"That's it!"
Lin Lixin slammed his hand on the table, his thoughts instantly becoming clear.
"Huh? What? What happened?"
Vivian was still immersed in the discussion about the new graphics card design when Lin Lixin's sudden outburst startled her.
"DSP! Damn it, it's the curse of knowledge again. I really need to clear my head."
A DSP is actually a digital signal processor.
As its name suggests, it is a device focused on signal processing.
Generally speaking, it is used as an audio codec.
Sound card, communication, sensors...
It is indispensable in any field involving signal processing.
But this is its future.
It is precisely because of this that Lin Lixin's thinking has been constantly led astray. As the saying goes, the more you know, the easier it is to fall into a cognitive trap.
So the more you know, the less you know, and the more applause you'll receive.
In the late 1980s, when semiconductor technology was still in its infancy, DSPs often had another, more important role besides audio processing.
3D calculation!
Different devices often have different functions.
The GPU's strength is not actually mathematical calculation, but parallel processing, which is the path that Novaradeon has been committed to since its inception.
The same applies to DSPs; their forte is MAC (Macro Multiplication, Accumulation, and Addition) operations.
In other words, it is a chip focused on efficient mathematical calculations.
In what situations do video games require a massive amount of mathematical calculations?
The answer is obvious: 3D games.
The 3D world has always been a challenging area for mathematics, with thousands of vertices undergoing spatial changes in every frame.
Behind this lies a massive amount of matrix operations. This is also why the seemingly incredible fast square root algorithm they developed in "Quake" was able to significantly improve 3D performance.
And DSP... it happens to be an expert in this field.
In this day and age, it's more accurate to say that the GPU is the coprocessor for the DSP rather than the graphics card's coprocessor.
The main CPU sends all the data, the DSP processes it, and then it is passed to the GPU for rendering.
Without this crucial intermediate step, all the spatial calculations are dumped on the graphics card.
"No wonder it's so laggy..."
Lin Lixin rubbed his throbbing temples.
This was truly a huge mistake.
According to the original timeline, Nvidia didn't truly and effectively solve this problem until around 1999 with the GeForce 256.
But it's too far off to talk about that now.
So what exactly happened?
Vivian looked at Lin Lixin was jumping up and down in surprise, with a puzzled expression. "Do you still remember what the 'h' in Athena means?"
"Of course I remember. Heterogeneous computing, it refers to the distributed processing architecture where the graphics card and CPU each perform their respective functions."
Vivian nodded immediately in response.
After all, she was the highest-ranking person in charge of this project besides Lin Lixin, so she naturally knew more about it than anyone else.
From its inception, athena abandoned the expectation that it could stand alone and handle any task.
It has excellent inherent compatibility with distributed processing.
Make the most of all the resources on the computer and squeeze out every last bit of performance.
"That's right, what we need to do now is to further modularize the task and extract the displacement calculation as well."
Lin Lixin smiled and said that in this era where the performance of CPUs and GPUs is very limited, this is the best solution he could find.
"Alright, I know how to solve this problem. Let's contact Texas Instruments; we need to purchase a batch of top-of-the-line equipment."
Texas Instruments ' TMS32025 is an excellent DSP with mature technology and a high frequency of up to 49.152MHz.
After much effort, this circuit board, which is probably the most high-performance board Gamenova has ever created, was finally born.
Needless to say, the CPU is the great Athena chip.
Under extreme conditions, it can reach a frequency that is infinitely close to 80MHz, which is enough to crush all competitors of the same period.
Two Texas Instruments products >t
They barely caught up with Athena, and were responsible for handling the massive 3D calculations required for the game.
The GPU is a specially selected version from Novaradeon.
The final result was a performance monster with a resolution of 640x480 pixels and a stable 60 frames per second.
The development department received the first batch of test platforms early on and officially launched the project's research and development.
On May 9th, the gameplay verification demo was officially launched.
However, unlike usual, this time Lin Lixin specially invited several friends to experience this most extravagant arcade machine that Gamenova has ever made.
Around noon, three different private cars headed to Gamenova.
The first to arrive was Lin Lixin's old friend Michael Jack, followed by Tom Cruise, who was already in Hollywood.
Finally, there was Lockheed CEO Tailaipu, who rushed over by car himself. These three individuals perfectly represented three different player groups, each with a distinct style, making them ideal for this trial event.
Maikou is a typical casual player who enjoys simple, pure fun and can well reflect the universality of this game.
Tom Cruise, on the other hand, was more like a complete outsider. Before meeting Lin Lixin and participating in the filming of the promotional video, Tom Cruise didn't really have much experience with video games.
His gaming experience is enough to reflect how well this game is received by a casual player who is interested in the subject matter but knows nothing about the game.
