

The Octopart Microcontroller Price Index - janineyoong
http://octopart.com/blog/archives/2014/5/announcing-the-octopart-microcontroller-price-index

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ohazi
Is it just me, or are almost all of the microcontroolers in that "top 1000"
list from Microchip? If so, that doesn't seem like a very representative
sample.

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andres
There are other manufacturers in the top 1000 (e.g. Cypress, Adesto, Atmel)
but currently the list does seem to be heavily weighted towards Microchip.
This is a first stab at a component price index so it's a work in progress!

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sitkack
I don't really care about top microprocessors per se, I'd rather see a feature
/ price index. Meaning can I run a HLL on a micro, deep sleep, number of io,
pwms, usb, etc.

Track mips/watt/$ and ram/$ along with forecast lines. If design with $3 part
now, I'd like to know that it will drop to 1.75 in 2 years.

I find it rather ironic that filtering by price in product selectors is new
and or rare. We exist in an economy predicated on cost efficiencies, where
many of my designs are driven primarily on a price-point, part selection is an
iterative process where cost absolutely plays a role and often the first one.

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zokier
> I find it rather ironic that filtering by price in product selectors is new
> and or rare

I suppose it is much more common to ask "what is the cheapest thing that can
do foo and bar" rather than "what we can get for x dollars"

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sitkack
One then misses out on possibilities that open up by spending another 20
cents. Innovation occurs when new applications are unlocked by products moving
into different economic regimes.

Boolean satisfiability allows me to meet a design criteria, derivatives allow
me to innovate.

I would like to predict when full blown linux can run on a single chip (on die
ram and flash) for less than $2 or below 10 mW. I'd like to be able to track
when thresholds are crossed or a combination of features exist at a price
point.

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ISL
It'd be okay if you created an index of the price of the top-selling N
microcontrollers at any given time, rather than tracking them for their entire
life cycle. The 8086 was a great and important processor, but it's no longer
relevant to any discussion of processor prices.

The S&P 500 does this for stocks; perhaps their implementation and design
choices can find some application here?

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jmpe
"... but it's no longer relevant to any discussion of processor prices"

Kinda pedantic remark:

No longer relevant as a stand-alone device but don't overlook the IP core
market. It's pretty common to find one or more of these old cores as a module
in a more complex device (e.g. an FPGA) or as the base for an ASIC (esp.
automotive). Same for the 8088, 8051, 6502, ...

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hkmurakami
Do such uses of IP manifest itself in this price index though? (I presume not,
since even bare silicon prices should be several cents cheaper than a final
packaged discrete device for SIP uses)

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jmpe
One extreme is ARM cores: incredibly popular, there are several in your laptop
and probably half a dozen in your smartphone, ... ARM holdings is an IP &
design company, they design & license cores.

But regarding those old cores I mentioned ... lots of use because it's legacy
with lots of developers that know the architecture.

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kjs3
Doesn't appear to include any 8051 descendants. I have doubts.

