1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,800 Modern CPUs are awesome. You can play games, create content, 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,960 and even watch tech explainer videos with handsome hosts, 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:10,120 I guess it was supposed to be someone else, on the same machine. 4 00:00:10,120 --> 00:00:14,720 But as great as this versatility is, there are times when you'd really rather have a chip 5 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,880 that can do just one thing, but do it really, really well. 6 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:23,800 Now there are lots of electronics that contain chips called A6 or FPGAs 7 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:28,920 instead of regular CPUs. And we're gonna explain what these are one at a time, 8 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,960 starting with A6. Not to be confused with the shoe company, 9 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,840 A6 stands for Application Specific Integrated Circuit 10 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:42,720 and it does exactly what it sounds like, processes data for one application. 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:50,360 This is because A6 are built very differently from your typical x86 or ARM or RISC-5 general processor. 12 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,800 A regular processor can apply many different kinds of calculations depending on what a program needs, 13 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,280 but A6 are hardwired to perform only the calculations 14 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:05,260 or to run only the algorithms that are needed for a specific task. 15 00:01:05,260 --> 00:01:10,120 This hardwiring can happen in a couple of ways. Some A6 are manufactured in what's called 16 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:14,120 a semi-custom manner, where the fab has what's essentially 17 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,040 a blank template of logic gates, which are then permanently connected 18 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:23,520 according to the design the client needs. Meanwhile, other A6 are full custom designs 19 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:28,320 where the entire chip and every transistor is pretty much designed from scratch. 20 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:34,360 Unsurprisingly, because A6 are so specialized, they take a lot of time and money to develop. 21 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:40,040 But because A6 are usually for small, highly integrated devices that ship lots of units, 22 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,360 the cost of an individual A6 tends to be quite low. 23 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:50,640 For example, the chips inside USB chargers or network switches or even electronic toys are often A6, 24 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:56,080 but all of these are often low-cost products. Network switches are particularly interesting applications 25 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,800 since a simple $15 unmanaged switch can handle network traffic better 26 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,200 than a desktop CPU that costs 10 times as much. 27 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,640 But of course, there's a good chance you've heard of ASIC-based crypto miners 28 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:12,240 designed to run cryptographic hashes much more efficiently than a graphics card can. 29 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,680 And those are quite expensive due to both demand 30 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:20,280 and the fact that they aren't as mass-produced as other ASIC-based devices. 31 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,520 And of course, there's the fact that they make you money. 32 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:28,880 Let's switch gears right now and talk about FPGAs or field programmable gate arrays. 33 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,520 How are those different? You can think of these as sitting somewhere 34 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:39,260 between an ASIC and a CPU. Their logic can be customized for specific applications, 35 00:02:39,260 --> 00:02:42,680 but unlike ASICs, they can actually be electrically 36 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:46,080 reprogrammed after they've been manufactured. 37 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:50,160 You can think of the structure of an FPGA as being kind of like Lego blocks. 38 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,040 Once you put them together, they'll stay that way, but you can always take them apart 39 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,680 and put them back together and make something completely different. 40 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,960 Now, although FPGAs aren't quite as powerful as purpose-built ASICs, 41 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,600 their versatility has made them increasingly popular for machine learning applications 42 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:12,120 as they can be optimized for different AI models in neural networks, yet still outperform 43 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,240 traditional CPUs and even GPUs. 44 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,480 But perhaps even more interesting is that you can reconstruct 45 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,120 other kinds of processors inside an FPGA, 46 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:26,360 including the ones from, say, for example, retro game consoles. 47 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:32,000 There have been some really cool projects that use an FPGA to recreate the retro gaming experience 48 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,440 as faithfully as possible, such as the NT Mini and the Mega SG from Analog. 49 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,960 The FPGAs inside those consoles contain circuitry 50 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,160 that very closely mimics the original NES 51 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:48,480 and Sega Genesis processors, respectively, meaning that it's a much smoother 52 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:54,680 and more accurate experience than software emulation, like what gets used by those classic plug-and-play consoles 53 00:03:54,680 --> 00:04:00,000 that have gained popularity recently. Another really awesome FPGA project is the MR, 54 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:06,520 another gaming device that actually allows you to choose between different old-school consoles and arcade games 55 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:11,080 than reprogram the FPGA on the fly according to what you want to play. 56 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:14,200 It's kind of like a transformer, but on the inside, 57 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,520 like that time I washed down a Mentos with a bottle of Pepsi. 58 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,640 Oh, subscribe. That's the end.