Word: risc
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Microprocessors can be divided into two groups: CISC chips and RISC chips. The two architectures are fundamentally different approaches to processor performance, which is the measurement of how long it takes for the chip to perform a task using three factors: cycles per instruction, time per cycle and instructions per task...
...CISC (an acronym for complex instruction set computer) approach is to have many instructions and few instructions per task. The RISC (an acronym for reduced instruction set computer) approach is to cut down on the number of instructions the microprocessor understands, but to execute the small number of instructions more quickly...
Without question, these machines are fast. While the Power Macintosh desktop is functionally identical to that of the typical Motorola 68040-based Mac, under the hood the new series is fueled by the PowerPC 601. This is a RISC (reduced instruction set computing) microprocessor that claims to yield "two to four times the performance of today's Intel 1486 and Motorola 680x0-based personal computers," according to an Apple press release...
...only PowerPC model currently available is the 50MHz 601, whose internal crystal clock ticks 50 million times per second. The PowerPC adheres to the RISC, or Reduced Instruction Set Computing, standard, which aims at achieving high computing speed by having a small number of machine instructions that can be executed quickly...
...battle between the two strategies appears to be won by the RISC side, as evidenced by the proliferation of RISC systems and RISC features included in the Pentium and the Motorola 68050, a chip still in development. Despite all the heat in the microprocessor industry, most users need not be concerned since many of the new systems will be able to run software written for rival machines...