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The Amazing Integrated Microprocessor

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the but-it's-still-just-vapor dept.

An anonymous reader wrote in to say that "SiByte Inc. has announced the Mercurian processor SB-1250, a single chip containing two MIPS64 CPU capable of running up to 1GHz, plus a 512kByte L2 Cache, PCI, gigabit ethernet (3) and serial (2) interfaces. The whole chip consumes a mere 10 watts with both processors and all interfaces running at full speed. While it is targeted at networking and communications systems, wouldn't you like to have a notebook allowing to carry with you that much processing power? The chip will be able in volume mid next year, and the data sheet states, they will provide support for porting NetBSD and Linux to it." Sure it's vapor, but it sounds pretty impressive.

5 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Target by AntiPasto · · Score: 3
    I am always amused by the "targetted for..." statements because its the single most vaporous statement about any new hardware. They always seem to denote some sort of special quality about the product when we know that most things are just another chip or device. What I want to see "this should revolutionize" or "this doesn't suck because..." or something more along those lines. Perhaps even "you bet your ass you could use it to..." etc.

    Reminds me of endless blurbs in PC Magazine about what things are "targetted for..."

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  2. Heck, give me one for my desktop. :-) by Talonius · · Score: 3

    Bus speed runs at half of the speed of the processor, so it's 500 Mhz. (The key to Mercurian's unique architecture is its intelligent, high-performance MP design built around a fast, on-chip internal bus called the ZBbusTM. The ZBbus, which runs at half the CPU core clock with a data width of 256 bits (one cache line), connects all the major blocks of the processor including the CPU cores, cache memory, and I/O.)

    The chips work in conjunction with each other, not against each other or in a master/slave relationship. That's got to help matters as well.

    The only thing I can squawk about is the L2 cache being shared by both processors. I suppose this means you can claim 512 L2 cache for each processor, but what if they are both working in completely different memory spaces; would that effectively drop to 256k cache? Does it matter?

    And the PCI bus looks to be nice; claiming 400 Mhz clock with 6.4Gb/second; looks to be utilizing a trick similar to AMDs 200 Mhz FSB.

    This chip just goes to show you what you can or could do by leaving the x86 architecture behind. (Backward compatibility, backward compatibility, backwar Shuddup!)

    Please pass the FUD.. :-)

    -- Talonius

    Off-topic: What would the world be like without a past and legacies? Where would we be? What dreams and myths would we come up with, in today's day and age? Something fun to think on.

    --
    My reality check bounced.
  3. How about 128 32-bit cores on a single die? by NortonDC · · Score: 3

    Check out http://www.eet.com/story/OEG20001009S0026

    "German startup Pact GmbH will attempt to leapfrog the growing field of highly parallel processors targeting communications when it rolls out a complex 30-million-transistor CPU that integrates 128 thirty-two-bit processors at this week's Microprocessor Forum."

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    Tastes Like Chicken
  4. Sure its vapor, but it sounds pretty impressive... by nagora · · Score: 4

    Is not the most insightful comment I've ever seen. Vapourware always looks impressive.

    --
    "Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
  5. Re:Time to buy by Emil+Brink · · Score: 3

    Oh, I don't know, but at least since this was written... ;^)

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    main(O){10<putchar(4^--O?77-(15&5128 >>4*O):10)&&main(2+O);}