Perfomance Differences between evaluation boards

[mailmail9116]

Posted on May 09, 2013 at 15:51

Hi All ,

Our company is a proud owner of a STM32f4 evaluation board ( cortex M4F) , We recived another evaluation board for our client that is (ARM7TDMI board). Before starting the migration to the ARM7 evalution board, we want to know if the hardware is strong enough for us,so we wont waste anytime to discover it later.   Our project utilize many DSP algorithems (that takes advantage of the FPU) , heavy usage of SDIO , and of course around 1 megabyte of memory  . So , i was thinking to do the following tests on both evaluation boards ,and see the performance differences  between them : Math : Addition , Subtraction,Division,Multiplication , Abs and Sqrtf  . It will run i a loop ( and ofcoure only float numbers will be used). SDIO : read/write a 2 kilobyte buffer in a loop Memory : read/write to the external and interal RAM in a loop. In your opinion , do this results will give as any indication about the performance differneces ,and what  to expect from the ''real'' project ? if not what more test should i conduct ? Thanks Michael #benchmarks

[dthedens23]

Posted on May 09, 2013 at 16:52

ARM7TDMI a 10 year old part vs. a new Cortex M4?

The M4 will run rings around the other.''She's fast enough for you old man.  What's the cargo?''

[jpeacock2399]

Posted on May 10, 2013 at 15:53

Having moved from an STR750 (ARM7TDMI, 60MHz) circa 2006 to an STM32F4 now I can confirm it's a waste of time to benchmark the two parts.  There is no area where the ARM7TDMI part comes close to the performance levels of a Cortex M4.

But if you must, why not also compare the M4 to an 8051 or a PIC33, or any number of end-of-life processor families......   Jack Peacock

[jj2]

Posted on May 10, 2013 at 17:58

''We received another evaluation board for our client that is (ARM7TDMI)''

Quote above close enough to, ''received from our client,'' which of course casts different light upon your care/handling.  If indeed - client was that involved - suspect you must test their device - or at minimum -present a detailed case why such effort is ''folly.'' If ARM7 was not from ''client'' - nearest landfill eagerly awaits...