14 April, GDS-2000A scopes VS RIGOL DS2000 = GW Instek Wins with proofs

[Kiriakos GR]

News always travel fast those days, the information that the latest GW Instek GDS-2000A are using as main processor the chip of Analogue Devices ADSP-BF531,  and also the fact that those RIGOL DS-2000 are using an similar ADSP-BF526 clocked at 400MHz too.
 
Made me to search and find and compare their datasheets.
RIGOL uses the ADSP-BF526, which the Analogue Devices datasheet looks a bit fresher,
even so I did find their secret.   

My old passion about the best method so to Over clock my PC, forced me to read allot of INTEL spreadsheets in the past, and in a way raised my awareness about north bridges and the contribution of the faster memory controllers regarding over all performance.

By my direct comparison between the ADSP-BF531 (Instek) VS ADSP-BF526 ( RIGOL).
It is 100% a fact that the GDS-2000A comes with an faster SDRAM Interface Timing. 

While the differences are in the level of nanoseconds when we search to find the winner, every bit counts.

I will offer direct links to those datasheets and if you feel eager to spot the differences,
its all here.   

ADSP-BF531 (Instek) SDRAM Interface Timing / Page 31 http://www.analog.com/static/imported-files/data_sheets/ADSP-BF531_BF532_BF533.pdf

ADSP-BF526 ( RIGOL) SDRAM Interface Timing / Table 37./ Page 46 http://www.analog.com/static/imported-files/data_sheets/ADSP-BF522_BF523_BF524_BF525_BF526_BF527.pdf

[GeorgeVita]

...  comparison between the ADSP-BF531 ... VS ADSP-BF526

Although firmware can make the difference between two "comparable level" h/w platforms, ADSP-BF526 has more internal memory resources (larger L1 memory) but ADSP-BF531 runs faster as its datasheet states. Reading Analog Devices Embedded Processors and DSP Selection Guide 2012 (page 21) and Analog Devices EES-003: Processors in Portable Healthcare (page 9), the manufacturer promotes BF526 as "lower power" and BF531 as "better performance" into selection table. Price of BF531 is about the half of BF526. On the other hand, debugging is a time consuming procedure with the most part in measurement setup.

As always, a honest "real world comparison" can give the true answer. Can you get a Rigol DS20xx for tests?

[Kiriakos GR]

In regard to CPU performance it is know that the lower L1 drives to better memory timings.
The gain is double:
1) Fast and responsive behavior.
2) CPU takes a better advantage of the memory.

Regarding RIGOL I have send one email in Germany to rigoltech.com and Mr. Wolfgang Bartels,
I did that at 7 of April, I  have not receive a response yet.