TMS320C642x - Fixed Point DSP

Texas Instruments announced the immediate availability of samples of two new digital signal processors (DSPs) - the TMS320C6424 DSP and the TMS320C6421 DSP - that deliver more than 2.5X price/performance improvement, helping OEMs lower overall cost per channel of telecom enterprise gateway and IP-PBX products. 

Additional applications that are well-suited for the C642x DSPs include printers, scanners, copiers and wireless applications such as pico base stations, home gateways and wireless entertainment devices. TI's new C642x DSPs start at only $8.95 in 10 Ku quantities. Leveraging an effective combination of integrated peripherals, on-chip memory and high performance, the C642x DSPs address customers' needs to reduce overall system costs and improve performance in telecom and networked DSP applications.

The devices are 100 percent upward code-compatible with existing TMS320C6000TM DSPs and can be programmed utilizing TI's proven eXpressDSPTM software that supports open source and third party software. The processors are supported by new C6424 DSP evaluation module (EVM) and development tools, helping to simplify system development and encourage innovation.

The C642x DSPs provide high DSP performance at an affordable price. Based on the TMS320C64x+TM DSP core, the performance of the C6424 DSP and C6421 DSP peaks at 4800 MMACs at 600 MHz. Powerful I/O capabilities are enabled by the EDMA 3.0 with 4.8 GB/s throughput and the 333 MHz DDR2 memory interface. The C6421 DSP at 400 MHz is the lowest cost C64x DSP, and is pin for pin compatible with other C642x DSPs allowing scalability in performance, feature set and price. The on-chip Ethernet MAC reduces the bill of materials (BOM) for networked DSP applications.

The large on-chip memory further reduces BOM cost by reducing the need for external memory. The C6424 and C6421 DSPs deliver a 1.6X to 2X boost in raw DSP processing power (e.g. peak 16-bit MMACs), and with a 50 percent price reduction, enable more than a 2.5X price/performance improvement over previous generation DSPs.