Roccat selects NXP microcontrollers

In designing its new Savu gaming mouse and Isku gaming keyboard, Roccat Studios selected 32-bit microcontrollers from NXP Semiconductors N.V. “Both Savu and Isku, our flagship gaming products for 2012, combine the world’s smartest and most advanced gaming engineering with jaw-dropping design features,” said René Korte, Roccat founder and CEO. “NXP’s high-performance Cortex-M3 microcontrollers deliver the high-performance system capabilities we needed to implement the device functions that unleash the gaming legend in you.” Inside the 'Tough New King of Optical Mice' The ROCCAT Savu Mid-Size Hybrid Gaming Mouse uses the NXP LPC1343 microcontroller with a 72-MHz ARM Cortex-M3 processor. The microcontroller communicates with Savu’s unique 4000 dpi optical sensor via an SPI interface, helping to deliver speed and control for highly accurate game commands. With 8 KB of SRAM, 32 KB of Flash, 26 GPIOs, 4 timers, and a 10-bit ADC, the LPC1343 controls and reacts to the gaming mouse’s five buttons and ultra-precise 2D scroll wheel, which supports up to 12 macro functions. User input is sent every millisecond, via the LPC1343 microcontroller’s USB 2.0 Full-Speed USB PHY. Acting faster instead of hunting for keys The Roccat Isku Illuminated Gaming Keyboard uses the 120-MHz LPC1752 microcontroller, which provides an ultra-fast 1-ms response to user inputs via its USB 2.0-certified Full-Speed USB interface, supporting a 1000-Hz polling rate. The LPC1752 microcontroller has 16 KB SRAM, 64 KB Flash, and 52 GPIOs to support Isku’s 123 blue-illuminated keys with 6 brightness levels, 36 macro keys, 8 configurable media and hotkeys, and 5 profile-status LEDs. “Roccat Studios is defining breathtaking new features for gaming devices, and we’re very pleased that NXP Cortex-M3 is their microcontroller of choice for high-precision game play,” said Jan Jaap Bezemer, director of marketing, microcontroller business line, NXP Semiconductors. “From gaming to industrial applications, our broad portfolio of 32-bit ARM microcontrollers offer a rich set of options for high-performance Human Interface Devices that are transforming the way we interact with the digital world today.”