Ask Slashdot: Why Are There No Huge Leaps Forward In CPU/GPU Power?

dryriver writes: We all know that CPUs and GPUs and other electronic chips get a little faster with each generation produced. But one thing never seems to happen -- a CPU/GPU manufacturer suddenly announcing a next generation chip that is, say, 4-8 times faster than the fastest model they had 2 years ago. There are moderate leaps forward all the time, but seemingly never a HUGE leap forward due to, say, someone clever in R&D discovering a much faster way to process computing instructions. Is this because huge leaps forward in computing power are technically or physically impossible/improbable? Or is nobody in R&D looking for that huge leap forward, and rather focused on delivering a moderate leap forward every 2 years? Maybe striving for that "rare huge leap forward in computing power" is simply too expensive for chip manufacturers? Precisely what is the reason that there is never a next-gen CPU or GPU that is, say, advertised as being 16 times faster than the one that came 2 years before it due to some major breakthrough in chip engineering and manufacturing?

Comments

Re:Gate tunnelling current

[Anonymous Coward]

Excellent (and accurate) observations, but
can I just say?
The way you did your line-breaks
made me think at first glance that you had written your
Comment in verse. Maybe,
"An Ode to Moore's Law"? :)

Re:Because there's no such thing as one "performan

[angel'o'sphere]

The first poster gave the answer to all this:
Physics!!!

Why don't you read on Wikipedia how a processor is made? You probably grasp immediately that we are right now at the point where we can not make them smaller, hence we can not make them faster.

Oh .... I did not read this line from you till now, forget my comment above:
Why is nobody trying to dramatically outstrip Moore's Law?
Because no one is working on flying faster than the speed of light, too.

Is it even possible to jump more than one process node ahead at a time, or increase IPC by an order of magnitude at a time rather than by a small percentage?
No it is not. How would you accomplish something you don't know how to accomplish it? Hu?

Make a 100 yards sprint. Measure your time.
Then explain to me how you plan to be twice as fast in a week ... good luck. Or explain to me how you plan to be twice as fast in a year. A human being that can sprint, simply can not double its speed, regardless how long and hard it tries ....