Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 8th Apr 2006 18:38 UTC
As expected processor licensor ARM Holdings and Handshake Solutions NV, a Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary, have developed an asynchronous processor based on the ARM9 core. The ARM996HS is thought to be the first commercial clockless processor and is being described as particular suited to use as an automotive microcontroller. Because clockless processors consume zero dynamic power when there is no activity, they can significantly extend battery life compared with clocked equivalents.
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Member since:
2005-10-18
That's exactly what I was thinking. The whole startup process would be the kicker. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think it would be great if it could get into PC tech, but I don’t see it happening with major adjustments.
Good point (a post above) that this is targeted mainly at mobile devices, and most probably will stay that way.
And I must say, even if it appears your CPU is idle, it's is nearly ALWAYS computing something. Whether it's detecting minuscule mouse movements (mouse interrupt calls), or its processing background dhcp requests or other TCP stack stuff, it's always working.
We could say that the CPU may at times be doing negligible work, but I doubt it ever really "stops".
ZaNkY