Intel Preparing Xeon Phi Series Co-Processors
Some new information has surfaced regarding Intel's upcoming Xeon Phi Co-processors.
Intel's product database has been updated, and it now shows five new Xeon Phi co-processors. These five are followups of the original Xeon 5110P, SE10P, and SE10X models. Two lighter Xeon Phi 3100 parts have shown up: a mid-end part, the 5120D, and two premium 7100 series parts.
For those who don't know what a co-processor is, in the case of these Xeon Phi co-processors, it is simply an x86 based processor slammed onto a PCIe 8x expansion card. The purpose of them is to increase processing power for desktops and servers, specifically for tasks that have to be executed by a processor, not a graphics card.
The Xeon Phi co-processors are quite different from the standard CPUs we know. They feature more than 50 processing cores and have 8 GB of GDDR5 memory aboard the PCB. Just like the Ivy Bridge parts, they are baked on a 22 nm lithography. Due to the onboard memory in combination with an x86 processor, the device can even work as a fully independent computer, with tasks coming in through the PCIe interface, and only sent out and returned once completed.
| Model | Cores | CPU Clock | L2-cache | GDDR5 Speed | Memory | Interface | GFlops | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SE10P/X | 61 | 1.10 GHz | 30.5 MB | 5.5 GHz | 8 GB | 512 bit | 1073 GFlops | 300W |
| 5110P | 60 | 1.05 GHz | 30 MB | 5.0 GHz | 8 GB | 512 bit | 1011 GFlops | 225W |
| 5120D | 60 | 1.05 GHz | 30 MB | 5.5 GHz | 8 GB | 512 bit | 1011 GFlops | 245W |
| 7120P/X | 61 | 1.25 GHz | 30.5 MB | 5.5 GHz | 8 GB | 512 bit | 1220 GFlops | 300W |
| 3120A/P | 57 | 1.10 GHz | 28.5 MB | 5.0 GHz | 6 GB | 384 bit | 1003 GFlops | 300W |
* Table courtesy of Hardware.info.
The main differences between the current Xeon Phi co-processors and the previous ones are the Xeon CPUs that are aboard, as well as the cooling blocks. Any model with the extension "*P" in the name has the passively cooled cooler, while others have the active drum cooler. The "*D" will not ship with a cooler.
A rumor indicates that the new Xeon Phi co-processors might even still hit the market this month, but it remains unverified.
Wow it's amazing that this is real. You obviously need software to communicate with this SOC board.
Why use so many low clocked cores when you could use fewer higher clocked cores and save silicon?
GPUs have much smaller "instruction sets" if you will, and cannot trace out solutions through iteration, or have large amounts of core specific local memory (state variables, flags, etc). With GPUs you tend to know the operation they will do start-to-finish ahead of time (aka there is no conditional branching).
Granted, there are ways/interfaces to do CPU workloads with GPUs, albeit less efficiently (work per watt probably an important consideration with these cards).
I'm curious to see what kind of price/ performance ratios we get out of the new stock. Pretty schweet stuff overall!
I'm curious to see what kind of price/ performance ratios we get out of the new stock. Pretty schweet stuff overall!
Any of the SETI@Home projects should be able to use this nicely.
Maybe turn your desktop into a decent Minecraft server?
With the proper coding, these can be used for processing server loads....running VM's....anything a regular desktop processor can do. These things also don't rely on an API for processing as they are designed to run native x86 instructions. So, anything that relies on x86 instructions....these processors can do. Graphics cards are really quite limited in what they can do compared to the Xeon Phi cards.
I wonder how many power connectors they will need?
I saw one of these processors listed in Intel ARK codenamed Knights Corner?
I wonder what the pricing will be?
This reminds me of the 386/486 days when coprocessors were more in fashion.
Due to the onboard memory in combination with an x86 processor, the device can even work as a fully independent computer........"
That means we can remove the main CPU from the LGA socket and just put this Xeon Phi onto the PCI-E x16 slot and can run windows on it ?? Wow.......
Slammed into a PCIe slot? Baked on 22nm? They neither slam these processors, or bake them with the ginger bread. I know it's nice to sound hip, but being a proper hipster doofus means it doesn't come off as so forced. Although, you nailed the doofus part.
The last two paragraphs are awkward. I have a (admittedly high-functioning) chicken that can write better than that.
Just awful writing.
I cri everyteim