Remix.run Logo
kens 3 hours ago

Usually, it's not worth the effort of converting microcode into discrete logic to get performance. Among other things, it's a mess to try to fix a bug.

A few exceptions: The different models of the IBM System/360 mainframe are almost all microcoded, except for the high-end machines, which were hard-wired for performance. The design of the Apollo Guidance Computer is microcode, but the implementation is discrete logic. The 8086 and derivatives are microcoded, except NEC created a faster hard-wired version, the V33.