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No one says it isn't going to be x86, and I'm sure Intel would have if it were. The article speculates that it's going to be `t3h best, chip, EVAR', and it's going to use a different underlying architecture, have a large amount of cache, and have a core dedicated to translating x86 instructions to whatever it uses natively.

Why? Because, apparently, the guys who designed FX!32 work for Intel, in addition to some Russians I've never heard of, who (according to TFA, I can't read cyrillic) apparently wrote a very cool compiler.

It seems that new designs are overdue.

That might come from Elbrus

Seems like an interesting article, especially the part about IA-64 and Transmeta.

What about this:

It seems that a Russian company, called Elbrus, is trying to make a fast & cool x86-compatible processor/computer.

Check it out here.

And remember, children, open source **is** some form of communism/socialism... guess the circle goes round, doesn't it?

;-)

bye,

Hummer357

I don't feel that any of the current reports are aimed at people such as myself, and don't feel that I'm getting the real deal in terms that I understand.

I understand what a register is, the advantages of 64bit, 128bit etc., even what a pipeline is.

What I would like to see is a bullet pointed list of advantages put in executive summary style, dumb-down, type!

Also, I read a few years ago about Elberus, who have some pretty neat claims here:http://www.elbrus.ru/mcst_e/proect_e/e2k_arch _e.htm

You may be interested in their claims.

February 25, 1999, Moscow, Russia -- Today Elbrus International, a Russian microprocessor design company, disclosed the details of its revolutionary new microprocessor to the Russian press. The new technology promises to redefine the processor performance frontier. The microprocessor, termed E2k, will function 3 to 5 times more quickly than Merced, the next-generation Intel chip, while still running all legacy software. The E2K project represents the latest commercial endeavor of the former Soviet Union's most talented computer scientists, many of whom have designed and delivered three generations of supercomputers, including those running the Russian Space Mission Control and the Russian Missile Defense System.

I think it would be cool if this was real. Hmmm, a new processor maybe for macs? Sweet!

The existance of companies like Elbrus show that there is some competence in the field available.

The board was such an obvious fake
Agree. I didn't read the original post. Anyway, the CPU id they used does not match the Soviet standard. For future hoaxers - it should at least start with '1'. Conclusion - nobody from Russia actually read their site.
The Russian millitary is still using vacuum tubes, folks
This is true, but do you know, where and why ? Before saying that Russians can not make CPUs, take a look at http://www.elbrus.ru:8200/roadmap/e2k.html Or do you think this is another hoax ?

Impressive Performance Claims

Babaian's claims for the E2k would sesm unbelievable, if not for the credibility of the Elbrus team. In a 0.18-micron six-layer-metal process, he says, the E2k will run at 1.2 GHz and deliver 135 SPECint95 and 350 SPECfp95, yet it will require only 35 W of power and 126 mm^ of silicon (with 256K of on-chip L2 cache). We protect that in a similar process Merced will operate at 800 MHz and deliver 45 SPECint95 and 70 SPECfp95 in 300 mm^ of silicon at 60 W. Merced, however, is ahead of the E2k in development by at least a year. Even more amazing, Babaian claims the E2k processor will be x86 binary compatible and, after a few tweaks, IA-64 (Merced) compatible as well. To achieve this feat, Elbrus will rely on binary compilation assisted by emulation hooks in the processor, a strategy which, not coincidentally, is similar to the tack that Transmeta is apparently taking (see MPR 12/7/98, p. 9). The similarity might arise from the fact that Transmeta cofounder and CEO Dave Ditzel spent several years at Sun working with Elbrus. Babaian believes, however, that his company's binary-compilation technology is more advanced than any other on the planet.

Perhaps you meant Dave Ditzel, the ex-Sun microprocessor guru who is supposedly leading the Transmeta CPU design..

Here is an interesting link that points out Ditzel's relation to Elbrus..

Am I reading too much into it when I note that the website we all love to hate is down. Will it be back up on Monday with some content?

Unless they are contracting for the NSA they will have to tell the public what they are up to at some point, otherwise how can anyone buy the product.

At the moment the best bet seems to be that it is a project rather like the Elbrus E2K, but who knows?

When it comes online they are going to need the 4-way SMP and Apache tweaks to stop being slashdotted...

I haven't found any confirmation on other news sources (in Russia). On the other hand, hey, it's 1st of April!