WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.800 Modern CPUs are awesome. You can play games, create content, 00:00:03.800 --> 00:00:06.960 and even watch tech explainer videos with handsome hosts, 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:10.120 I guess it was supposed to be someone else, on the same machine. 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 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:18.880 that can do just one thing, but do it really, really well. 00:00:18.880 --> 00:00:23.800 Now there are lots of electronics that contain chips called A6 or FPGAs 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:28.920 instead of regular CPUs. And we're gonna explain what these are one at a time, 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:32.960 starting with A6. Not to be confused with the shoe company, 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:36.840 A6 stands for Application Specific Integrated Circuit 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:42.720 and it does exactly what it sounds like, processes data for one application. 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. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:56.800 A regular processor can apply many different kinds of calculations depending on what a program needs, 00:00:56.800 --> 00:01:01.280 but A6 are hardwired to perform only the calculations 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:05.260 or to run only the algorithms that are needed for a specific task. 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 00:01:10.120 --> 00:01:14.120 a semi-custom manner, where the fab has what's essentially 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:18.040 a blank template of logic gates, which are then permanently connected 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:23.520 according to the design the client needs. Meanwhile, other A6 are full custom designs 00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:28.320 where the entire chip and every transistor is pretty much designed from scratch. 00:01:28.320 --> 00:01:34.360 Unsurprisingly, because A6 are so specialized, they take a lot of time and money to develop. 00:01:34.360 --> 00:01:40.040 But because A6 are usually for small, highly integrated devices that ship lots of units, 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:43.360 the cost of an individual A6 tends to be quite low. 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, 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:56.080 but all of these are often low-cost products. Network switches are particularly interesting applications 00:01:56.240 --> 00:02:00.800 since a simple $15 unmanaged switch can handle network traffic better 00:02:00.800 --> 00:02:04.200 than a desktop CPU that costs 10 times as much. 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:07.640 But of course, there's a good chance you've heard of ASIC-based crypto miners 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:12.240 designed to run cryptographic hashes much more efficiently than a graphics card can. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.680 And those are quite expensive due to both demand 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:20.280 and the fact that they aren't as mass-produced as other ASIC-based devices. 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:23.520 And of course, there's the fact that they make you money. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:28.880 Let's switch gears right now and talk about FPGAs or field programmable gate arrays. 00:02:28.880 --> 00:02:32.520 How are those different? You can think of these as sitting somewhere 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:39.260 between an ASIC and a CPU. Their logic can be customized for specific applications, 00:02:39.260 --> 00:02:42.680 but unlike ASICs, they can actually be electrically 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:46.080 reprogrammed after they've been manufactured. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.160 You can think of the structure of an FPGA as being kind of like Lego blocks. 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 00:02:54.040 --> 00:02:57.680 and put them back together and make something completely different. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:01.960 Now, although FPGAs aren't quite as powerful as purpose-built ASICs, 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:06.600 their versatility has made them increasingly popular for machine learning applications 00:03:06.600 --> 00:03:12.120 as they can be optimized for different AI models in neural networks, yet still outperform 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:15.240 traditional CPUs and even GPUs. 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:18.480 But perhaps even more interesting is that you can reconstruct 00:03:18.480 --> 00:03:22.120 other kinds of processors inside an FPGA, 00:03:22.160 --> 00:03:26.360 including the ones from, say, for example, retro game consoles. 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 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:37.440 as faithfully as possible, such as the NT Mini and the Mega SG from Analog. 00:03:37.440 --> 00:03:40.960 The FPGAs inside those consoles contain circuitry 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:44.160 that very closely mimics the original NES 00:03:44.160 --> 00:03:48.480 and Sega Genesis processors, respectively, meaning that it's a much smoother 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 00:03:54.680 --> 00:04:00.000 that have gained popularity recently. Another really awesome FPGA project is the MR, 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 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:11.080 than reprogram the FPGA on the fly according to what you want to play. 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:14.200 It's kind of like a transformer, but on the inside, 00:04:14.200 --> 00:04:17.520 like that time I washed down a Mentos with a bottle of Pepsi. 00:04:18.200 --> 00:04:21.640 Oh, subscribe. That's the end.