[SOLVED] Comparing a generic PIC with an generic AVR

[pauloynski]

difference between avr and pic

Comparing a generic PIC with a generic AVR, both of almost the same size and same resources, is there something the PIC can do and the AVR can´t? Is there a true advantage using a PIC in any new project? I´m not lazzy about changing from a compiler to another. If someone can show me a good reason I´ll change. My doubt is, is there something a PIC does better than the AVR with respect to low power, speed, less glued logic, etc?

 

[nandhu015]

power consumption avr pic

I dont think so, AVR are better than PIC

Only difference i feel is the variety of PIC compared to that of AVR

Nandhu

 

[felis_CO]

pic better than avr

There is no difference between PIC and AVR for generic tasks. Whatever you are familiar with is the best one.

 

[svicent]

diference in pic & avr

Follow this link to read an expert opinion:

**broken link removed**

Insects of the computer world

"On the other hand, the venerable PIC architecture is by far the worst (or, C un-friendly). That's interesting, because this is the 8-bit market leader. I honestly don't understand how Microchip makes money when their chips require the most silicon for given functionality. Clearly some other forces than just technical merits must be at work here."

 

[pauloynski]

advantage of avr over pic

Thank you svicent. This text is very helpfull. As far as I know the development of the PICs began in 1975 and the AVRs in1996. This is why the PICs dominate the market untill now. The thing that really matters is: people who learn how to use one type of mcu is very lazzy about changing to a new technology. Eventhough, I think that the AVRs share today a slice market allmost equal to the PICs. Also, if you know about any comparison including the new AVR32s or ATxmegas please post it.

 

[srikanthsamaga]

avr 8 bit tiny10 microcontroller programing

AVRs are more faster than PICs, an AVR can execute 1 instruction in 1 machine clock cycle, whereas a PIC needs 4 machine clock cycles..

 

[shashavali_m]

avr video overlay

PIC has rich peripheral set compared to AVR and the support they give is awesome. For a begginer, PIC is good to start. To switch over PIC technology, the time spent to learn PIC is less compared to others.

 

[Kripton2035]

pic microchip avr comparison

in my opinion, avr are better than pic , perhaps because as said earlier they have been developed after ?
I use pic, because I learned on them, and they always have been sufficient to my needs.
may be in a video overlay application pic are not fast enought and avr is needed ?
by the way dont forget atmel is having some difficulties now, and there are rumors microchip buying atmel ...
will they do like microsoft and make atmel disappear with that, or maintain the avr technology ? that's the question.

 

[srikanthsamaga]

cost of pic icsp programmer board in chennai

PIC has rich peripheral set compared to AVR and the support they give is awesome. For a begginer, PIC is good to start. To switch over PIC technology, the time spent to learn PIC is less compared to others.

Actually I am a 8051 user and thought of trying AVR and PIC. I found AVRs easier than PIC, The PIC chip I bought is still in my desk unused, but the ATMEGA8 and ATMEGA16 already found their place in my circuits.
The difficulty I faced is building a programmer for PIC.
I had a ISP programmer which also worked for AVR.

 

[bobsanjose]

differences avr and pic

First of all there is no "generic PIC or generic AVR". There is nothing in the AVR world that compares in size and price to the PIC10. You need to look at specific requirements of an application to find whether a particular PIC device can do the job better or worse than an AVR.
AVR is the more recent / modern architecture. Some quotes from earlier postings are not exactly proof of deep knowledge though.
"AVR is faster because it executes one instruction in one cycle while PIC needs 4" If the PIC runs at 4x the MHz there is no difference in speed, in fact timers and serial interfaces might make use of the faster clock. Developing a PCB running at 48 MHz is however a little more tricky than one running at 12 MHz.
One question was about comparison of XMega and AVR32, well that is a pound of oranges versus a ton of apples. Two completely different architectures in regards to the CPU. They try to share peripherals and development tools as much as possible but the CPU is totally different.
Looking at AVR32 or even at XMega, you should also consider ARM / Cortex-M3 based devices. A XMega with 128KB flash is usually more expensive than a Cortex-M3 with 128 KB flash while the Cortex offers multiple times performance.
For some additional lecture, mostly about Cortex devices, you can browse through this site:
**broken link removed**

Bob

 

[Awarapunshee]

avr32 can

I think this discussion is endless, and there's lot of points given here and lots can be discuss. What I think one should consider is the cost, power consumption, development time, resources available etc. Why to buy a crane to lift a match box? where as it can be lifted with a hand. Same is, whether it is 4 machine or one machine cycle, if it can do the job easily (with less development time) and cost is less for 4 machine cycle, simply go for it. I have seen most of the projects can be done with less than half of the resources available in a MCU.

The person who did all the projects with AVR's only will insist of discussing its merits and saying the de-merits as ignorable and same is case with PIC's.

So in my opinion, one should choose and do the projects in a particular mcu and keep doing, so in this way he/she will get much expertise to develop.

 

[srikanthsamaga]

what is the difference between avr and pic

I agree with bobsanjose and Awarapunshee..
I mentioned about machine cycle because it was a noticeable difference in these two architectures..

 

[GSM Man]

video overlay avr

I've been an EE for over 30 years, and I've seen more than my share of "Tech Wars"; 'C' versus Assembler versus Basic; CP/M versus MS/DOS; PC versus Apple; Betamax versus VHS; Blu-ray versus HD DVD. The list goes on and on.

As some others have pointed out, success in the marketplace depends on a lot things, most of all Good marketing.

Having said that, I'm also a Microchip Design Partner so I have a lot of experience with Microchip. One of the things that sets Microchip processors apart from others is the breath of products they offer, with a wide variety of pin-compatible parts. If the need arises, I can easily substitute a part with more I/O, more memory, or a specific peripheral without the need to change my board layout or firmware. With over 200 variants no other manufacturer offers such versatility

 

[blueroomelectronics]

microchip attiny10

It's apples vs oranges.
I use PIC as I've used them for years.

 

[ME]

xmega comparation microcontroller pic

There is nothing in the AVR world that compares in size and price to the PIC10.

Atmel has recently released the 6-pin ATtiny10, which is pin compatible to PIC10F2xx.

Atmel Takes Industry's Leading Position in 6-pin Microcontrollers: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/view_detail.asp?FileName=ATtiny10_4_15.html&family_id=607

 

[bobsanjose]

cp/m avr

Although my contribution about PIC10 was one day after the ATtiny10 announcement I had not noticed it at the time, You are of course correct, that the tiny10 is the answer from Atmel to the PIC10.
The press release of Atmel reads like they will replace the PIC10 with their tiny10, I really don't think so.
A few comments are here:
**broken link removed**

Bob

 

[cubeusk]

pin compatible atmega8 microchip

I had begun in the world of microcontrollers with the old 8051, later I had learnt ATMEGA16 and in the end I learnt PIC16 obligatory at the University. And my opinion about the PIC's is that they are a bungle. They function well if you desing in a state machine way nothing but.

The argument that the PIC is an old architecture is not of value because the 8051 is as old as PIC and is a great microcontroller even today.

So I recommend to the rookies to start with the 8051.

Now I'm going to learn about the Cortex for my end career project.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

what is the diff bet a pic and an avr

The ancient but still used PIC 14bit cores are not very flexible compared to the modern 18F 16bit core.