Parallel processors require entirely new operating systems and applications programs to coordinate the action of many processors working in tandem.

The processor required three power sources ( 5, +5 and +12 volt(V)) and two non-interlacing high-amplitude synchronization signals.

Especially when samples are processed multiple times, the processors require sample cooling.

Such a processor may require additional control circuitry to detect hidden side effects and stall the pipeline if the next instruction depends on the results of those effects.

The disp[] array is needed because processors require the variables to be aligned a specific way on the memory.

Microprogrammed processors, popular from the 1960s to the 1980s and beyond, took multiple cycles per instruction, and generally did not require branch prediction.

"Other processors require precutting, but this one saves you that step," Davie notes.

Of course, not all data ends up confined to a single task, which means that more than one processor may require the same data.

To maintain or exceed the performance of Intel's newer processors would require a significant redesign.

However, both processors required external chips to implement a working system, raising total system cost, and making it impossible to economically computerize appliances.