MSP430 vs 8051 | Difference between MSP430 and 8051 Microcontroller
MSP430 Microcontroller
MSP430 is the microcontroller developed by Texas Instruments (TI).
Following are the features of MSP430 Microcontroller:
• It is 16 bit in size and consists of special features commonly not supported by generic 8051 microcontroller.
• It includes LCD control, ADC, Input / Output ports, RAM, ROM, watchdog timer, basic timer, UART etc.
• It consumes very low power which is about 4.2 nW per instruction.
• It has high speed of operation i.e. it takes about 300 ns per instruction @ clock of 3.3 MHz .
• It is based on RISC architecture.
• It supports 7 addressing modes for source operand and 4 for destination operand.
• MSP430 has three sub-families viz. MSP430C31x, MSP430C32x and MSP430C33x.

The figure-1 depicts MSP430 microcontroller architecture.

The figure-2 depicts MSP430 Pin diagram.
8051 Microcontroller
8051 is the microcontroller developed by Intel.
Following are the features of 8051 Microcontroller:
• It houses 8 bit CPU.
• 4 KByte ROM used for code or program storage
• 128 Byte RAM to store data or variables used in program
• 32 Input/Output lines with 4 ports ( 8 lines per port)
• 2 Timers used for introducing delay and for setting the baud rate for data communication.
• 1 serial Port with one TxD and one RxD line used for serial communication with external devices.
• 6 Interrupt Sources
• Clock oscillator circuit runs at 12MHz frequency.

The figure-3 depicts 8051 microcontroller architecture. Refer 8051 Architecture➤

The figure-4 depicts 8051 pin diagram.
Following table summarizes similarities and difference between MSP430 and 8051.
Specifications | MSP430 | 8051 |
---|---|---|
RAM | 128/256/512 Bytes RAM/SRAM | 256 bytes Used for data storage |
ROM | 2/4/8/16 KB ROM | 4KB ROM available internally 64KB (max.) can be interfaced external to microcontroller Used for program storage |
CPU (Number of bits in size) | 16 bit | 8 bit |
I/O ports (without interrupt) | 0 (MSP430C31x, MSP430C32x) 16 (MSP430C33x) |
Four number of I/O ports are available , each with 8 lines |
I/O ports (with interrupt) | 8 (MSP430C31x, MSP430C32x) 24 (MSP430C33x) |
Four number of I/O ports , uses 2 interrupt lines INT0 and INT1 |
Serial ports | Supported | One |
Timers/Counters | Supported | Two |
Crystal Oscillator frequency | Supported 32.768 KHz crystal | Supports 4 MHz to 30 MHz Nominal: 11.0592 MHz |
Watchdog timer | Supported in all sub-families | Not supported |
HW multiplier | Supported in MSP430C33x sub family | Not supported |
A to D converter | 12 bit and 14 bit modes are available Supports measurement modes viz. ratiometric and absolute |
Not supported |
D to A converter | supported | Not supported |
HW/SW UART | supported | supported |
USART | Supported | Not supported |
LCD | Supported | Not supported, external interfacing circuit to be developed |
SPI/I2C interfaces | Supported | Not Supported |
PWM | Supported | Not Supported |
Useful Links
Refer our Page on what a microcontroller does.
Refer our Page on microcontroller programming using C language including example.
Refer our Page on microcontroller development kit manufacturers.
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