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51 Comments
- BigCheezy, on 02/09/2009, -0/+60It's important to know how they are able to achieve this. By sacrificing some of the accuracy of the modern processor (by lowering voltages for one), they are able to get tremendous energy savings, however you get "fuzz" in your answers. The idea is that this would be used for things like audio decoding on cell phones etc. NOT for your next-gen Crysis 2.
- jdmulloy, on 02/10/2009, -0/+41Intel made a chip 15 years ago that did probabilistic math. It was called the Pentium.
- ARTLUKM, on 02/09/2009, -0/+22Given the lower voltage and subsequent decreased accuracy, I wonder how much of the 'noise' shortcomings can be made up for by smart software that is able to compensate.
- strictnein, on 02/10/2009, -0/+15Jimmy has Typhoid and has died. You gain 120lbs of food.
- shaggy78, on 02/10/2009, -0/+11you mean optical, or photonic chips. Intel is working on that.
http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/Tera-Scale/ ... - trollick, on 02/10/2009, -0/+92+2=3+/-1
- AndrewWiggin, on 02/10/2009, -0/+9Just because the chip is 30x more energy efficient doesn't mean you will be able to have a battery last 30x as long. Your chip accounts for less than half of your battery drainage in a laptop, for example.
- digggggggggg, on 02/10/2009, -1/+10Wow, that was brilliant. Well played.
For those of you who don't know what he's talking about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug - anexanhume, on 02/10/2009, -0/+8Interesting story, but a slightly misleading text. Voltages are boosted to battle noise, but the trend of CMOS has been to reduce voltage over the years. We've gone from 5 volt supplies down to 1.4, 1.6 etc. supplies. Since power relates to the square of voltage, this provides tremendous power savings. Smaller transistors also require less voltage to turn on (although we are reaching the limits of how low threshold voltages will go).
This is a cool concept, but it's not going to replace carbon nanotubes, silicon nanowires, graphene and other elements as the future of digital electronics. - vroom101, on 02/10/2009, -0/+8#1. Excerpt from the article "S'pore-US team invent 200x-better microchip" by Sufian Suderman at http://www.todayonline.com/articles/301044print.as ... (www.todayonline.com/articles/301044print.asp) via www.todayonline.com/articles/301044.asp
. . . "We lower the voltage dramatically and deal with the resulting computational errors by embracing the errors and uncertainties," said Professor Krishna Palem of Rice University and director of NTU's Institute of Sustainable Nanoelectronics. In essence, the chip works by making random calculations instead of fixed ones. . . .
#2. From the homepage of Dr. Krishna V. Palem at http://www.cs.rice.edu/~kvp1/
a) "A Probabilistic Boolean Logic and its Meaning": http://www.cs.rice.edu/~kvp1/probabilisticboolean. ... (www.cs.rice.edu/~kvp1/probabilisticboolean.pdf)
b) "Probabilistic System-on-a-Chip Architectures": http://www.crest.gatech.edu/palempbitscurrent/toda ... (www.crest.gatech.edu/palempbitscurrent/todaes.pdf)
c) "Advocating Noise as an Agent for Ultra Low-Energy Computing: Probabilistic CMOS Devices and Their Characteristics": http://www.crest.gatech.edu/palempbitscurrent/jjap ... (www.crest.gatech.edu/palempbitscurrent/jjap_paper.pdf) - LiquidIse, on 02/10/2009, -0/+8A very important distinction to make. Especially for those who have never had to get down and dirty with floating point processors
- blackjack75, on 02/10/2009, -0/+6It would work pretty well... as long as said software runs on a reliable processor.
- vrikis, on 02/10/2009, -2/+8Should be:
Revolutionary Chip Uses 30X Less Energy, Runs 7X Faster, Costs 500X - lutiana, on 02/10/2009, -0/+5Wow... its really been 15 years... damn time flies...
- strictnein, on 02/10/2009, -0/+5No kidding. I remember articles, in Wired maybe, only somewhat jokingly asking if those "Intel Inside" stickers were meant as a warning.
- dampeal, on 02/10/2009, -0/+5huh... I thought that said 'Chimp' instead of 'Chip' I was like WTF???!!
- evil-doer, on 02/10/2009, -0/+3"For example, for consumers, it could mean the difference between charging a cell phone every few weeks instead of every few days"
correct me if im wrong, but isnt a large part of the battery drain in mobile phones the actual wireless radio transmitting? not cpu use? - inactive, on 02/10/2009, -2/+5I think this is exactly why we should move to a better medium for digital data.
Yes, electricity works and if you have 2 set voltages, one low, one high, you can send 0's and 1's. And to save power, just make the high voltage closer to the low one, and that is what is done here to try and save power.
But what we really need is what was being done last year that will probably take decades to get put in anything is have glass etched with grooves, and shine light down the grooves for 1 and no light for 0.
That's where the real speed will come in. - inactive, on 02/10/2009, -5/+7The simple fact that these chips require probabilistic programming and require an incredible amount of new hardware/software requirements means this technology is years from being developed. However given that we are reaching the end of Moore's law we might have to start developing such alternatives anyway.
- humanerror, on 02/10/2009, -1/+3Only because nobody calls you
- whodathunk, on 02/16/2009, -0/+2Nah, he'll probably be perfectly happy with finite improbability and invitations to lots of parties.
