Currently when I work with microcontrollers, I use Microchip PICs and I'm happy enough with them. However, I decided to just take a look at ARM for a possible upcoming project. I wanted the pick the best (fastest at calculations at the cheap/low-power end) ARM. On the ARM website(here), the Cortex M0+ is listed at 2.46 CoreMark/MHz. I thought that CoreMark rating would apply to all microcontrollers with M0+ cores but on the Atmel SAM D20 page the microcontroller is listed as having 2.14 CoreMark/MHz. I read on some websites that the compiler affects the CoreMark score. I have also seen websites list an M0+ as having 1.77 CoreMark/MHz without talking about a compiler (element14). I also noticed ARM talks about the M0+ on a 40LP process while the element14 site talks about the ARM on a 90LP process. Unfortunately I am not knowledgeable about chip scale processor manufacturing.
So my questions are;
- Do variants of the M0+ processor core exist? If yes, how do you spot which is which?
- If programmed by assembly language, would all microcontrollers with ARM Coretex M0+ cores have the same CoreMark rating?
By the way, the micro I intend to use is of the MKL03Z family. Any more info would be appreciated.
Thanks!