Terahertz processors? How is this possible?

[Monkey_Business]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Terahertz-Computers-Coming-Up-Soon-83487.shtml

How is it even possible to have a single chip running at a speed of 1 THz, or 1,000 GHz? For example instead of having a single CPU running at 10 GHz, a quad-core, or Four processors on a single die, running in tandem a 2.5 GHz would equal or rival the performance of a 10 GHz chip. Running a single processor at those kinds of speeds would generate dangerous levels of heat and would need to be constantly cooled with liquid nitrogen.

If not, it would very quickly catch fire or melt.

Unless some major scientific breakthrough is made, I don't see how a THz CPU is possible. Right now, we have enough trouble trying to cool our CPU's @ 4 GHz using water cooling. I doubt we'll be seeing such computer technology until 2050-2060, if at all. We'll probably have CPU's with Hundreds or Thousands of cores running at a few GHz each.

 

[novasatori]

did you read it?
it uses light instead of electrical current...

 

[Monkey_Business]

did you read it?
it uses light instead of electrical current...

Do you think that such a speed would allow PC processors to break into the TeraFLOP or even PetaFLOP boundaries?

How would Crysis run on such a processor?

 

[Tristicus]

How would Crysis run on such a processor?

I'm so goddamn tired of this question.

 

[Monkey_Business]

Could graphics processing cores be used out of this technology? Imagine a GPU which is probably Millions of times faster than the GTX 480

 

[Maximilian]

Could graphics processing cores be used out of this technology? Imagine a GPU which is probably Millions of times faster than the GTX 480

Mmm ATI's refresh of the 5970

 

[Insomniator]

Mmm ATI's refresh of the 5970

lol

And sure, it is possible in the future we'll have that kind of processing power. Anything is possible, just might be very very far away.

 

[soccerballtux]

Just a PR announcement. They used "Terahertz radiation" frequencies. That's like saying my flashlight runs at over 500 Terahertz because it emits light in that spectrum.

As far as I know optical chips still have to terminate in silicon somewhere, because that's how you detect light-- with carrier generation in silicon. We can build such a processor now by just using photodiodes as transistors instead of MOSFETs, but you're still limited by the switching speed in the silicon...I'm not sure how they plan to overcome that.
http://ecee.colorado.edu/~bart/book/book/chapter2/ch2_8.htm#2_8_6

 

[deimos3428]

Just a PR announcement. They used "Terahertz radiation" frequencies. That's like saying my flashlight runs at over 500 Terahertz because it emits light in that spectrum.

What are your load temps like when you overclock that flashlight? Is it Prime stable?

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Four processors on a single die, running in tandem a 2.5 GHz would equal or rival the performance of a 10 GHz chip

No it won't...

PS. We aren't that far off a 1THz chip if you include this...

http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189500692

 

[aigomorla]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Terahertz-Computers-Coming-Up-Soon-83487.shtml

How is it even possible to have a single chip running at a speed of 1 THz, or 1,000 GHz?

my computer is at 1 gajillion gigahertz.

did you read it?
it uses light instead of electrical current...

Yeah, if it uses light, it would be possible.

 

[Rezist]

my computer is at 1 gajillion gigahertz.



Yeah, if it uses light, it would be possible.

How does it play crysis?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Right now, we have enough trouble trying to cool our CPU's @ 4 GHz using water cooling.

What? My E8400 running at 4 Ghz is using air cooling and it was very easy to achieve this speed.

 

[aigomorla]

How does it play crysis?

unstable...

i need a better OS then windows at that speed.

 

[TridenT]

Until it comes to the market place... I don't care. >_> It's just hype to get money.

 

[zagood]

Too big, too hot, and too late.

 

[SHAQ]

LOL...and unfixable.

 

[slayernine]

No it won't...

PS. We aren't that far off a 1THz chip if you include this...

http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189500692

That article is just chalk full of intelligence...

"By comparison, 500 GHz is more than 250 times faster than today's cell phones, which typically operate at approximately 2 GHz, according to the organizations. "


Where is my 2 ghz cell phone. gee wiz by golly where dost I find such item

 

[sxr7171]

That article is just chalk full of intelligence...

"By comparison, 500 GHz is more than 250 times faster than today's cell phones, which typically operate at approximately 2 GHz, according to the organizations. "


Where is my 2 ghz cell phone. gee wiz by golly where dost I find such item

He is right in terms of cellular bands. 1900Mhz, 2100Mhz etc.

 

[Duwelon]

He is right in terms of cellular bands. 1900Mhz, 2100Mhz etc.

Reminds me of one of my college classes where the professor was talking about the wavelengths of light, how after visible light we get xrays, gamma rays etc, which become more and more dangerous as the "frequency" increases. In the same breath that he uttered the word dangerous, he mentioned how a computer CPU is running at over 2ghz these days. I don't remember his exact words but he intimated that they were getting dangerously high to the point of emitting harmful rays I couldn't help but smile and bite my lip, and feel like a giant nerd all at the same time.

 

[sxr7171]

Reminds me of one of my college classes where the professor was talking about the wavelengths of light, how after visible light we get xrays, gamma rays etc, which become more and more dangerous as the "frequency" increases. In the same breath that he uttered the word dangerous, he mentioned how a computer CPU is running at over 2ghz these days. I don't remember his exact words but he intimated that they were getting dangerously high to the point of emitting harmful rays I couldn't help but smile and bite my lip, and feel like a giant nerd all at the same time.

You did the right thing, after all the guy is grading you.

 

[Ben90]

I got in a debate with a professor because he believed processors still had their cache on motherboards. I later gave up because there was no point in arguing, I already had a near 100% in that class and one test question wasn't going to matter in the long run.

 

[theAnimal]

That article is just chalk full of intelligence...

Smart chalk...I wonder if that could replace teachers?

 

[slayernine]

He is right in terms of cellular bands. 1900Mhz, 2100Mhz etc.

He is comparing a cell phone's radio frequency to the speed of a processor... so no he is not right. Those are two very different things.

 

[Center]

I read (and saved on my hd) an article back in 2000 or 2001 (when the first gigahertz computers were coming out) which claimed that we would have 10GHz in 10 years (this year, actually) or bust. They claimed they could use light (lithography or something?) to surpass the physical speed limits of silicon. I can u/l the article if anyone's interested.