Intel readies massive multicore processors

[onethreehill]

Researchers at Intel are working on ways to mask the intricate functionality of massive multicore chips to make it easier for computer makers and software developers to adapt to them, said Jerry Bautista, co-director of Intel's Tera-scale Computing Research Program.
These multicore chips, he added, will also likely contain both x86 processing cores, similar to the brains inside the vast majority of Intel's server and PC chips today, as well as other types of cores. A 64-core chip, for instance, might contain 42 x86 cores, 18 accelerators and four embedded graphics cores.

http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/hardwa...2021390,00.htm

[Eastcoasthandle]

Is that really practical?

[Sanborn]

That's a silly question.

[ronaldor9]

how is that not pratical thats good news hopefully now some games that can take advanage of the cores

[triple_A]

For some reason i'm not so excited about stuff like this..
i think its awesome and all, but i just don't seem to get the "kick" i get when i see a new ultra fast gfx card or cpu in its regular form.. if you know what i mean

[eXceeded]

For some reason i'm not so excited about stuff like this..
i think its awesome and all, but i just don't seem to get the "kick" i get when i see a new ultra fast gfx card or cpu in its regular form.. if you know what i mean

because it sounds rediculous... no way can they bring out an 80 core CPU within a reasonable time frame... and they will be 40 dual cores glued together connected to FSB if it does.

[safan80]

because it sounds rediculous... no way can they bring out an 80 core CPU within a reasonable time frame...

At least they did a demo showing it could be done. What's AMD done lately?

[triple_A]

because it sounds rediculous... no way can they bring out an 80 core CPU within a reasonable time frame... and they will be 40 dual cores glued together connected to FSB if it does.

True, and on top of that will it bea b*tch to upgrade since everything is glued together..lol

maybe this is one of these things that they're trying to predict the future..
like apple did like 20years ago (dunno if its acutally 20years or a bit less) by making a video about what they thought the future of home computers would look like.. it featured talking computers and stuff.. lol

[GoThr3k]

At least they did a demo showing it could be done. What's AMD done lately?

what does AMD has to do with this news??

[xVeinx]

Practicality comes in to play when you realize that MS can't even get a 64 bit operating system to take hold in the marketplace, much less multi threaded programming. We have dual cores, quad cores, and still 99% of applications are single threaded. This is a perfectly viable technology for creation of super computers or molecular modeling or specialized servers. Seeing this put to good use by the consumer, especially as more and more software seems to be moving to internet based applications (as Google would hope), is unlikely. Again, dual cores have finally become mainstream, but they have yet to be fully utilized as it were. While it may be useful in a later age, it is impractical in the near term except in specialized circumstances.

[Cuthalu]

Most - or all - applications I use benefit from multicores, at least because OS doesn't do everyting at one core. That's far from impractical, very far...

[xVeinx]

Most - or all - applications I use benefit from multicores, at least because OS doesn't do everyting at one core. That's far from impractical, very far...

Even if one were to have 64 processes from the OS (there aren't that many, but anyway...) spread across 64 cores, the ultimate speed-up of the system would not be tremendous. Remember, most of the time your cores are going to stay IDLE. If you want to run 64 instances of F@H, great. Again, the OS is still not programmed to take effective use of multi-cores at this point, or 64 bit registers even. Imagine 64 cores and only 3.5 gig of ram available! There are plenty of reasons why today's software is WAY too poor to make effective use of such processing power. That's in part what the above article is about; getting companies the ability to more easily make software that can make use of such hardware.

[xlink]

because it sounds rediculous... no way can they bring out an 80 core CPU within a reasonable time frame... and they will be 40 dual cores glued together connected to FSB if it does.

it's not for us. It's going to be a low volume thing.

the idea is you get this stuff to developers so they can test their products.

that way when the time is right, we'll be able to actually utilize our multicore systems.


I for one AM excited about this.

bring on the future.

[p8ntslinger676]

depends on how software and programs evolve to take advantage of this, if they wont take advantage of massive multi core processors then whats the point in having them?

[gdogg]

depends on how software and programs evolve to take advantage of this, if they wont take advantage of massive multi core processors then whats the point in having them?

Well just look at the ps3 and xbox360. Game developers could make use of it, next source engine should make use of the cores for example, because of how they are making it.

[Shadowmage]

You forgot that it says "Researchers are working on ways", not "Intel readies massive multicore processors". The title is highly misleading. Intel won't be having these for quite a long time.

[Bounc3y]

what does AMD has to do with this news??

nothing.. but some ppl just <3 to bash amd for no reason

back on topic

can servers even utilise that many cores?

[Shintai]

can servers even utilise that many cores?

Servers can more or less always utilize so many cores. They can actually use as many and a few more than there is concurrent users. Unlike desktop SW server SW is parallel in nature due to multiusers. We already today have servers with 32 and 64 cores for "normal" operation.

[Bounc3y]

ah thanks for that.. so it's not pointless afterall

[Warship]

Perhaps we're moving to a place where se have relatively weak local cpus and offload heavier stuff to a home-server or the like.

[Revv23]

i think its cool but not for the mainstream for a very long time.

I mean i wasn't even impressed with dual core cpu's until C2D came along... im still not impressed with quad's....

of courses when dealing with servers things are different. but on my personal computer i'll take raw horsepower over multithread any day.

[514y3r]

For somebody like me who uses software that takes advantage of multi-cored processors, I coulden't imagine how fast I could render out an image with a 42processors at ultra high quality specs.

[lv_88]

For somebody like me who uses software that takes advantage of multi-cored processors, I coulden't imagine how fast I could render out an image with a 42processors at ultra high quality specs.

Exactly! Imagine how happy Maya and 3Dsmax etc. users like myself and you would get

[eXceeded]

I'm not saying that I'm not looking forward to it... just that I don't believe it will be in a reasonable timeframe.

[Shintai]

I'm not saying that I'm not looking forward to it... just that I don't believe it will be in a reasonable timeframe.

Ye, we are quickly talking 2010+