Just as long as no one gets charged for using an unused processor:
7-23-2007
New processors present problems, payoff
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A fundamental change in the design of microprocessors is presenting software developers with a challenge ? and a huge financial opportunity.
Chip makers are no longer racing to have the fastest microprocessor and have shifted their focus away from building chips with a single, super-fast calculating core. Instead, to save energy and reduce heat, they're putting multiple cores on the same chip ? the equivalent of several computers on the same slice of silicon.
The cores run slower but are more energy-efficient, and are designed to break up big chores and work on the separate pieces simultaneously.
The resulting technology is ideal for the most demanding multimedia tasks, such as processing large video files, pulling information from multiple databases at the same time, or playing a computer game while downloading music and burning a DVD.
The problem is that many software applications weren't written for chips with multiple cores, and the hardware is advancing so fast that the software runs the risk of being left behind.
Intel has even demonstrated an
80-core research chip that is so complex that it doesn't have an operating system smart enough to work with it.
The gap between hardware and software hasn't become a problem for consumers yet, because operating systems like Windows XP and Vista already work with the multicore chips out now, and basic applications like word processing and e-mail won't need the extra cores or a software overhaul.
But experts predict dire consequences if the software for more complicated applications isn't brought up to speed soon.
They warn that programs could suddenly stop getting faster as chips with eight or more cores make their way into PCs. The software as it's currently designed can't take advantage of that level of complexity.
"You can imagine a scenario where people stop buying laptops and PCs because we can't figure this out," said David Patterson, a computer-architecture expert and computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
"We'd be in uncharted territory," Patterson said. "We need to get some Manhattan Projects going here ? somebody could solve this problem, and whoever solves this problem could have this gigantic advantage on everybody else."
Companies that successfully migrate appropriate mass-market applications to the parallel computing environment ? or create new ones that exploit the shift in chip technology ? stand to profit mightily.
Facebook
Twitter