Analysis: 1 GHz MIPS core is DSP speed demon

Jul 4 2007 (3:00 AM) -- DSP DesignLine

In May 2007 MIPS introduced the MIPS 74K, a new, high-performance synthesizable general-purpose microprocessor core. The 74K targets demanding multimedia and networking applications such as H.264 and WiMaX, and according to MIPS, the core has already been shipped to initial licensees.

The 74K is a 32-bit, dual-issue, asymmetric superscalar architecture that supports out-of-order instruction execution and uses a 17-stage pipeline. According to MIPS, the 74K can achieve speeds of up to 1 GHz when synthesized in a 65 nm process—without the use of structured or hard IP. This clock speed is higher than the synthesized core speed of a key competitor—ARM's Cortex-A8—but as we discuss below, clock speed doesn't necessarily predict performance.