multiples for advanced signal processing applications.
In addition, the MPC8640 and MPC8640D includes all the features that have made the MPC8641 and MPC8641D industry leaders, including the AltiVec numeric processor, on-chip memory controllers, PCI Express, Serial RapidIO and multiple Gigabit Ethernet interfaces.
Products planned to become optionally available with the MPC8640 processor include
- CM6 3U CompactPCI single board computer
- VG6 6U VMEbus single- or dual node single board computer
- PowerXtreme PPC9A 6U VMEbus single board computer
- VPXtreme3 SBC310 3U VPX single board computer
- VPXtreme6 SBC610 6U VPX single board computer
- DSP220 6U VXS quad node multiprocessor
- DSP230 6U VPX quad node multiprocessor
The first products from GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms to feature the MPC8640/MPC8640D are expected to ship in early 2009.