New STM32H7s Are the Fastest Cortex-M7 MCUs Available
Could it run Doom? Mostly likely.
STMicroelectronics is well-known for its STM32 microcontroller family. Many of us are familiar with their capabilities with boards like the Blue Pill. Their latest introductions the STM32H7 are incredibly powerful microcontrollers, perhaps the most powerful, now available today.
At its core, the new STM32H7s contain an Arm Cortex-M7 running at 550 MHz. It is the fastest clocked M7 that includes on-chip non-volatile memory. That point is essential because of the adage, "it isn't just about clock speed." The STM32H7s' clock speed is slightly slower than the processor used in PJRC's Teeny 4.0 board. That board contains a different vendor's processor running at 600 MHz. The exciting development is that the STM32H7's CoreMark score is 2278 from internal or external memory. When run from internal flash memory, the CoreMark score jumps up to 3324, which is faster, and maybe the fastest available today with an Arm Cortex-M7 core. STMicro's engineers achieved this benchmark score by leveraging their unique non-volatile-memory (NVM) storage technology and 64kb of L1 cache.
Raw performance is not the only feature that the new STM23H7s brings to market it. Their key features include:
- Arm Cortex-M7 @ 550 MHz
- 1 Mbyte on-chip Flash embedded storage
- 564 KB of RAM
- ST32Trust Security Suite Support
- STM32Cube (X-CUBE AI) Support
- X-CUBE-TouchGFX For graphical UIs
- Integrated switched-mode power supply
- Two 16-bit ADCs and One 12-bit ADC
- Popular I/O Interfaces: FD-CAN, Ethernet, PSSI
Who benefits most from the new STM32H7s? Well, we see a couple of targets. Clearly, if you need high-performance in an embedded system, it packs a lot of power. The integrated security tools make it very capable of secure edge computing applications. If neither of those points is impressive enough to excite you, consider the chip's integrated switch-mode power supply and its ability to operate at 125 degrees Celcius.
Those of us ready to develop with the new STM32H7s have a couple of options. The Nucleo-H723ZG contains an STM32H723ZG with Arduino support. Another option is the Discovery Kit with the STM32H7235IG.
STMicroelectronics has taken a significant step forward with the STM32H723, STM32H733, STM32H725, STM32H735, and STM32H730. At prices in the range of $2.83 in quantities of 10,000, they are an excellent value for the performance they pack. For more information, check out this STMicro STM32H7 announcement blog post, which contains additional details.