Small Coprocessor Promises Big Server Boost

[FallOutBoyTonto]

<A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1337633,00.asp" target="_new">Full details here!</A>

<i>Written by eWeek.com</i>
<b>ClearSpeed's 32-bit CS301 coprocessor runs at only 200MHz but outputs up to 25.6 gigaflops per processor. The company's chief designers envision the chip perched on a PCI daughtercard, assisting the main CPU with computation-intensive parallel tasks, such as those used in the biotechnology and scientific communities.

The coprocessor is relatively small—41 million transistors take up 72 square mm using an IBM 0.13 silicon-on-insulator process—but the processing power comes from the combination of an array of 64 processing elements organized across the surface of the chip. Instead of being fed by an individual cache, each element contains its own register file and program-execution memory.

The chip's 25.6-gigaflop output is more than double the 12 gigaflops produced by a 3.0GHz Pentium 4. By comparison, the National Center for Supercomputer Applications was using a 1,512-processor, 660-gigaflop SGI Origin2000 array up until November 2002. Running the chip at a low clock speed also means that the CS301 consumes very little power: only 2.5 watts, meaning that the chip produces 8.5 gigaflops per watt, compared with just 0.1 gigaflop per watt for the Pentium 4.

By 2004, the company said, a CS301-assisted cabinet of Opteron or Itanium processors could generate 48 teraflops, more than the 36 teraflops currently produced by Japan's Earth Simulator, an estimated $350 million investment that required its own building.</b>

<A HREF="http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/10/03/chretienpot031001" target="_new">"I will have my money for my fine and a joint in the other hand." - Prime Minister Jean Chrétien</A>

 

[Parhelia]

hehe, yeah heres the SUPER computer here, heehehe, thats the power of comp in itself, hehe, i want one to play delta force 1 on it
hehehe

 

[reever2]

Buhhh, they have been using this concept for mainframes and supercomputers for quite some time

 

[HardWareBoss]

$25,000 for one chip ia alot of beans.

 

[flamethrower205]

I'll dish em out.

The one and only "Monstrous BULLgarian!"

 

[Schmide]

Where did you find that price?

Dichromatic for your viewing plesure...

 

[Mephistopheles]

Wow!!!

<i>This almost looks like a joke...</i> Too good to be true!!

<font color=red><b>M</b></font color=red>ephistopheles

 

[HardWareBoss]

Thanks I'll take 7.

 

[HardWareBoss]

In the article unless I read it wrong it said $25,000.

 

[slvr_phoenix]

The company's chief designers envision the chip perched on a PCI daughtercard, assisting the main CPU with computation-intensive parallel tasks

The ClearSpeed CS301 calculates which operations can be parallelized, rather than forcing a compiler to do the work, as Intel's Itanium chips do.

I would <i>really</i> like to know how a PCI card can read instructions sent to the CPU, calculate which can be parallelized, and then execute those so that the CPU doesn't have to, all <i>without</i> requiring the code to be rewritten and recompiled.

ClearSpeed's 32-bit CS301 coprocessor runs at only 200MHz but outputs up to 25.6 gigaflops per processor.

And I'd also <i>love</i> to know how a PCI card with a co-processor running at 200MHz can execute code for a CPU running at ten times that clock <i>without</i> a massive performance hit as the CPU is forced to wait for the PCI card.

It <i>sounds</i> impressive ... until you really think about it.

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>

 

[Guest]

>It sounds impressive ... until you really think about it.

nah, it is impressive for certain types of applications/calculations. Pretty much like a DSP, or even a GPU if you like, its a purpose built coprocessor that is very good at what it does and extremely cost efficient (for those calcs). Just don't try to run databases or mathcad on it though

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[Mephistopheles]

Yeah... I was thinking something in the lines of that, exactly. This thing is a paper marvel, but...? Feels kinda strange alright.

<font color=red><b>M</b></font color=red>ephistopheles

 

[Snorkius]

I still don't see why they put it on PCI card. A HyperTransport directly into say an Opteron would make much more sense especially at the $25000 price tag.

<font color=blue>
<i><font color=black>Faithless</font color=black></i> is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
J. R. R. Tolkien
</font color=blue>

 

[Schmide]

Where are you guys getting this 25k price tag? It just doesn’t say that in the article. I’ve read it twice. This is how bad information gets started!!!

Dichromatic for your viewing plesure...

 

[HardWareBoss]

Check out yesterdays article on HardOCP web site.

 

[Schmide]

I see the reference. However, they were talking about a PC producing 600 gigaflops consisting of 6 pci boards with 4 chips each. So your actually talking about less than 1000 dollars for a chip.

Dichromatic for your viewing plesure...