Killer hardware

The components that made the Jaguar roar

1 the 64-bit data bus

■ the heart of the system and the main reason that many followers of the consoles refer to it as being a 64-bit system.

2 2Mb ram

■ Unlike many other systems of the time this was universal rather than being separated for video, audio etc. there is also a 64-bit memory controller contained within ‘tom’ CPU to manage this.

3 Motorola 68000 @ 13.3 Mhz 4 tom risc Chip @ 26.6 Mhz

■ a true example of the Jaguar’s multiprocessor architecture, tom is defined as the Jaguar’s CPU and contains a 32-bit GPU as well as the 64-bit Blitter and 64-bit object Processor.

5 Jerry risc Chip @ 26.6 Mhz

■ the Jaguar’s 32-bit DSP is responsible for a multitude of tasks including audio output, Uart for connection to other machines and it can also be used as multipurpose processor.