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Cyrix Heats Up
Cayenne!
Cyrix's 'next-gen' CPU is set to be one of the most amazing ever. Attempting to get rid
of the bad rep of their current FPU, once and for all. The basic core of the Cayenne
although similar to the 6x86MX, boasts a flaming hot FPU/multimedia engine.
Cayenne will feature a fully pipelined, dual-issue floating point unit and 15 new
multimedia floating point instructions to enable the highest-performance 3D graphics, DVD
and 3D audio.
"Future applications will require a no-compromise compute engine with balanced
integer, floating point and multimedia capability," said Robert Maher, vice president
of engineering, Cyrix. "The Cayenne core will deliver industry-leading 3D and
multimedia performance for mainstream desktop PCs."
Boost in Floating Point and MMX Instruction Performance
A key component of the Cayenne core is the ability to execute four floating point
operations per cycle using dual MMX instruction units. This will deliver over 1 GFLOP peak
performance, a first for desktop PCs. In addition, the dual floating point reciprocal and
reciprocal-square-root instructions will execute five times faster on Cayenne than on the
Pentium™ II processor. These instructions are used extensively in lighting
calculations for 3D image processing.
The net result is that Cayenne will deliver in excess of 10 million meshed triangles
per second to an external 3D rendering engine – more than five times faster than the
Pentium II processor. Lastly, Cayenne will deliver single-cycle throughput on standard x86
floating point instructions.
Cayenne Core Summary
The Cayenne core will feature a dual-issue floating point and MMX instruction unit,
64KByte L1 cache, and an enhanced sixth-generation integer unit. Processors based on the
core will initially be manufactured using a .25-micron, 5-layer metal process. This
includes a C4 process for flip chip assembly. As a result, the core die size is expected
to be about 65mm2. Processors based on this core are expected to be in
production in 2H98 at speed ratings ranging from PR300 to PR400.
About Cyrix Corporation
Cyrix Corporation, (NASDAQ: CYRIX) headquartered in Richardson, Texas, is a leading
supplier of innovative microprocessor-based solutions that set new standards for the
personal computer market. The company delivers compelling value and quality to its
customers, the manufacturers of personal computer products, by combining industry leading
design with world class manufacturing. Cyrix’s customers include, Apple, Compaq,
CTX, Cybermax, FIC, Fujitsu, Hyundai, IBM, Trigem and Tulip. For more information visit
Cyrix’s web site at www.cyrix.com.
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