MSP430 vs 8051 Microcontroller: Key Differences

This page compares the MSP430 and 8051 microcontrollers and highlights their key differences. You’ll also find links to related information.

MSP430 Microcontroller

The MSP430 is a microcontroller developed by Texas Instruments (TI).

Here are some of its features:

• It’s a 16-bit microcontroller with specialized features not typically found in generic 8051 microcontrollers.
• It includes components like LCD control, ADC, input/output ports, RAM, ROM, a watchdog timer, a basic timer, and UART.
• It boasts very low power consumption, around 4.2 nW per instruction.
• It offers high-speed operation, executing instructions in approximately 300 ns at a 3.3 MHz clock.
• It’s based on the RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) architecture.
• It supports 7 addressing modes for the source operand and 4 for the destination operand.
• The MSP430 has three sub-families: MSP430C31x, MSP430C32x, and MSP430C33x.

Figure 1: MSP430 microcontroller architecture.

Figure 2: MSP430 Pin diagram.

8051 Microcontroller

The 8051 is a microcontroller originally developed by Intel.

Here are some of its features:

• It houses an 8-bit CPU.
• It includes 4 KBytes of ROM for code or program storage.
• It has 128 Bytes of RAM for storing data or variables used in the program.
• It provides 32 Input/Output lines with 4 ports (8 lines per port).
• It incorporates 2 Timers used for introducing delays and for setting the baud rate for data communication.
• It has 1 serial port with one TxD and one RxD line for serial communication with external devices.
• It includes 6 interrupt sources.
• The clock oscillator circuit runs at a 12MHz frequency.

Figure 3: 8051 microcontroller architecture.

Figure 4: 8051 pin diagram.

The following table summarizes the similarities and differences between the MSP430 and 8051.