Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe 1.0) Controller
Are Processors Running Out Of Steam?
Ed Sperling, Semiconductor Engineering
February 14th, 2014
First of Two Parts: Clock speeds can’t go higher, and most software still can’t take advantage of multiple cores. A look at what’s next.
In 2004, Intel introduced a new line of Pentium chips that ran at 3.6GHz. Fast forward to today, and the company’s i7 processors run at 3.5GHz with a Turbo Boost to 3.9GHz.
There have been many improvements in the meantime. There is more cache and dramatically faster access to data stored in that cache. And there are more cores with improved coherency between them. But the big problem is physics—it’s impossible to turn up the clock speed on a single core for very long without burning the chip. More cores can solve that problem, but most software applications still can’t take advantage of more cores. Even controlling current leakage, and subsequently heat, with finFET transistors provides only a one-time gain.
Related News
Breaking News
- PUFsecurity Unveils Next-Gen Crypto Coprocessor PUFcc7 Featuring High-speed Performance and TLS 1.3 Support
- SEMIFIVE Starts Mass Production of its 14nm AI Inference SoC Platform based Product
- VeriSilicon's complete Bluetooth Low Energy IP solution is fully compliant with LE Audio specification
- TASKING and Andes Announce FuSa Compliant Compiler Support for Andes RISC-V ASIL Compliant Automotive IP
- Efabless Launches an "AI Wake Up Call" Open-Source Silicon Design Challenge
Most Popular
- Intel and Arm Team Up to Power Startups
- Chiplet Interconnect Pioneer Eliyan Closes $60 Million Series B Funding Round, Co-led by Samsung Catalyst Fund and Tiger Global Management to Address Most Pressing Challenge in Development of Generative AI Chips
- PUFsecurity Unveils Next-Gen Crypto Coprocessor PUFcc7 Featuring High-speed Performance and TLS 1.3 Support
- Renesas Introduces Industry's First General-Purpose 32-bit RISC-V MCUs with Internally Developed CPU Core
- SmartSoC Solutions Joins TSMC Design Center Alliance to Boost Semiconductor Innovation in India
E-mail This Article | Printer-Friendly Page |