comparison between PIC32 and ARM

PIC32 vs ARM

Hi friends
Recently i saw a discussion about PIC32 and ARM controllers

https://www.microchip.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=382117

Do u think MICROCHIP's PIC32 is more powerful than ARM controllers??


Basically I am a microchip fan and i don't have enough knowledge to compare PIC32 with ARM (I am new to ARM).

Re: PIC32 vs ARM

anandpv2009 said:

Hi friends
Do u think MICROCHIP's PIC32 is more powerful than ARM controllers??

Basically I am a microchip fan and i don't have enough knowledge to compare PIC32 with ARM (I am new to ARM).

Click to expand...

Most of the posters on that forum thread don't have much of a clue about ARM.

ARM processors range from parts costing less than US$1 to 2GHz clock speed devices capable of powering netbooks. There's a lot more ARM processors in the world than there are 8 bit PICs. My personal opinion is that Microchip have made a big mistake with PIC32, but I guess we'll see - it is a relatively new product and may still gain some traction, though.

If you're choosing a controller though, you care about cost, peripheral availability, free tools, example software etc. probably more than you care about the underlying architecture. If you're coding in C, it probably doesn't impact you that much.

Re: PIC32 vs ARM

Most often, your choice of a controller should be based on:
1. Application
2. Cost
3. Availability of resources (development tools, your knowledge, etc )

First and foremost your application dictates the controller you choose.

anandpv2009 said:

Do u think MICROCHIP's PIC32 is more powerful than ARM controllers??

Click to expand...

Indeed as pointed out by Riveywood, ARM runs up to the GHz.
"Powerful" is somehow vague. 56MHz might be very powerful for application A and 1.2GHz might be too little for application B.

If you plan to run a high-end application you might well be comparing ARM to other embedded processors like the X86 (AMG geode lx, intel Atom, etc). Most of the high-end ARM processors like the OMAP from TI, IMAX from Freescale, etc are mostly used for multimedia applications.

It is fair to compare only a certain class of ARM with PIC: ARM7 or Cotex -M3. These somehow fall under the same application domain as PIC..

I don't know much of PIC32, but I'd say if you already are in the PIC lineup, you should go there.
Microchip are probably gonna improve on the PIC32. They were new in the 16-bit field as well but there PIC24 and dsPIC30/dsPIC33 are quite good. I don't know about the other 16-bit micros, but I instantly chose PIC24 and dsPIC33 as I already knew PIC and it would probably be easier to learn PIC24/dsPIC33 than it would a new microcontroller.
Tahmid.

Hi

When I decide to use a new micro controller I base my decision on knowledge experience and resource available for that micro.
The arm best microcontroller have more resources then PIC ever have, today with the ARM cortex you cam also exchange between hardware using CMSIS software layer
Also with today given software driver library it is far more easy to use a arm micro in compeer to the first years of ARM7 microcontrollers (,LPC2106,LPC2138 etc..)

There for I vote for ARM best micro designs

All the best

Bobi

The microcontroller specialist

Yes ur right, but
As a PIC programmer I don't have enough time to study ARM archi. and programming concepts. If my knowledge is correct PIC32 is has equivalent or more power than ARM7 or ARM cortex.


So my vote is for PIC32

Had you the time, maybe you could have learnt both. But experience with PIC and time restraint, yeah, you should go for PIC32.

I agree with you, we always want to work with "the best" but usualy the best for others are not the best for us. Is necessary to think about how to get the support again, If you know people inside the supplyer which helps you or if you do not have time or bufget for new tools or your time-to-market is short, better to let it go the "I want the best" and keep the "let me use what I know well"...

My experience with Microchip was very very nice, the support was great and I learned many concepts...

Now I'm getting in touch with ARM7 and Cortex, Renesas H8 and R8C and NEC78K / V850 models. Some by the work and others by myself....

PIC32 IS THE BEST and ARM IS THE BEST

Hello my attention this post and I want to answer the most professionally possible

I work with ARM and PIC32
I started a large project with PIC32, when I started there was not even a single PIC32 market, but having much experience with the MIPS architecture and Microchip looking promising (128K of RAM, ethernet, usb etc..) made me decide to mount PIC32 on my board,

2 years after the first release on the market and sold more than 4000 pieces. in our company we plan to make the second release of our board, and I'm considering returning to ARM.

Why?
because the market is boss! PIC32 however the product is optimal, some limitations in the Fusion Hybrid microchip-mips32core and its costs for small quantities are high.

in the world there are many small vendors like my company can not buy 10000 pieces, but we must be competitive and do our projects in line with our capabilities.

to answer several affirming the superiority of the Cortex-M3 to the PIC32,
I would say that most of microcontrollers based on Cortex-M3 does not reach the performance of a MIPS core M4K mounted on the PIC32

According to me, microchip has not committed any error in producing the PIC32, we are undertaking their market space. getting closer and many people use 32-bit micros. maintaining the layer I/O compatible with micro 16bits.
making based on the MIPS architecture ILP is understandable to all and is an excellent starting point for creating software preemptive or cooperative multitasking

My personal advice is ability to move in different architectures and adapt your project to fit the same

There are projects where you need a MIPS32, another AVR64, another FPGA, other ARM7, one ARM9 and others where just a PIC10 or PIC12


I do not think that one should choose a microcontroller, just for the fact that whether or not there source code available on the network.

I leave here the differences

http://www.mips.com/products/processors/32-64-bit-cores/mips32-m4k/

http://www.arm.com/products/processors/cortex-m/cortex-m3.php

both are spectacular architectures


Greetings.