Forget dual-core and quad-core processors....

[AllexxisF1]

DUDE!!!

Forget dual-core and quad-core processors: A semiconductor company promises to pack 100 cores into a processor that can be used in applications that require hefty computing punch, like video conferencing, wireless base stations and networking. By comparison, Intel’s latest chips are expected to have just eight cores.

“This is a general-purpose chip that can run off-the-shelf programs almost unmodified,” says Anant Agarwal, chief technical officer of Tilera, the company that is making the 100-core chip. “And we can do that while offering at least four times the compute performance of an Intel Nehalem-Ex, while burning a third of the power as a Nehalem.”

The 100-core processor, fabricated using 40-nanometer technology, is expected to be available early next year.

LINK to Wired Article.

[Android1]

Post separated from two-year-old, necro-bumped News forum thread.

[Treeckcold57]

Each core has a full-featured, general-purpose processor that includes L1 and L2 caches, and a distributed L3 cache. The cores are overlaid with the mesh network, which provides extremely low-latency, high-bandwidth communications between the cores, memory and the processor’s input and output.

OMFG!

[acroig]

Originally Posted by Android1

Post separated from two-year-old, necro-bumped News forum thread.

[AllexxisF1]

Originally Posted by Android1

Post separated from two-year-old, necro-bumped News forum thread.

Sorry I have burned much of late with duplicate threads.

In any case is this not some incredible news Fellas. Folding at home just went to the stratosphere.

[Napoleonic]

wasn't intel reported doing the same thing sometime ago?

[caveman-jim]

No x86 license = recompile for architecture = no mainstream adoption.

[cmar]

With that many cores to burn, maybe auto on the fly recompile for X86 applications.

[Android1]

Originally Posted by AllexxisF1

Sorry I have burned much of late with duplicate threads.

The bump itself was so much the issue as the age of the bumped thread. In any case, all is good.

[AllexxisF1]

Originally Posted by caveman-jim

No x86 license = recompile for architecture = no mainstream adoption.

In most cases I would agree Jim, but there is something special here. If these 100 processors perform much more quickly (orders of magnitude quicker) than Intel's or AMD's parts than sure as all heck programmers will recompile for it.

I mean we are not talking minor increases in speed here, we are talking a fight between 8 cores and 100 cores. That and it will run on half the juice and be just as affordable. That isn't competition, that's a game changer.

You can bet your booty that Microsoft will recompile its SQL program toot sweet to accommodate 100 cores. Not to mention other platforms like Oracle as well. Hell even game companies are going to join in on this bandwagon because speed is king.

*If the speed is orders of magnitude above Intel and AMD you will see mainstream adoption of this processor quickly.

[Crisler]

Originally Posted by AllexxisF1

*If the speed is orders of magnitude above Intel and AMD you will see mainstream adoption of this processor quickly.

NOT

Does not matter how fast it is you will not see a "quick" adoptation by the mainstream. The install base of the currect standard is way to high for a rapid switch.

[AllexxisF1]

Originally Posted by Crisler

NOT

Does not matter how fast it is you will not see a "quick" adoptation by the mainstream. The install base of the currect standard is way to high for a rapid switch.

I respectfully disagree .


If I came out with a processor tomorrow that contained 100 cores, each of which is faster than anything out today, you honestly think developers would not line up immediately.

Especially if my new haxxoromfg Processor took half the energy and cost the same. Not only that but it would be easy to program for.

I would think the entire industry would flop on its head and programs would be compiled immediately.

As a Network Administrator the mere thought of getting that much power now would have me call every one of my main software platform vendors and push them like hell to make it compatible.

Imagine Net Admins that work in Hollywood effect studios or Scientists who need all the power they can get, not to mention the military.

*If this processor is years ahead of AMD or Intel it will be adopted faster than anything else before it.

[MikeEx]

*nix could be the first to support it.
From there on you could just emulate or wrap another OS on top until mainstream adoption.

Then again there is overhead, But with 100 cores would it be noticeable?
Would MS ever consider support for win7 or even win8?
Can it play Crysis?

These are all relevant.

[caveman-jim]

Originally Posted by AllexxisF1

You can bet your booty that Microsoft will recompile its SQL program toot sweet to accommodate 100 cores. Not to mention other platforms like Oracle as well. Hell even game companies are going to join in on this bandwagon because speed is king.

*If the speed is orders of magnitude above Intel and AMD you will see mainstream adoption of this processor quickly.

Microsoft haven't even optimized SQL and Exchange to use more than 4 logical processors yet, so I don't see that on the horizon anytime soon.

More competition in the CPU market is good, but this is going to die a death without an x86 license. It won't be used for anything more than appliance type applications (firewalls, routers, storage processors, embedded devices etc.).

[-n7-]

Nope.

I'll get excited when i see this for sale, being used in current hardware/devices....which won't happen, at least not with PC hardware.

[theshadowcult]

If its a success i give it 2 years before mainstream marketing. Hell we still have not even seen Memristor products even in demo yet. If a development that completely replaces both ram and hardrives and is at least as fast as ddr2 ram has not made it to main stream marketing yet, why would this?

[jolle]

Sounds a bit like a GPU.
Kinda depends on how these "cores" look I guess.

[javiermq]

Originally Posted by AllexxisF1

In most cases I would agree Jim, but there is something special here. If these 100 processors perform much more quickly (orders of magnitude quicker) than Intel's or AMD's parts than sure as all heck programmers will recompile for it.

I mean we are not talking minor increases in speed here, we are talking a fight between 8 cores and 100 cores. That and it will run on half the juice and be just as affordable. That isn't competition, that's a game changer.

You can bet your booty that Microsoft will recompile its SQL program toot sweet to accommodate 100 cores. Not to mention other platforms like Oracle as well. Hell even game companies are going to join in on this bandwagon because speed is king.

*If the speed is orders of magnitude above Intel and AMD you will see mainstream adoption of this processor quickly.

Exactly. It would be great to finally break from the decades old x86 intel-made architecture and developers started making native apps for other better architectures instead. It's about time for a CPU refresh on pcs since the 80s. Didnt older windows had support for alpha, or mips and such? If it gets enough attention from let's say benchmarks of it running linux for example, software companies might consider adding support for it.

[theshadowcult]

In theory what would be better, a 100 cpus running at 2.0ghz hurts each or a dual/quad running at 50ghz?

I was just thinking back to those tests they were doing with the Surrounding gate transistors, i wonder if we will see both...