“Intel has built a prototype of a processor with 80 cores that can perform a trillion floating-point operations per second,” Tom Krazit reports for CNET News.
“CEO Paul Otellini held up a silicon wafer with the prototype chips before several thousand attendees at the Intel Developer Forum here Tuesday. The chips are capable of exchanging data at a terabyte a second, Otellini said during a keynote speech. The company hopes to have these chips ready for commercial production within a five-year window,” Krazit reports.
Krazit reports, “Intel announced plans to have quad-core processors ready for its customers in November. An extremely fast Core 2 Extreme processor with four cores will be released then, and the newly named Core 2 Quad processor for mainstream desktops will follow in the first quarter of next year, Otellini said.”
“During the next few years, Intel wants to improve the performance per watt of power consumption of its transistors by 300 percent through new manufacturing technologies and designs, Otellini said. The next step on that road, Intel’s 45-nanometer manufacturing technology, will enable the company to build chips that deliver a 20 percent improvement in performance with five times less current leakage, he said,” Krazit reports.
Krazit reports, “But the ultimate goal, as envisioned by Intel’s terascale research prototype, is to enable a trillion floating-point operations per second–a teraflop–on a single chip. Ten years ago, the ASCI Red supercomputer at Sandia National Laboratories became the first supercomputer to deliver 1 teraflop using 4,510 computing nodes.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Imagine that, a single processor that’ll be nearly capable of fully running Microsoft’s bloated Windows Aero interface.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Intel’s new new quad-core chips ahead of schedule – September 26, 2006
Quad-core Xeon details unveiled – September 25, 2006
AnandTech upgrades and tests Octo-Core ‘Clovertown’ Apple Mac Pro – September 13, 2006
Intel quad-core ‘Kentsfield’ coming in time for holiday season – August 18, 2006
Apple shows off new Xserve with Quad 64-bit Intel Xeon processors at LinuxWorld – August 17, 2006
Apple Mac Pro Quad Xeon 3.0GHz benchmarks – August 16, 2006
Ars Technica reviews Apple Mac Pro Quad Xeon 64-bit workstation – August 11, 2006
Apple introduces Xserve with Quad 64-bit Intel Xeon Processors – August 07, 2006
Apple unveils new ‘Mac Pro’ featuring quad 64-bit Intel Xeon processors – August 07, 2006
Hmmm, what’s IBM doing these days? Certainly not the same amount of work Intel has done, compared to where we would still be with the G5. I’m glad Apple made the switch.
Now dontcha think that in 10 years there will be other new technologies that will outperform that. 10 years people, that’s a lifetime in thechnology. Yes, it’s very cool, but we will never see it. and even if we did, where would you put it? in a room sized vault? think about the heat alone. Cool idea Intel, keep it up!!!! love to see the 8 in a mac pro!!!!
HA! MDN take gave me a good chuckle. 😀
Funny take but give credit where credit is due: My MacBook Pro with a Core Duo can support Aero very well.
Hey ApplePi did you think the wafer was one chip?? I think you can fit up to 540 chips on a 300mm wafer, so he’s could be holding one wafer that delivers 540 individual Teraflop processors in his hand……
Oh snap! That was a funny one MDN.
Flux capacitor, here we come!
This forum cracks me up. MDN that was a good one! LOL
Sure it’s cool to think what will happen in 10 years. But in the meantime we can use the current innovations to do more cool things now.
So we’ll soon have an iPod watch / phone / music player that transmits wirelessly because the chips that are powerful enough can be made small enough and use less energy.
I want to use new technology as soon as I think it is cost effective to give me more choices for what I want to do with my time.
Quad cores “in November” … my DP G5 is So <u>r\Retro</u>! By the time I can afford/justify a new system I’ll be going from two processors to two quad-core processors? Got to invent new uses, new excuses, new pleasin’s, new reasons … ah, the wife will never by it.
I was skeptical of the Intel transition, but now I am a believer! Where would we be now with IBM? Still using g4’s in the notebooks and STILL no 3Ghz g5. THe g5 was in deed a great processor, but the new dual core xeons are even better.
Now, LET’S GET THOSE U.B. VERSIONS OF CRITICAL SW ALREADY!!!
funny this was, I used to hate Intel…
IronMan,
I kinda knew that, I was reffering to the amount of heat and the electricity that thing must consume. Although worth every ounce Im sure, not practical. Then again that photon stuff… you never know with all the new interconnect technology cookin… But thanks for the heads up, I was just reffering to opther things. He was holding the 80 processor deally in his hand in the picture
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
thanks
LOL to MDN Take
The MDN “take” was a good opportunity to relate this story to Apple and specifically the Mac. Instead they make a lame Windows joke. I think Mac geeks are more obsessed with MS, Windows, Gates, and certainly Ballmer than any Windows user. Is this what you bought a Mac to do?
Yep, dennis, you’re right, but that’s MDN. I can give you 15 other news sites if you wish but this is all fanboys including myself. Take it with a grain of salt.
In 5 years Google will take over the world.
the intel Core 2 Quadro, the Kentsfield and Clovertown. Amazing, almost to make you think about that Jobs Distortion Reality Field. Looks like the only distorted reality is that of our beleaguered Windows users.
wow, those solitaire cards will really be bouncing high and fast after a game is finished on an 80 core system.
This from the same crowd who told us we’d be using 10 GHz CPUs by now.
I’ll believe it when they ship it.
All the DOOMSAYERS over the move to Intel have nothing more to say I guess.
Great take MDN. But in all seriousness, surely this isn’t so good as it will allow crap, bloated software like Windows to run without penallty when the aim should be fast efficient programming aka OSX?
On a more mundane (!) level, Intel is working on a mainstream 32-core processor called Keifer that will organise itself as 8 processing “nodes” each with 4 cores and is designed to go head-to-head with Sun’s Niagara chip. All of this stuff happens when they go to the 32nm geometry space.
The idea of just one of these in an Xserve is enough to frighten the bejaysus out of me, let alone a pair which is then part of a 256-machine supercomputer grid network; think of it, over 16 thousand processor cores in just over six 42U racks.
dennis,
What is so wrong about stating the truth, that Windows is a terrible experience and Mac a fantastic one? Baiting the ugly monster with the Ballmer head is what MDN does. Don’t try to tell them to change their ways, which have been highly successful for a long time..
yeah dennis especially given M$’s crappy business record they deserve to be put down. they have been walking all over the little guy with their smug ass attitudes they deserve to be taken down one notch at a time. and what better way than to point out the obvious. get over it if you dont like it and go read something on msn.com or something. we here reading mdn hate M$, or at least i do, and love it when they get shit on by the takes. i havent touched a peecee in 2 yrs and wont ever again.
I was wondering what the recommended hardware requirements were. No need to worry though. I’m sure it’ll be that long before Vista is introduced.
The biggest problem is going to be programming these multi-core giants.