News & Analysis
Slideshow: Novel server CPUs glow at Hot Chips
Rick Merritt
8/29/2012 11:31 PM EDT
Inside Applied’s ARM SoC
Applied’s X-Gene (below) will initially pack 8 custom 64-bit ARM cores on a single 40nm chip running at 2.5 GHz, each with its own L1 cache and shared L2 and L3 pools as well as I/O, networking and an interconnect fabric. A follow up 28nm part will pack 16 cores and run at 3 GHz.
The chip’s interconnect initially can link up to 128 cores in a system and eventually 512 cores. The company showed a mockup of a server card but does not have first silicon back from TSMC.
“They have been very quiet since they announced X-Gene almost a year ago, so the fact they stood up and described the same SoC and it still will be available by the end of the year means they are executing on their plan,” said Nathan Brookwood, principal of market watcher Insight64 (Saratoga, Calif.).
The ARM chips are showing levels of integration not in their x86 competitors, including clustering interconnects AMD and Intel may not have for another two years, he added.
Click on image to enlarge.
Applied’s X-Gene (below) will initially pack 8 custom 64-bit ARM cores on a single 40nm chip running at 2.5 GHz, each with its own L1 cache and shared L2 and L3 pools as well as I/O, networking and an interconnect fabric. A follow up 28nm part will pack 16 cores and run at 3 GHz.
The chip’s interconnect initially can link up to 128 cores in a system and eventually 512 cores. The company showed a mockup of a server card but does not have first silicon back from TSMC.
“They have been very quiet since they announced X-Gene almost a year ago, so the fact they stood up and described the same SoC and it still will be available by the end of the year means they are executing on their plan,” said Nathan Brookwood, principal of market watcher Insight64 (Saratoga, Calif.).
The ARM chips are showing levels of integration not in their x86 competitors, including clustering interconnects AMD and Intel may not have for another two years, he added.
Click on image to enlarge.
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rick.merritt
8/30/2012 1:41 PM EDT
OK, so I did not say anything about the long, detailed Intel Xeon presentation, but I figured it's been shipping awhile and people know about it already.
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Alexander Teterkin
8/31/2012 2:11 PM EDT
Rick, can you share more details on IBM POWER 7+ please. I know that you attended HC24.
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rick.merritt
9/1/2012 3:30 PM EDT
What do you want to know?
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rick.merritt
8/30/2012 5:29 PM EDT
Feeling guilty I added a page with two foils on Xeon and its new power saving technology.
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poconoarmchairreview
8/31/2012 7:30 PM EDT
"but to be frank it is running very hot"
No problem, just put a coffee rest on top of the chip and keep your mug warm all day for no extra cost.
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jg_
8/31/2012 9:00 PM EDT
The Core is a tiny portion of any Server, so "which core ?" is asking the wrong question.
More important are GB/s/watt numbers, and longevity and process.
Servers is a simple numbers game, there is no marketing sizzle, or packaging design froth.
That means the big players, with strong FAB backup, will continue to be the main forces here.
It is also why highly focused solutions, like IBMs, can find a place.
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Neo1
9/2/2012 10:54 PM EDT
Good to see that Oracle is continuing the Sparc line though there were fears of it's imminent demise. Sparc lost the battle for supremacy a decade back which made it easy for X86 to proliferate but these new chips could bring about some refreshing change in server market. How low can they make a server to own while still providing the reliability and throughput is the question.
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MikeSmith2011
9/3/2012 11:12 PM EDT
Looks like a study in contrasts - the Power7 designers continuing to go after the highest speed - 5+ GHz, 80MB caches, the AppliedMicro designers going after integration, efficiency and right sizing and Intel doing what it does best - leading edge fabs that give it the advantage. It appears that all three are targeting different segments of the server market.
Oh and Pat comes across as a petty partisan. Maybe he should run for political office.
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