Transmeta (Semiconductor) (TMTA)

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Lower power tech could see longer, faster PlayStation goodness.

27th Jan 2005

http://spong.com/detail/news.asp?mode=news&type=n&cid=&pid=&vid=&prid=8275&n...

Transmeta confirmed speculation on Monday that Sony has licensed its LongRun2 technology. Old and not altogether riveting news, you might think. We suggest it's potentially quite exciting. LongRun2 is a power management technology that reduces the voltage required to activate transistors in Large Scale Integrated circuits (LSI), even shutting them down completely when they are not in use. As more transistors are crammed on each chip, the more pronounced the problem becomes - and the improvements LongRun2 can bring.

Sony plans to use the technology on it's 90nm chip fabrication, such as those used in its DVD recorders, and of course, the PSP's 90nm CPU and Media Engine. Lower power consumption can only be a good thing for the PSP, blighted since conception by claims of sub-two hour battery life. Though the release of the handheld has demonstrated much better battery life, it's far from ideal. There's no doubt that LongRun2 will help improve the situation, though isn't going to alter the heavy drain created by the UMD drive motor.

Of course, a reduction in power consumption results in less heat generated within the chip. In applications where battery life is never going to be an issue, let's just suggest the PS3's 90nm CELL processor, then as every overclocker knows, there's the opportunity to increase the chip's clock speed for better performance. Don't get your hopes up just yet. With license deals of this magnitude taking months to cut through corporate red-tape, there's a pretty good chance that the recently announced 4.6GHz clock speed for CELL already catered for the inclusion of LongRun2.

On an interesting side note, Transmeta and nVidia have long been close friends and collaborators, with rumours going so far as to suggest that nVidia may even buy Transmeta. With Transmeta, Sony and nVidia all working closely together, it's hard not to speculate that PS3's nVidia GPU might use LongRun2 for better performance.

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