Intel's Polaris prototype is a glimpse ten years into chip futures

Posted By: JD Lewin | Jan 17th, 2007 @ 1:55 PM | 11,992 Views | 2 Comments

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Our new favorite phrase in hardware lust around the 10 HQ has been 'multi-core' (Sampy says it like Leeloo Dallas says 'multi-pass'). However according to Intel's CTO the era of many-core isn't so far off. Justin Rattner tested the first Polaris processor prototypes recently, and he's pleased to report that deep inside Intel's test labs, they were getting 1.02 TFLOPS at 3.2GHz, all for less than 100 watts of power. Justin would also remind you that a decade ago, that sort of power took up a space about the size of your house.

The full specs of the Polaris chip are available, and there's certainly no roadmap for putting these bad boys on the shelves at Fry's. Nonetheless, these sort of lab accomplishments send shockwaves through our minds. If you want a good job in 2020, start learning how to program to as many cores as you can imagine.

Tags: future, hardware, Intel

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