Multimedia is a well-known term, but "NSP" is very strange to many people. NSP(Native Signal Processing) refers to the main signal processing technology, which is a simple and convenient new technology to expand multimedia functions for personal computers. It was the chip giant Intel that first put forward the idea of developing NSP, and began to get a positive response from Microsoft. However, in 1996, Intel announced that it had abandoned NSP technology.
NSP technology is a set of platform specifications, including high-speed PCI chipset and API for loading and unloading voice, video and telephone to CPU. That is to say, in a high-performance computer system, multimedia data such as voice, video and remote communication will no longer be processed by special DSP chips, but will all be handled by CPU. In the NSP system, there will be only the motherboard and display card and very simple interfaces for connecting the host and multimedia peripherals, such as voice, TV, CD-ROM, etc. Instead of sound cards, graphics cards, TV cards, fax cards and other hard cards. Their functions will be completely completed by the CPU through specially designed NSP software, just like there are various hardware in the computer.
We call NSP an epoch-making technology because it has incomparable advantages over many multimedia hard cards at present.
First of all, it does not occupy the expansion slot of the system, which is the biggest difference between it and the hard card. I believe many friends have been troubled by the problem of insufficient expansion slots. At present, many Pentium II motherboards only provide 2 ISA expansion slots and 4 ~ 5 PCI expansion slots. There is basically nothing to plug into ISA expansion slot except ISA sound card and TV card, while PCI expansion slot can plug into sound card, video card, fax card, SCSI card and other peripheral interface cards. If you use the SLI modem of VOODOO 2 and your original PCI graphics card, you will have a PCI sound card, a PCI network card for networking and so on. NSP technology can help us solve this problem. These hard disks can be turned into software and stored in the hard disk, and the motherboard becomes empty. You don't have to worry about the failure of these hard cards anymore, at least your machine will get better heat dissipation.
Secondly, you don't have to worry about setting those annoying I/O addresses IRQ and DMA, and you don't have to worry about the compatibility between hard cards, because all hardware has been replaced by special software, and all NSP functions need software. Our hardware platform only needs to support running it. In this regard, Intel guarantees that NSP applications provided by any vendor can be compatible with each other as long as they meet the NSP platform specifications, and any multimedia software can be easily called.
The most important thing is that NSP can provide you with the best performance-price ratio. Look at the price comparison between "Super Jieba" and multi-function decompression card, and you will understand. Moreover, when your hardware can't meet your needs, such as your decompression card can't play your DVD, at this time, you can only upgrade your hardware. You must get a new card at this time, you know, it's a big expense. If you adopt NSP, you can upgrade your application at any time, and you can get the most advanced and perfect functions at little cost. For every computer enthusiast who keeps up with the trend of computer technology, NSP technology will help you keep up with the pace of computer development.
Although NSP technology has so many advantages, Intel gave up the research of NSP. However, many analysts have made optimistic predictions about NSP technology. Admittedly, NSP is a very good idea, and it is likely to become the main direction of PC development in the future. NSP will also unify multimedia computers and ordinary computers, so that all computers have multimedia functions. However, the current technical environment of NSP is not mature, the software and hardware platform of PC can't reach the required level, and the performance of Pentium and Pentium II processors at that time can't meet the requirements of NSP, which is considered as the main reason for Intel to give up the plan.
Although Intel claims to have abandoned NSP, it has actually cleared the way for the development of NSP intentionally or unintentionally: today, we have high-speed processors and high-speed chipsets with 0.25 or even 0. 18 micron integration; We have ultra-high-speed hard disks of UltraDMA/33 and UltraDMA/66 and high-speed memory with response time of several nanoseconds. We have a new generation of 100MHz or even 133MHz ultra-high speed bus. All these make NSP a natural thing gradually. We can be happy to see that a new era of NSP has arrived.
In fact, apart from Intel, many compatible chip manufacturers have done this work and achieved remarkable results. Cyrix, which has been acquired by NS, has been committed to the development of multifunctional chips. Media GX and GXM chips in the market all embody some features of NSP, such as high functional integration and simplified motherboard design. The company's next-generation chip products will integrate 3D acceleration, sound card, graphics card and even modem to become a cost-effective hardware platform.
We had hoped that software would replace Hanka and decompression card would be replaced by decompression software, but now these have become a reality. NSP technology conforms to this trend. It makes more hard cards into software, which makes us appreciate the charm of multimedia more conveniently and economically. We will wait and see the arrival of the NSP era.