- ams876, on 02/10/2009, -0/+2FTA:
Equally important is that the implementation of PCMOS piggybacks on the current "complementary metal-oxide semiconductor" technology, or CMOS, that chipmakers already use. This means that chipmakers can use existing equipment to support PCMOS, resulting in lower entry costs for the new technology. - mwalker52, on 02/12/2009, -0/+2a $750 computer will run crysis in high detail - that meme is dead.
- wollsmosh, on 02/10/2009, -0/+2Unless you're suicidal or in your 70s, this tech will probably be very obsolete by the time you die..
- wollsmosh, on 02/10/2009, -0/+2you mean your Infinite Improbability Drive?
- Tenoq, on 02/10/2009, -0/+2Plenty. All modern processors are flawed anyway, and they already compensate for errors. Just like HDDs - they're not perfect, but they have good error control.
- wollsmosh, on 02/10/2009, -0/+2I've noticed a lot of new technology being anounced is from from Rice University. Pretty impressive, but maybe physorg just has some bias towards reporting on Rice. I geuss we'll see when/if it hits the market.
- cvlad, on 03/08/2009, -0/+1Gonna have to side with craznar on this one. The usage of less in this context is retarded. Also, the title of this article/whatever has confused energy and power. Kinda disappointing since it's from phys.org.
If you want to represent a fractional quantity then use a frigging fraction. - BuckCynnie, on 02/11/2009, -0/+1Hmm...My car's engine runs very fast in first gear, but get more done in fifth...
Keep that in mind when looking at the "speed" of things. x86 processors run much faster than ARM equivalents getting the same work done. - Rikkochet, on 02/10/2009, -0/+1AKA the 585.9
- Thuktun, on 02/10/2009, -0/+1A little fuzzing of the details here and there in a high-resolution display might not be noticeable, particularly if it's allowing you to move fast enough so that your attention is riveted to the game rather than fancy slow-motion, high resolution.
- inactive, on 02/11/2009, -0/+1Yea but Moore himself said in a recent interview that his law is only sustainable for another decade or so. We are definitely reaching the atomic limit.
- g00dETH3R, on 02/10/2009, -0/+1Thank you so much, i cant read most "science" magazines, they annoy me too much. Normally some scientifically ignorant journalist will spent %90 of the article going over how you'll be able to leave you charger at home and how Tom thinks it's such a great idea, yet they describe the technology in one line.
- Culyt, on 02/15/2009, -0/+1Microsoft also did a software implementation in excel.
- df12, on 02/10/2009, -0/+1We've been "reaching the end of Moore's Law" for about 20 years now haven't we? I'm not saying it will go on forever, but saying technology "X" is worth pursuing because Moore's Law is breaking down seems a little premature.
I think more work should be done to improve software parallelism. It's pretty clear that the GHz war is nearing it's end and the Core war is picking up steam. - craznar, on 02/10/2009, -2/+3If something uses 100mW of power, then 30x less is -2900mW. So I assume this chip not only operates, but also powers the rest of the system.
- craznar, on 02/10/2009, -1/+2Less isn't about fractions. Less is about subtraction.
30x less = A - 30*A
Subtraction isn't tough ... don't bother hanging in there. You would never figure it out. - yammy1688, on 02/11/2009, -0/+1Nice. So when do these Intel Pentium Retard editions come out?
- whodathunk, on 02/16/2009, -0/+1"But what we really need is what was being done last year that will probably take decades to get put in anything is have glass etched with grooves, and shine light down the grooves for 1 and no light for 0."
One of those newfangled Compact Discs? never! I'll stick to vinyl thanks. - neftaly, on 02/10/2009, -1/+1Nah, the several low end phones like the Nokia 1200 and Motorola C118 already do this with just a normal battery. I get at least 2 weeks of charge out of my C118, which cost me about 25USD brand new & unlocked (I've stopped buying amazing gadget phones altogether, the super cheap ones are awesome). Fast processors and color screens take a lot more out of a phone than radio transmission (a data burst every hour or so when idle).
- meninostongue, on 02/10/2009, -0/+0How much does the processor in a phone affect battery life compared to the transmitter/receiver, screen, etc? While this would no doubt improve battery life, it likely wouldn't be as much as the improvement of this processor over a traditional one when part of the whole system.
- phoggey, on 02/11/2009, -1/+1less: (proscribed) Ten items or less
Many people restrict less as a determiner to mean smaller in size or amount. They proscribe the use of less to mean smaller in number, for which fewer is the preferred adjective.
However, the proscribed usage is very common, and considered to be normal usage in some regions.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/less
English is tough... because it's so widely spoken ... hang in there. You'll figure it out eventually. - piggybaggy, on 02/10/2009, -1/+1Fractions are tough.... hang in there. You'll figure it out eventually.
- inactive, on 02/24/2009, -0/+0New chips are usually more energy efficient but come at a loss of performance. I would have to see this new chip real performance to see if it is the next big thing.
- elhaf, on 02/10/2009, -2/+2I regularly leave my charger at home on vactaion. My Sony Ericsson goes a week without a charge.
- Richie311, on 02/10/2009, -1/+1Sweet, another cool as tech innovation that I probably won't be alive long enough to see released.
- V1ncent, on 02/10/2009, -1/+1The ultimate goal with photonic chips will be to finally make the creation of the Voyager doctor a reality.
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