As for Tailaipu, the CEO who is a Lockheed engineer by training, he also has multiple identities such as a hardcore gamer and a military enthusiast, which is enough to explore the depth of this game.
When Tailaipu arrived, the two who had arrived earlier were already having a great time.
It seemed that Maikou had already played several rounds and was exchanging experiences with the development team. Will quickly typed his words into the computer.
Lin Lixin, meanwhile, leaned back in his chair, watching Tom Cruise playing the game with awe.
Tom Cruise leaned back in his seat, holding a joystick in each hand, operating the controls with a professional air.
It has to be said that Tom Cruise is one of the Hollywood stars whose good looks have remained intact for the longest time.
Tom Cruise in the 2014 blockbuster " Edge of Tomorrow " looks almost the same as he does now, except that his facial features have matured a bit.
Tom Cruise still retains a touch of youthful innocence and hasn't fully matured. Compared to white people, whose good looks generally have a shorter shelf life, Tom Cruise seems to have eternal youth, even becoming more charming with age.
"Seriously, you'd be incredibly handsome in a spy movie... Oh, hey, Tailaipu, you've come at just the right time."
"Mr. Lin, is this the arcade machine?"
Tailaipu approached in surprise, gazing at the machine.
Strictly speaking, this should be considered a mid-sized arcade machine.
It doesn't have the massive, immersive cabin of a large arcade machine, but it's small yet complete in every way.
The seats have a deliberately designed large recline angle.
Tom Cruise was more like lying down inside than sitting inside.
This is clearly modeled after the cockpit design of the F-16.
He gripped the control levers on either side with both hands, and could complete all operations at an extremely comfortable angle without even raising his arms.
However, compared to the actual F-16 cockpit, this machine is still simplified in many ways. The biggest change is naturally the instrument panel, which has been greatly reduced, retaining only parameters used in the game such as the altimeter, and is mostly used for decoration, controlled via the GPIO data port of the game board.
"Whoosh--"
As Tailaipu was admiring this amazing masterpiece, he heard a loud thruster roar coming from a pair of stereo speakers.
"Damn! let's fu*cking gooooo!!!"
Tom Cruise shouted excitedly, removing his fingers from the cap on the joystick.
There's no need to forcefully press any buttons; simply moving your finger slightly is enough to control all the functions on the fighter jet.
He can launch a full hundred air-to-air missiles in one game, which is more than enough for him to enjoy.
Anyone with even a modicum of passion and enthusiasm would find it hard to keep their heart racing while sitting in this arcade machine.
Although Top Gun is an Air Combat movie, Tom Cruise is not a real pilot, so it's impossible for him to actually fly an F-14 around in the sky.
This has always been a regret for him.
How wonderful it would be to actually sit in an F-14 and pilot this masterpiece of America defense technology.
Not only Tom Cruise, sitting in the cockpit, but even Tailaipu, standing beside him watching the screen, was instantly stunned. "This is amazing..."
Although Lockheed had participated in some of the hardware development work, and even the hydraulic rods in the cockpit were designed by their engineers, this was the first time he had ever seen actual footage of the aircraft.
Unlike past flight shooting games which were essentially 2D, Gamenova has actually created a proper 3D Air Combat game.
3D! Air Combat!
This means that the aircraft can truly fly freely in the sky in any posture, with no blind spots, at any angle.
While Gamenova has already done 3D racing, driving on a track and multi-axis maneuvering in the sky are completely different concepts.
"... Um?"
Watching the missile rapidly approaching the enemy, and Tom Cruise's maneuvering after launch, the experienced pilot Tailaipu keenly sensed that something seemed amiss.
"What? The maneuver angle is too high?"
Lin Lixin noticed his confusion and explained with a smile,
"We made some compromises for the sake of gameplay, but we left a backdoor; it only takes adjusting a few parameters."
"No... these are to make the game more fun, I understand." Tailaipu shook her head, staring intently at the screen.
"Could you launch a few more missiles so I can see?"
Upon hearing this, Tom Cruise immediately located the new enemy and pressed the button on his coolie hat that represented an air-to-air missile.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh--"
Several missiles were launched as if they were free, having absolutely nothing to do with "real-world Air Combat."
However, Tailaipu's attention was not on the outrageous amount of ammunition, but rather on the trajectory of the missiles.
When he saw the missile heading straight for the fighter jet that was maneuvering to evade it, he raised an eyebrow and revealed a knowing look.
"Mr. Lin, the missile's tracking algorithm... it's aimed directly at the target's direction, right?"
"Hmm? Is that so? How so?"
"Let me try it later. Theoretically speaking... I can avoid these missiles 100%."
Tracking-based air-to-air missiles are products of the 1950s and 60s.