Superchip: the next generation

[5614]

IBM and Toshiba have developed a new superchip called The Cell.

 

It defies Moore's Law as it is well ahead of its time.

 

It's clock speed it said to be over 4GHz (intel's best is 3.8GHz)

 

It works by having specially tuned transistors (it has 234 million of them) and more significantly has 9 cores. You know Intel are showing off their dual processors.... this has 9 cores!!!!!

 

IBM experimented putting The Cell chips together which allowed them to handle 16 trillion calcluations per second.

 

Significantly it doesnt have massive power useage and does now nead extreme cooling measures.

 

The blueprints for it were showsn at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco yesterday.

 

A prototype is to be unveiled at the E3 trade show this May.

 

All you computer guys hoping to dual boot one of these.... its designed for the new Playstation 3 and not a computer

 

source for figures: The Times and BBC News:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4242447.stm

[Nalos Surith]

I'm pretty sure I can mod that PS3 to my will, slap windows longhorn on that baby. It will purr like a cat!

[5614]

It'd be a damn near impossible to do that you know... a PS3 specifically made proccessing chip is nothing like a computer's processor!

 

Whilst we can all fanatsise, that's totaly unrealistic!

 

Although maybe the wink at the end gave it away

 

I think more important would be for Intel (and i spose i have to say AMD too!) to get working on the technology and replicate it for computers.

 

The problem with current computer processors is that each upgrade they need more power and more easily over heat... the whole thing about this one is that it does not need big power supplies and will not need extreme cooling methods.

[atinymonkey]

Time to switch all server contracts to IBM. Again.

[5614]

not yet.... IBM have blueprints for the technology... its not gonna be out in the PS3 for a few years and then it'll take a while for it to be out in computers too. by which time Intel and other companies will have a good idea as to how it works, im sure they'll be working on it very hard as of yesterday.

 

a computer processor such as this is a mega industry, the first company to produce it at a reasonable price on mass production will become very rich (or probably just even richer as it'll prob be IBM or Intel who are already rich) but you get the point!

[Silencer]

It would be easy for someone to modify the linux kernel to run on a new processor. So you can forget Windows, but don't discount running linux.

[RICHARDBATTY]

The world of technology has gone mad. At this rate, another 5 years and the chips will be proccessing stuff you are going to do before you even think of doing it. At a guess the other companys probably have some thing on the board already but are just playing their cards close to their chest. Time will tell. Too cool though.

[5614]

i dont think that this will stop until we have something truely instantaneous and as we all know because physics is right! data cannot be transferred instanteously (and if you wanna discuss that go to the physics section of SFN!).

 

I think that realistically if we had better cooling methods than a heatsink/fan that were widely sold then modern chips could get a bit faster... i mean there's water cooling now, but if there was a big breakthrough in cooling for computer chips it'd help a lot, the power consumption whilst an issue is not much of a problem, i mean, we have 240V coming out the plugs! (varies in different countries.)

 

with this new 9 core, tuned 234 million transistors maybe there's a way forward even sooner.

 

as it is quantum computers are being developed. MIT made a 2 qubits QC (quantum computer)... i think they have a 4 quibit QC, but i might be wrong and i dont think they've broken the 4 quibit level, although if they had i may not have heard about it.

(for anyone who doesnt know what im talking about basically it means QCs exist but they are too slow at the moment and we (wow i said we when talking bout scientists just naturally without thinking... i just added this in after! i should have said scientists, im just a school kid! but i'll leave it coz it looks cool!) are working on getting up to their true speeds, which vastly exceed any current classical computer)

[drz]

as to the Cell chip, we mentioned that some time ago, its been availible since december for developers unless its been pushed back

 

Remember???

 

But ya, basically IBM and Sony will own the world soon.

[Sayonara]

Defies Moore's Law?

 

How about "raises the bar" on Moore's Law?

[atinymonkey]

It would be easy for someone to modify the linux kernel to run on a new processor. So you can forget Windows, but don't discount running linux.

