IBM unveiled an eight-core processor
IBM has told some details of its new eight-processor Power7, designed for servers and supercomputers.
The frequency of the chip was not disclosed, but it will be less than 4.7 gigahertz, which worked for previous model Power6. Since the nineties, when chip manufacturers constantly increase the frequency, the situation has changed dramatically. The high frequency of the processor leads to greater consumption of energy and heat. Now more increase in the number of cores, and with a new model of IBM joined the trend.
Each of the eight cores can execute four Power7 flow calculations simultaneously. Energy consumption of the new chip, manufactured on 45-nanometer technology, the same as for Power6. But productivity is higher in two or three.
Another key feature – the placement of 32 MB L3 cache directly on the crystal. In the processor also integrates two dual-channel controller, external memory DDR3. They provide a constant bandwidth of 100 gigabytes per second.