Adapteva Announces 700 MHz, 4096-Core Processor

The company claims that the chip will be achieving a performance efficiency of 70 GFlops per watt. The flagship processor would produce more than five times the floating point performance of the ASCI RED, a supercomputer that used 9,680 Pentium Pro processors back in 1997, which was good for a total performance of 1 TFlops.

Adapteva's Epiphany chip is planned to be available in versions with just one core with a die size of 0.1 mm2 (28 nm) and 0.5 mm2 (65 nm), 16 cores (2.05 mm2 and 8.96 mm2 in 65 nm and 28 nm, respectively), 64 cores (8.2 mm2 in 28 nm), 256 cores (32.7 mm2 in 28 nm), 1,024 cores (131.1 mm2 in 28 nm) and 4,096 cores (524.3 mm2 in 28 nm). However, the company said that it has only built up to 16-core processors in actual silicon so far.

The single-core chip is said to deliver 2 GFlops at 1 GHz, while the 16-core processors provides up to 32 GFlops at 1 GHz. The 4,096-core version (700 MHz) is estimated to deliver 5.6 TFlops of sustained floating point performance while consuming only 80 watts.

There was no information about the availability of the Epiphany processors.

  • hardcore_gamer
    I think they are using MIPS cores.
    Reply
  • memadmax
    Why are they worried about energy efficiency?
    I know that its good to, but this seems to be an "all out" processor, so that should be secondary.
    Reply
  • Bones2525
    Yes, but can it run CRYSIS.
    Reply
  • willard
    memadmaxWhy are they worried about energy efficiency?I know that its good to, but this seems to be an "all out" processor, so that should be secondary.Supercomputers have absolutely unbelievable energy costs. Reducing energy consumption is one of the top priorities for people designing them.

    Power is easy, efficiency is hard.
    Reply
  • ProDigit10
    Those are the servers of the future.
    I remember Intel wanting to create a 128 core cpu, running at 1,6Ghz per core, and ~95W TDP.
    In the future, these can be used for company servers, running 128 gigabit network connections, the size slightly larger than an external harddrive case, or a single rack unit!

    For the home user, I'd love to see nettop sized computers having these 32/64/128 core processors in them! They'd make more than a bittorrent client with multi network connections, home theater, and personal PC!
    Reply
  • hardcore_gamer
    jacekringStop with that already...the iPad 3 can probably run Crysis. Crysis is old and dated now...can it run BF3 on max settings is a better question?
    Crysis with mods is still one of the best looking games even today.
    Reply
  • kawininjazx
    But can it run Internet Explorer with 40 toolbars?
    Reply
  • chosenlast
    The "Can it run Crysis?" meme is getting old, but I still appreciate seeing it. Personally I hope it never dies.

    Reply
  • ProDigit10
    jacekringStop with that already...the iPad 3 can probably run Crysis. Crysis is old and dated now...can it run BF3 on max settings is a better question?Agree! It's a +/- 5 years old joke now,that crysis joke!
    Reply
  • freggo
    I have the nagging feeling that I am the only one in here who has absolutely no idea what kind of game 'Crysis' actually is :-)
    Reply