 

Most new technology surrounding processers appears in servers first. IBM servers run on linux platforms. I think I'm following IBMs logic here

[5614]

as to the Cell chip' date=' we mentioned that some time ago, its been availible since december for developers unless its been pushed back

[/quote']

the first blueprints for it were produced a few days ago, possibly it has been previously available but not publically.

 

Defies Moore's Law?

 

How about "raises the bar" on Moore's Law?

that depends on how you define Moore's law doesnt it? if moore's law is really a law, if something goes outside the boundaries set by that law, that thing is therefore defying that law.

although what you suggested does sound better in a sense!

[Sayonara]

That depends on how you define Moore's law doesnt it? if moore's law is really a law' date=' if something goes outside the boundaries set by that law, that thing is therefore defying that law.

although what you suggested does sound better in a sense![/quote']

I suppose it can do both. It will be nice if we get to move the line.

[5614]

It will be nice if we get to move the line.

 

Agreed, although i'd far rather move it up (a lot!) than down

 

Although with an advance like this maybe moore's law is no longer significant... with this new multicore chip moore's law will not apply, maybe there's no room for improvement, or, there's lots of room for improvement and it'll multiply a lot quicker.

 

I think its safe to say computers are changing quickly and its hard to say... let the future tell the future.

[Edward]

"The times they are a changing"

[mossoi]

Moore's law was only supposed to hold true for a few years before things levelled out. It has suprised even Moore that it's continued for as long as it has. Moore's law is defying itself!

[Silencer]

Once quantum computing is mastered the world as we know it will be changed drastically.

 

Imagine every type of encryption system used today being made obsolete in an instant.

 

As for cooling, there are better ways than heatsink/fan. There's water, liquid nitrogen, and even dry ice. The problem is protecting the surrounding parts from being damaged by these substances or any water in the atmosphere that they condense.

[mossoi]

Better ways of cooling aren't an really advancement in CPU design though, they merely resolve a problem. It's not very convenient or practical to have dry ice cooling purely because the chip would melt without it.

 

Water cooling is easy to obtain and install, but who wants a PC/fridge hybrid just to squeeze a few more MHz out of it other than a small group of enthusiasts?

[john5746]

a computer processor such as this is a mega industry, the first company to produce it at a reasonable price on mass production will become very rich (or probably just even richer as it'll prob be IBM or Intel who are already rich) but you get the point!

 

You know IBM will try to make the OS for it - kick Microsoft to the curb. Maybe they could team with Linux?

[drz]

the first blueprints for it were produced a few days ago, possibly it has been previously available but not publically.

 

They've been working on the cell for years, its nice to see some solid working numbers for it. It does make you wonder how Intel and AMD will cope with it.

 

I've been loyall to AMD for years, but IBM just may win me over.

[5614]

You know IBM will try to make the OS for it - kick Microsoft to the curb. Maybe they could team with Linux?

 

The Cell is OS neutral, which is very interesting.

[RICHARDBATTY]

I suppose at some point more speed will become a little pointless. Humans can only respond so fast and I think every thing else will soon strugle to keep up. But there will always be the challenge.

[Silencer]

^Not really. Imagine how big a difference a few mhz make when you are trying to find a prime number, or searching through DNA.

 

So for a desktop machine it might not matter, but for someone who needs to compile a lot of code or do a lot of grunt work it gives an enormous advantage.

 

And imagine if all programs could come as source. There would be no excuses like compiling time for people to use open source software. You could download the latest game for a few bucks, compile it, install, and start playing in a matter of minutes.

[herme3]

Wow! That sounds amazing for a video game system. I am interested to know what Nintendo will release to compete against this system. They normally release a system that is twice as good as Sony's. For example, the original PlayStation was 32-bit, the Nintendo 64 was 64-bit. The PS2 has about 200 Mhz, and the GameCube has around 450 Mhz.

[5614]

once other companies can get their hands on a Cell or blueprints for it they will start developing it and whilst its seen as competition hopefully together pushing each other forward and as far as they are concerned aiming to beat each other improve The Cell at a steady rate to keep us guys outta cash and happy!!!