"Intel Plans 1,000-Core Processors -- But How Fast Will They Be?"

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"Intel Plans 1,000-Core Processors -- But How Fast Will They Be?"

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/24/intel-talks-core-processor/

"When it comes to computers, faster is better, isn't it? Yes ... to a point.

Having hit a limit on the sheer speed of computer processors in recent years, chip manufacturers now meld the brains of multiple processors (called cores) into each individual chip, gaining power through their collective ability. Now researchers from Intel have announced a giant leap in computing power that could bring 1,000-core processors to consumers -- an enormous jump forward from the four or eight cores in today's fastest PCs.
"
 
They already have 100 core processors. Or at least I have seen discussion on them. Each core is less than 1/2 the performance of an atom core so obviously it will not make a good desktop chip unless we have software that can make use of 8+ cores..
 
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I'm guessing these will highly resemble GPUs, only with a more general instruction set.
 
Well the PS3 is how many years old and it has an 8 core CPU. That sounds impressive when you say it until you look deaper into it and 7 of those cores are high specialized cores that are very good at a few things but not great at most things.
 
RamonGTP said:
Well the PS3 is how many years old and it has an 8 core CPU. That sounds impressive when you say it until you look deaper into it and 7 of those cores are high specialized cores that are very good at a few things but not great at most things.
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The Cell CPU is a pretty different architecture than most modern CPUs though. In an i7 for example, all four cores are identical.
 
Rizen said:
The Cell CPU is a pretty different architecture than most modern CPUs though. In an i7 for example, all four cores are identical.
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Riiiight, that's kind of my point... This 1000 core cpu is also going to be a different architecture, so 1000 cores may sound more impressive than it really is.
 
so we all get tony stark to make our very own arc reactor to power it? :p
 
would it be practical to have variable-core processors that act like 10 cores when needed, or when one has a heavy load, it can act like only three?
 
This may be difficult to do in a way that leads to more performance. But AMD's new Bulldozer architecture is leading to this possibility. However that is only because they are blurring the definition of what a core is.

Note: That AMD is not doing reverse hyperthreading on their current designs though. What I am saying is it is theoretically possible with their module design to have an entire module work on a single thread.
 
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