Hollywood is the name of the graphics processing unit

Graphics processing unit

A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...

 (GPU) used in Nintendo's

Nintendo

is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 Wii

Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

 video game console

Video game console

A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...

. It was designed by AMD's graphics product

ATI Technologies

ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...

 division and is manufactured using the same 90 nm CMOS process as the "Broadway"

Broadway (microprocessor)

Broadway is the codename of the 32-bit Central Processing Unit used in Nintendo's Wii video game console. It was designed by IBM, and is currently being produced using a 90 nm SOI process....

 processor. Very few official details have been released to the public by Nintendo, AMD, or IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

. The Hollywood GPU is reportedly based on the Nintendo GameCube's "Flipper" GPU and is clocked 50% higher at 243 MHz, though none of the clock rate

Clock rate

The clock rate typically refers to the frequency that a CPU is running at.For example, a crystal oscillator frequency reference typically is synonymous with a fixed sinusoidal waveform, a clock rate is that frequency reference translated by electronic circuitry into a corresponding square wave...

s have been confirmed by Nintendo, IBM, or AMD.

GPU is fixed function only.

The Hollywood is a multi-chip module

Multi-Chip Module

A multi-chip module is a specialized electronic package where multiple integrated circuits , semiconductor dies or other discrete components are packaged onto a unifying substrate, facilitating their use as a single component...

 (MCM) package containing two die

Die (integrated circuit)

A die in the context of integrated circuits is a small block of semiconducting material, on which a given functional circuit is fabricated.Typically, integrated circuits are produced in large batches on a single wafer of electronic-grade silicon or other semiconductor through processes such as...

s under the cover. One of the two chips, codenamed Napa, controls the I/O functions, RAM

Random-access memory

Random access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time. Strictly speaking, modern types of DRAM are therefore not random access, as data is read in...

 access, and the actual GPU with its embedded DRAM, and measures 8 × 9 mm. The other, codenamed Vegas, holds the Audio DSP

Digital signal processor

A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...

 and the 24 MB of "internal" 1T-SRAM

1T-SRAM

1T-SRAM is a pseudostatic random-access memory technology introduced by MoSys, Inc., which offers a high-density alternative to traditional static random access memory in embedded memory applications...

 and measures 13.5 × 7 mm.

The Hollywood also contains an ARM926

ARM architecture

ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...

 core, which has been unofficially nicknamed the Starlet. This embedded microprocessor performs many of the I/O functions, including controlling the wireless functionality, USB

Universal Serial Bus

USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

, the optical disc drive, and other miscellaneous functions. It also acts as the security controller of the system, performing encryption and authentication functions. The Hollywood includes hardware implementations of AES

Advanced Encryption Standard

Advanced Encryption Standard is a specification for the encryption of electronic data. It has been adopted by the U.S. government and is now used worldwide. It supersedes DES...

 and SHA-1, to speed up these functions. Communication with the main CPU is accomplished via an IPC

Inter-process communication

In computing, Inter-process communication is a set of methods for the exchange of data among multiple threads in one or more processes. Processes may be running on one or more computers connected by a network. IPC methods are divided into methods for message passing, synchronization, shared...

 mechanism. The Starlet performs the WiiConnect24

WiiConnect24

WiiConnect24 is a feature of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for the Wii console. It was first announced at E3 2006 by Nintendo. It enables the user to remain connected to the Internet while the console is on standby...

functions while the Wii console is in standby mode.