Intel is making progress on a handy new material for building even bigger computer chips: glass
Intel is making progress on a handy new material for building even bigger computer chips: glass
Can I get a notification when the first isolinears drop?
Why, you want to make Data stick them back in their proper slots in Engineering after they drop [on the floor]? Gosh!
First season gang, represent!
Bigger? Aren’t they supposed to get smaller?
No. If you're thinking Moore's Law, all that says is that semiconductors would double their number of transistors every 2 years (or so) for a given price point. This is basically making a really big package while keeping the price the same.
BTW, that price limit is one that isn't really talked about, but it's in Moore's original paper (unlike things people usually bring up, like clock rates or single threaded speed), and it skewers Moore's Law dead. If you take the price of the old 8086, adjust for inflation, and double its transistors every 2 years since, there's nothing that comes close to the numbers you get. IIRC, it's about an order of magnitude too few transistors for CPUs on offer at that price.
I think the point they were wondering was that a larger computer chip doesn't seem like progress. The overall density of transistors is the same, so how exactly does scaling that up do anything? Or why does using glass make it better?
Granted, reading the article answers exactly that (though I'll admit, I don't entirely understand it). The current material limits how much of the computer chip somehow, this new material allows for more... something.
I wont rest until my CPU is delivered to my house on a pallet, just as god intended.
Longing for the day when I'll finally get to ask my friend if I can borrow his 18-wheeler so I can haul home the CPU I bought on craigslist.
The article is talking about how they make the boards that cpu chiplets are placed on. The chiplets themselves have technology that is getting smaller. The point of an upgrade in the board is to fit more of these chiplets in a device, so you can process more information in parallel. That's why they're focusing on AI computing which relies heavily on parallel processing.
The issue is that chip sizes are limited (among other things, like the speed of light) by the ability to take away the heat they produce. For example the i9 processor itself is not that big, but needs a massive cooler.
Whatever happened to quantum computing that was supposed to replace integrated circuits for cpus?
That’s not really something that’s on the horizon at all. There’s some experimental quantum computing stuff, but it’s not really practical for anything yet (and certainly not in a personal computer!) It’s also likely not going to be better at the stuff we use normal CPUs for. Eventually they might be useful for certain classes of problems, but probably in more of a coprocessor like capacity (kind of like a side unit like a GPU that’s good at certain tasks). Obviously it’s unknown what the future holds, but I don’t think quantum computing is going to replace silicon any time soon.
Quantum computers were never supposed to replace conventional computers. Their theoretical performance is only superior for a specific set of problems that usually are not relevant for every-day computing.
The primary use case for quantum computing is for governments to break encryption.
I think it'll take a new component/circuit design for quantum to be viable for home computing similar to the transformation that happened to computers after the addition of the transistor
They are not general purpose computers and currently need super conductors that need cryo coolong
Link to Youtube of primitive tech building one by their shingle drying rack.
It will be a cloud subscription
Technically you can already rent time on a quantum computer from IBM… so it kind of already is!
Last I checked, glass has a very specific meaning in a scientific context.
I first read about this on the News app on the Nintendo Wii. 15 years ago. Wake me up when I can walk to Best Buy and buy one.
So… silicon?
Silicon oxide to be precise! Definitely none of that in microchips.
But the rgb potential … they’ll pay hundreds more just so their computers can look like a 90s tv stuck between channels
Damn right we will!