What is Digg?48 Comments
- nater, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18you called him a noob? get out your calculator and type in 50 * 100. That's 5,000 MHz. Now, a GHz is 1000 MHz, so you divide that 5,000 by 1,000 to get the number of GHz.....5 GHz.....be nice, not mean
also, having 3x3.2GHz chips does not = 10 GHz. The machine is still only able to process at clock speeds of 3.2 GHz, just that they can process three threads at once.....so be nice already
......now play nice children - Machismo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11WOW! That is fast for being something build out of relatively new technology. Give this a decade and imagine where it will take us!
Amazing!
digg! - orangetiki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"I was told there would be no math"
- Absalon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+820years? give it 5years.
- NospmisRemoh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7No, and it probably never will. I believe they are currently working out how to get DRM technology into the device before they go any further.
- Websteria, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5My first processor was 4.77/12 mhz.... 50mhz would have been unbelievable back then. Just wait 20 years.
- OneZeroZeroOne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Just for reference, the super nintendo ran at 3.58 MHz
Consider how large the original SNES was and what the system was capable of.
This is actually kind of scary and cool simultaneously. This is just the first iteration and they're running at 50mhz?? Can't really do much with 12 transistors, but a nano-chip running at 50mhz would actually be capable of doing quite a bit.
Imagine these integrated with a touch sensitive OLED screen.....holy crap rollup PDA. - GrinningFool, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9But does it run Linux yet?
- webmarc, on 10/12/2007, -8/+12"Using this setup, the researchers showed they could achieve a speed of 50 megahertz, hundreds of times slower than the gigahertz speeds of silicon processors seen in most personal computers. "
Um... 50 MHz * 100 = 5,000 MHz, aka 5 GHz. In order for it to be "hundredS" of times slower, we'd have to have at least 10 GHz chips, no? Since we don't even have (commercially available) 5GHz chips, this paragraph needs a re-write.
SUPER COOL STUFF THOUGH!!!!!!!
(Caps used to indicate important and mind altering concept; multi-punctuated to emphasize size of... er... nevermind) - The_Decryptor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Well, i was thinking about the Nintendo DS, it has two CPU's (one running at 67Mhz, one at 33Mhz), so this prototype "chip", is already faster than one CPU in a current, commercial game platform.
- longofest, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Nice work getting the story to the front page. Definitely a good achievement in computers.
If you want to see a different article about the same breakthrough, see: http://digg.com/technology/IBM_Creates_Integrated_Circuit_With_Carbon_Nanotube (submitted long before this story, but I don't mind since it ended up flopping and this one ended up getting front page. at least there was a decent amount of time between the submissions) - noseeme, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3So how does this compare to, for example, the transistors in the 65nm silicon we see today?
If the thing is 18 micrometers long, that sounds larger than current silicon transistors... - Daem0nX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5That comments brought back too many /. memories.
- scheper, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I think the future of computing is not in faster chips, but more chips. And at this size, you could get teraflops from a computer on your watch.
- mvnicosia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I especially enjoyed the caption about the O-ring. I'm sorry, what? Oh, that was a ring oscillator...
- Xiata, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3There are other technologies that would be better off improving than using carbon nanotube to create processors. As of right now the best bet would be diamond processors since they have within the last two years found how to give it semiconductor properties, they would be the best bet. Plus you wouldn't have to worry too much about defects and overheating, the company that can make diamond wafers at a relatively cheap price does so with a very low defect count.
(moved post to oneonezeroone) - mikoslav, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Never mind linux, can I use it to play doom on a paper-thin OLED display?
- Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2dude think about it this way if we can connect the molocompys there we could incresse speed by using blocks of 50mhz molocubes like say 500ghz
- VegaObscura3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+210 years ago, getting speeds of 50 MHz was insane. We are taking a small step back, not starting over. This increases the speed of moving forward, and is not slowing us down at all.
- databyss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I would image that chip size is the least of concerns in building a computer.
Bus size and other components take up most of the space. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Portuguese / Brazilian : http://www.htk.com.br/noticia.php?noticia=332
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http://www.htk.com.br/ - deepsub, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Pfft... they layed a bunch of contacts on a carbon nanotube and made an oscillator. It is NOT a computer circuit, it's a series of buffers fed back on themselves, nothing more.
What is significant though, as silicon runs out of gas, we will indeed be able to use buckytubes as transistor bulk, but this was already known before this so-called 'breakthrough'. - nullmind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Someone (who was modded down) above posted that "3.2 x 3Ghz = 10Ghz" for the XBOX360. If we are counting multi-processor machines or clusters (eg; Google,) we would be here all night.
