Intel Demos System Based on 48-Core Processor
That's a lot more cores than we've got right now in our systems.
Last month Intel announced that it was shipping systems with its experimental 48-core processor. Now we get to see what a system with the radical chip looks like.
X-bit labs caught the supercomputer on chip (SCC) system on demonstration in Europe, which runs on an experimental "Copper Ridge" motherboard with integrated I/O and graphics and eight DIMM slots. There's no SATA ports, instead an Intel USB flash disk is used for storage.
According to the report, the SCC contains 24 tiles with two x86 cores per tile, each of which has its own L2 cache and can run a separate OS and software stack and act like an individual compute node that communicates with other compute nodes over a packet-based network. The SCC also has four integrated DDR3 memory controllers.
The 48-core chip features 24 small routers between the cores, which facilitate faster data exchanges across the chip. Each core also has on-chip buffers that can instantly exchange data in parallel across all the cores.
Intel also says that the 48-core chip has a more advanced on-die power management system that can vary the power draw between 25 watts to 125 watts. It can also reduce clock speed and shut down cores.
As far as clock speeds go, current desktop and even laptop offerings outpace this 48-core wonder. Intel revealed that its experimental chip runs at about the same frequencies as the Atom CPU, so we're looking in the neighborhood of 1.2GHz to 1.83GHz.
But can that joke die already?
That is indeed the question...
Well if the chip can shut down cores I can only assume that if a core fails the rest of the chip can survive without it.
Defo one for the future, watch this space.
But can that joke die already?
Did Intel say if it was possible to run a single OS instance
on the system? ie. do the chips include NUMA support?
Ian.
One server with this chip can replace the 10 we're currently running !!
They said "same frequencies as the Atom CPU" not "same power as the Atom cpu". The IPC of this cpu is probably equal or better than what we see out there right now. Although as dalta centauri said, (for the time being)thoses 48 core cpus are not going to be released to the general public. There just targeted for business. (doesn't mean you cant get them for your self though.)
Well, i dont get it either for gamers. More cores doesn't equal better games unless the games can use it.
Although even if it's sold only for businesses, The general public can still get there hands on them but only people that have the money and need for them, can buy them.
NUMA is for multiple processors(meaning sockets), not multiple cores within a processor.
Frankly I see future systems at the high end resorting to the equivalent of (or extension of) the front end and back end array, but with a much meatier central processing array.
An array of simple homogeneous cores all tied to ine bus won't cut it though, but as it is, I would imagine it might make a pretty good decrytion engine.
High praise to Intel for getting hardware out there for preview, which is excellent.
I suppose these are simpler variants of the Atom core then?