Super-Cooled Quantum Computing Is Coming
Table of contents
- 1. D-Wave’s Orion: The First Commercial Quantum Computer?
- 2. Cold Enough To Super Conduct
Quantum mechanics describes how nature works at a fundamental level. Using those principles to build a quantum computer doesn’t just mean working at the nanoscale level; it also means keeping everything cold enough to see quantum effects. That’s why D-Wave runs its Orion system at a temperature 250 times colder than interstellar space.
Last year the company had a 16-qubit quantum computer that founder and CTO Geordie Rose claimed was the most powerful quantum computer ever built and the first ever to run commercially-relevant applications. This year it has 28 qubits, it can recognise photos of famous landmarks – and you might soon be able to use it over the Web.
That’s far ahead of most other quantum computing developments and D-Wave has managed it by using semiconductor manufacturing techniques and existing chip fabs instead of optical circuits, quantum dots, laser containment or other approaches requiring exotic manufacturing techniques. D-Wave is also working on the other half of the problem; the programming tools for writing applications that take advantage of what quantum computing promises to deliver.
Rose defines a quantum computer as “a machine that harnesses the language of nature at the most fundamental level to gain, in some cases, extremely impressive performance gains over conventional computers. Computers are constrained by the laws of physics; what you can do with information is no more than the laws of physics, when you operate at classical level. On a quantum computer, information processing is done on devices that obey the laws of quantum mechanics. These things can be very small and very cold, and they can be built out of exotic materials.”
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LIKE A GLOVE!
I WANT TO SEE THAT THING PWN SOME GAMES >< I KNOW A LITTEL OVER BOARD BUT I CANT DREAM CANT I?
dam you beat me to 1st post ?> o wait that was me i just was to fast about posting i did not sigh in o well i cant prove it now but i know it was me >< LIKE A GLOVE
oops i said a bad word dont report me >< any ways the 1st post was me i was to quick to sigh in and yes i have made 3 post so sue me. LIKE A GLOVE
I still wish someone would explain exactly how quantum mechanics and quantum computers work. Do they actually defy the laws of physics or what? I didn't think that was possible.....
I meant to say "in layman's terms"
Very cool, i'd also like to see that pwn some games. However judging by what they say, it'll be very difficult to do if it's even possible.
BTW what does it matter who got first post anyway? lol
This is some wild funky alien technology sh#t... Yeeeehaaa!
Quantum computers process information with the "electron pairing" effect they naturally operate with, meaning it operates in such a way when one of the 28 bits is "doing something", it affects other parts of the chip in such a way they "do the same thing" naturally...it has very deep implications because it would basically SCALE LIKE CRAZY....NATURALLY....we are still in its infancy w/ 28 QBits, i dont even immagine what is will be like with 512...1024....a Giga QBit.....a Tera Q Bit.... they would all scale naturally... whatever we an do now whit it will be done faster and better when wider versions of the chip come out, withought the need to re-coding i immagine (Totally different from the way we program now with the current multi-core chips needing special programming to take advantage of more resources).- my 2 centz.
Quantum computers process information with the "electron pairing" effect they naturally operate with, meaning it operates in such a way when one of the 28 bits is "doing something", it affects other parts of the chip in such a way they "do the same thing" naturally...it has very deep implications because it would basically SCALE LIKE CRAZY....NATURALLY....we are still in its infancy w/ 28 QBits, i dont even immagine what is will be like with 512...1024....a Giga QBit.....a Tera Q Bit.... they would all scale naturally... whatever we an do now whit it will be done faster and better when wider versions of the chip come out, withought the need to re-coding i immagine (Totally different from the way we program now with the current multi-core chips needing special programming to take advantage of more resources).- my 2 centz.
basically, a quantum computer does not have to do "work" to get an answer. The "work" it does involves electrons and atoms. The problem is, is that when the "computer" reads the atoms/electrons, they are destroyed. So, the data can only be read once. But as mentioned in the article, code cracking would be very easy, as the computer would only have to work with one atom. Basically, the future quantum computer will be able to crack any code, instantly.
"I still wish someone would explain exactly how quantum mechanics and quantum computers work. Do they actually defy the laws of physics or what? I didn't think that was possible....."
Quantum Physics are laws that are far more complex than regular everyday Physics. They do not defy but rather redefine and enhance our understanding of physics at a much smaller scale (Smaller than atom size)
Games aren't really an area that would benefit directly from Quantum computing. The benefit is for other fields, like mathematics, communication, cracking encryption, physics. Quantum does not mean faster, it means they operate in a fundamentally different way and have different applications. Just like the stack of IBM QS22 Cell Blades next to me (Which don't even have video cards), they are for a totally different purpose and in some cases even if they could run a normal game might even be slower. High-Performance-Computing is a very different field, and it has to be specifically programmed for, which is why the article mentions they are advancing the new SDKs to allow things to run.
My computers don't even have a real "OS", they have micro kernels which only have one program installed, and that program is specifically crafted to fit inside the 256KB of L2 Cache on the IBM Cell Processor to prevent the system having to page regular, slow, system RAM.
The stuff is written in C, and then hand-tuned in assembler.
That does not mean the development is not exciting, its just that like most major science changes, the action is far from the end user and it will take products a while to trickle down to something we use everyday. Ironically, by the time it gets to us, most people will have no idea which technologies brought them to fruition in the first place.
I wonder how fast an E8500 could run at -270ºC.
I wonder how fast an E8500 could run at -270ºC.
You might have a good idea when the OC competition ensues. I'm sure you'll have some guys throwing -200C nitrogen at 8500's.
One question: Does it overclock? That cooler should at least allow for a 30% overclock...
I want one!
this is all good and fine. Will it play Crysis
Intel will buy them in after they make all that profit from Nehalem and release quantum computers for commercial use as soon as they figure out how to make a "safe", commercially viable, 3 Kelvin refrigeration units. Coolermaster will then release a 2 Kelvin unit for overclockers 3 months later...
Unfortunately it will NOT be able to play Crysis at 60FPS.
Reaching temperature as mentioned above would lead to super conductivity . Which people are yet to incorporate in daily usage . This is no area for child's play (games)