This looks like a great step in the right direction. - thenativeraver, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My computer was about the same, this is wicked cool. I can only imagine what speed a circuit the size of a full human hair could do.
- jumjum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Man, a chip with this could be 30 Ghz, and hopefully something will be done with this. My second comp was 133 mhz and it wouldn't even play mp3s without skipping, but my present comp a decade later is only 25 times that (3.2 Ghz).
- fatlip, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1while this is really ***** cool... its also really ***** scary
this could easily be used in really negative ways like tracking, prying, spying, and like someone said earlier about DRM (even though it was a joke) -- imagine having to use an electron microsope to disable drm? - phaed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1they can synthesize diamonds already. ....dirt cheap
- aznbond, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1That news article was far to ambigious to pass judgements on .
Firstly, the 50Hz claim wasn't really elaborated on; was it in reference to the frequency at which the transistors can switch?? It would definitely be misleading for those thinking that it's equivalent to a 50Hz microprocessor.
In addition, they said that the circuit is 15microns on length. But they didn't describe the area that it takes up, remember, a carbon nanotube has diameters that are often measured in nanometers. So the consumption of space is an issue.
As well, what about some proof (i'm sure there are quite a few papers on this), but it'd be nice if they provided a nice SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) image of the circuit on the nanotube itself would be awesome! Instead of having a lame image of a circuit imposed on a human hair. - monkeyballsoup, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1New discoveries and inventions seem to be progressing at a rapid rate, but implementation and consumer acceptance is occuring at snail pace. This means you'll probably not see this implemented in a consumer product until 10-15 years down the road...over in Japan.
- jabelar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Diamonds are carbon ..
Not nanotubes of course, but shows how amazing carbon is. Silicon on insulator, optical chips, quantum chips, and carbon nanotube chips -- there are lots of interesting technologies ready to take us beyond the limits of today's semiconductors. - databyss, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Their direct comparison to current GHz chips implies they mean it processes at 50Hz. You also get that implication from the sentance: "Using this setup, the researchers showed they could achieve a speed of 50 megahertz"
The image at the top of the article gives a good representation on area. Or you co do a calculation of:
"The circuit is less than a fifth of the width of a human hair" * 15 microns in length. Although it looks pretty square. I'd say 15^2 microns squared in area.
I'm not sure the BBC's job is to provide proof of breakthrough technological claims. They report the news. - tont0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+050mhz.. not 500mhz. whoops
- Xiata, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That is 12 transistors, not the 36,000 of the arm7. It will a bit tougher maintaining a 50mhz clock with that many transistors in the current stage of this technology's development.
- nater, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1haha, so true
- ThirdPrize, on 10/12/2007, -8/+7I for one welcome our new carbon nanotube overlords.
- MasterDwarf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1just imagine your computer having a wig in your case and every strand of hair on that wig containing chips that size. That deserves a Neo, "whoa".
- Wootery, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Due apology was given.
As for multicore being horribly inefficient, dam right, shame it's the future. - crythias, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0not sure they're talking about gem quality diamonds, but then again, I'm not certain that I'd want a lot of occlusions in my chipset :).
- vtwin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1At 12 transitors, you cannot call this a computer!
- VegaObscura3, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Wouldn't a chip made of diamonds cost WAAAAAY too much money?
We need to focus on making chips cheaper, not smaller. The chips we have right now, slightly smaller than the palm of your hand, are plenty small enough until we can afford to have like 10 of them at once. - en3r0, on 10/12/2007, -16/+12That is absolutely amazing... This will surely have an impact on the future of computing, I can't wait.
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-en3r0
http://virtenu.com - jfox00, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11984 wants its processing speed back. I know, I know, its this coool new technology, and that's what DIGG is really all about. But, lets recognize the break thru when we have some REAL impressive speeds. In 50 years, are we going to go back to building a computer on [insert new material here], and start all over at 50 MHZ again?
- BobMac, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Can you imagine that thing hooked up to my 24" monitor? Sweet!
- chosenone-, on 10/12/2007, -13/+5Cooooooool :)
- Killerdeath, on 10/12/2007, -13/+3My hair is thinner than a normal persons, if they compared it to mine this circuit would be HUGE. (sarcasm)
Very cool stuff. - Wootery, on 10/12/2007, -34/+5Oh, you aren't an idiot, sorry.
- Wootery, on 10/12/2007, -47/+4No, n00b, giga=1000xmega.
Also, 10GHz chips, see XBOX360. (3 x 3.2GHz.)
50MHz might not compare to modern PCs, but it is certainly usable. The Playstation 1 was 34MHz.
Check out the new & improved 
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