Intel 50+ cores - you know anything about this?

[rgathright]

My understanding is they are only meant for servers/workstations since they only seem to be compatible with Xeon processors. Might not be what you wanted to hear, but on the good side, Intel has made an 80-core CPU about 18 months ago. They sent computers to several software developers with these CPUs in them so they could learn how to properly write programs that could benefit from all of those cores. Supposedly, if these people catch on to the concept, we should be seeing desktop CPUs with more than 8 cores in them shortly (and by shortly, i mean within 2 years).

I would rather Intel focus on creating faster disk I/O systems for their servers.

Who really needs 8+ cores when that amount of processing power is only truly harnessed by better file systems for databases?

[DrPop]

Well, this is rather interesting. IF Intel could get this huge mulit-core co-processor stuff off the ground and implemented correctly, then we could see a real drop in "professional" GPU prices!

[rgathright]

then we could see a real drop in "professional" GPU prices!

Are you implying that we are professionals?

I never wanna grow up!

[DrPop]

Actually, I was referring to the Tesla GPUs or all the ones that they use for the big rendering and crunching farms. But yeah..good point. If we grow up then we can't have as many toys.

[Slicker]

Doesn't OpenMP work with x86? Does it have a limit to the # of processors? The Collatz OpenMP version is 3-5% slower than the non-OpenMP version and why you haven't seen it as an avaiable app. If enough people want it even though it is slower, I'd release it.