48-Core Chips Could Redefine Mobile Devices

CWmike writes "Intel researchers are working on a 48-core processor for smartphones and tablets, but it could be five to 10 years before it hits the market. Having a 48-core chip in a small mobile device would open up a whole new world of possibilities. 'If we're going to have this technology in five to 10 years, we could finally do things that take way too much processing power today,' said analyst Patrick Moorhead. 'This could really open up our concept of what is a computer... The phone would be smart enough to not just be a computer but it could be my computer.' Enric Herrero, a research scientist at Intel Labs in Barcelona, explained that with the prototype chip someone could, for instance, be encrypting an email while also working on other power-intensive apps at the same time — without hiccups. Same for HD video. Intel's Tanausu Ramirez said it could also boost battery life. 'The chip also can take the energy and split it up and distribute it between different applications,' he said. Justin Rattner, Intel's CTO, told Computerworld that a 48-core chip for small mobile devices could hit the market 'much sooner' than the researchers' 10-year prediction."

Comments

Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's put a 48-core processor on a desktop or laptop before we talk about tablets or phones...

Re:Desktop

[ByOhTek]

Because desktops have one less criteria to meet than tablets and phones - they don't have nearly as small of a power envelope.

The desktop, therefore could be seen as a logical step in the progression to getting it on the phone/tablet.

Re:Desktop

[jonadab]

> Why not concentrate on tablets and phones first?

Because people expect significantly more from desktops than from phones.

The article says this:
> The phone would be smart enough to not just be a computer but it could be my computer.

That would make any sense at all if, in addition to processing power, the phone also had multiple gigabytes of primary memory and could utilize multiple peripherals for input (keyboard, mouse, etc) and output (monitors, printers, speaker systems), store hundreds of gigabytes of data, connect to multiple networks (including high-speed wired ones), and run desktop applications.

Traditionally, even the smartest phones aren't expected to do any of that. It isn't mostly the processing power that's holding them back.

Re:Desktop

[Type44Q]

This will then be your primary computing device that follows you around.

This will then be your primary computing device that:

A) you leave on the roof of your car.
B) gets dropped in the toilet.
C) you spill your beverage on.
D) gets chewed up by your dog.
E) you get mugged for.
F) you leave in your hotel room.
G) you have confiscated by the authorities (should you find yourself at the wrong place/time)
H) gets reverse-engineered/stress-tested by your toddler

Shall I continue? Seriously; fuck all this smartphone nonsense; give me a borderline-disposable Nokia 2600-series and I'll happily call it a day! :p

Re:Desktop

[Mike Buddha]

And I don't want my 48-core machine to be fucking mobile. It means I would then be expected to take my work everywhere with me. Fuck that. Until we learn how to respect the sanctity of vacation time in the US and bring up the average vacation length for workers to something near European standard I would rather see this in a non-mobile version first.

I don't think you have anything to worry about. They're not making a portable deep fryer, this is a computer.

Imagine a Beowulf cluster...

[ducomputergeek]

had to be said.

Dirk Meyer's last words

[CajunArson]

Just before the AMD board executed him, Dirk Meyer screamed out: "MOAR COARZ!" And today we have Bulldozer.

The moral of the story is, MOAR != more all of the time. Especially in a freakin' cellphone, where, despite what some Slashdotters think, the primary use case is *not* performing massively parallel scientific simulations.

48 Cores?

[QuantumHack]

Not useful without a serious change in computer architecture.

Amdahl's law. It's a bitch, baby.

projected uses

[Anonymous Coward]

Core 1-12 : DRM
  - these cores will check all audio/video/ebook files for copyright infringement

Core 13-24 : TPM
  - these cores will implement TPM and secure the DRM portion

Core 25-37 : Genuine Advantage Checking
  - these coes will check that the system state is valid, and all license keys are valid and updated

Core 38-40 : Virus Checking
  - these cores will implement malware checks and virus checks

Core 41-47 : OS and Sandboxing/Security
- these cores will run the base os, and run all applications in sandbox mode

Core 48 : User Application
- this core will be available for running user applications in the performance reduced sandbox mode. Priority is given to cores 1-47, in order of decreasing priority.

Re:Before we know it we will be at 640 cores

[Bill_the_Engineer]

I was looking at my razor and thinking I should have more than 6 blades!