Does anyone know of other ASICs ? For instance, what's to stop someone creating an ASIC USB drive similar to the Block Erupter but for Photoshop ? Is that sort of application feasible ?
Actually there are USB devices sold that will accelerate hardware video compression. 
Topic: ASICs for other projects (Read 808 times)
Does anyone know of other ASICs ? For instance, what's to stop someone creating an ASIC USB drive similar to the Block Erupter but for Photoshop ? Is that sort of application feasible ?
Actually there are USB devices sold that will accelerate hardware video compression.
You're welcome.
Thanks. Understood. And appreciated.
This isn't mining related…
Correct. Well done.
However, I thought some guys who understood the concept of Application Specific Integrated Circuits might be able to shed some light on my question. And I felt that they may be on this forum.
Naughty boy for even considering that. I stand corrected.
ASICs contain specific mathematical operations or algorithms in a physically, hardcoded way. It's the algorithm you want to perform in circuit form.
Let's take SHA256 for example:
http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/sha256.html
Scroll down and you'll find a JavaScript implementation of this algorithm. You'll see it's fairly simple, if you can call it that. Some logical operations here, some logical operations there, all in all maybe 100 lines of code. So developing an ASIC you'll take this algorithm and try to construct electronic circuits that emulate these logical operations. As you can imagine this has been shown to be quite a challenge to develop properly. At least compared to simply writing the code (or porting it to another programming language).
Now take Photoshop. That's like, a gazillion lines of code. Which would probably be a pain in the ass to construct as an ASIC. And with every Adobe update (and you know how much adobe loves their updates) you'd have to physically replace parts of the circuit.
So ASICs for complex software like Photoshop? Definitely not feasible. ASICs for other logical operations and algorithms? Already in use, eg. from what I recall GPUs usually contain ASICs for often required calculations.
Question answered?
This isn't mining related…
Correct. Well done.
However, I thought some guys who understood the concept of Application Specific Integrated Circuits might be able to shed some light on my question. And I felt that they may be on this forum.
Naughty boy for even considering that. I stand corrected.
Lol, you're an idiot. I quickly skimmed through your post, which is why I didn't realize you meant other purposes for ASICs. Also, good job defining ASIC; would you like a trophy, diploma, badge, or golden star?
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This isn't mining related…
Correct. Well done.
However, I thought some guys who understood the concept of Application Specific Integrated Circuits might be able to shed some light on my question. And I felt that they may be on this forum.
Naughty boy for even considering that. I stand corrected.
This isn't mining related…
Not unless Photoshop needs double SHA256 hashes, for some reason.
Does anyone know of other ASICs ? For instance, what's to stop someone creating an ASIC USB drive similar to the Block Erupter but for Photoshop ? Is that sort of application feasible ?
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