This post is probably most interesting to AROS currently (and to everyone else interested in general computer technology evolution of course
):
Just days after the
Exynos 5 Dual CPU made its debut in Samsung's new Chromebook (we will most certainly see it in a future Galaxy IV phone as well), the worlds first Cortex-A15 ARM CPU showing truly impressive performance, ARM officially launches the "Next Generation" 64-bit ARMv8 architecture (backards compatible to ARMv7):
"ARM Launches Cortex-A50 Series, the World’s Most Energy-Efficient 64-bit Processors"
http://www.arm.com/about/newsroom/arm-launches-cortex-a50-series-the-worlds-most-energy-efficient-64-bit-processors.phpThese are the first two ARMv8 cores available for licensing from ARM themselves. Here is a summary:
Cortex-A53: ~1x "today’s superphone" performance using
1/4 of the power
"The most efficient ARM application processor ever"Cortex-A57: ~3x "today’s superphone" performance using
1x of the power
"Provides computer performance comparable to a legacy PC, while operating in a mobile power budget"And like before with big.LITTLE, these cores can be combined in various ways in a single CPU chip: "The Cortex-A53 processor combined with the Cortex-A57 and big.LITTLE processing technology will enable platforms with extreme performance range while radically reducing the energy consumption"
Among those CPU manufacturers that is going to make their own products based on these cores you see Broadcom, Calxeda, HiSilicon, Samsung and STMicroelectronics, and a bit surprisingly
AMD:
"AMD has signed a license for a 64-bit processor design from ARM, ending its exclusive commitment to x86"http://www.techworld.com.au/article/440450/amd_sell_arm-based_server_chips_2014/Other big players making CPU's based on this new 64-bit ARMv8 architecture you'll find Applied Micro, Cavium and of course
nVidia.
nVidia kind of shook the ground in the industry when they announced
their future ARM strategy together with
Microsoft almost two years ago.
This one is IMHO the most interesting one, the one I personally am most curious about. These CPU's ("Denver" core) will be
"designed to support future products ranging from personal computers and servers to workstations and supercomputers",
"we are designing a high-performing ARM CPU core in combination with our massively parallel GPU cores to create a new class of processor"According to
this blog they are looking to go head-to-head with x86:
"Denver frees PCs, workstations and servers from the hegemony and inefficiency of the x86 architecture. For several years, makers of high-end computing platforms have had no choice about instruction-set architecture. The only option was the x86 instruction set with variable-length instructions, a small register set, and other features that interfered with modern compiler optimizations, required a larger area for instruction decoding, and substantially reduced energy efficiency.
Denver provides a choice. System builders can now choose a high-performance processor based on a RISC instruction set with modern features such as fixed-width instructions, predication, and a large general register file. These features enable advanced compiler techniques and simplify implementation, ultimately leading to higher performance and a more energy-efficient processor."And I think this is a lot bigger deal for nVidia than most people think, they are making something completely different out of it than "just" putting out another "CPU core with GPU" to the market. In this
very interesting blog/interview (read it, really, do it!), nVidia chief Jen-Hsun Huang describes it as an upcoming paradigm shift, and a "re-invention" of the whole company:
Nvidia 1.0 was PC graphics (made possible by "fab-less production").
Nvidia 2.0 was the creation of the "GPU"
Nvidia 3.0 (about to happen) is about parallel processing (in a "newish" way, as I read it)
Nvidia is for the first time designing both the CPU core(s) and GPU on their own, in-house, towards goals and a purpose they have defined themselves. That interview is 1.5 years old, and in it, Mr. Huang mentions they (a few hundred engineers) have been working internally with this for 3.5 years already. I have seen a post somewhere (can't remember) suggesting that these new chips will integrate the "GPU" and "CPU" on the silicon in a previously never seen manner, the on-chip internal data bandwidth between those parts will be enormous, it will be so considerable that those previously "separated parts" will kind of
merge in practice. Again, nVidia themselves are labeling what they are now doing with ARM/Denver as being equally significant as the fab-less chip production and the rise of the GPU concept, it will be the next step, and will constitute "Nvidia 3.0".
That's why I'm so curious to see it. It's definitely going to be more than "just another CPU-core/GPU SoC bundle, only faster". Making a faster "Tegra" won't exactly warrant a "Nvidia 3.0" label, there has got to be more than that to it.
"Every single one of this project are fully funded and the expectation is within the next three or four years [1.5 years ago] we’re going to bring to the mobile market performance that is nearly a hundred times higher than today’s’ PC. And that’s the roll out if you will of our Nvidia 3.0 strategy.""ARM is now the only CPU in the world that will have deep penetration in the mobile devices, the PC, servers and supercomputers." 1.5 years ago he said that it takes about 5 years to design a custom CPU, and at that time they had already been working 3.5 years on it. There are many speculations about release dates, some say 2013, and that seems kind of probable.
ARM Naysayers - REPENT!
