Intel shows off 48-core PC
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By David Fearon in Hannover
Posted on 2 Mar 2010 at 14:37
Intel has been strutting its stuff in a CeBIT briefing on future technology, by showing an experimental 'single-chip cloud computer' boasting a 48-core processor.
Click on the gallery button, left, to see photos of the 48-core PC
Fitted in a standard PC case blinged out with a transparent side and blue lights, the 48-core PC wasn’t at the stage of running Windows. But Intel did show a live, continually updated demo of each core’s load, along with a readout of the power consumption of the chip, which hovered around a mere 75W.
Engineers were tight-lipped about the details, but we did manage to establish that all 48 cores are IA capable, which should mean they are able to run standard x86 programs. The cores are arranged in an experimental mesh-interconnect scheme, allowing the system to segment resources to run a separate OS on each core, or conversely work together to run a single operating system in the usual way.
It won’t be hitting the high street in the near future, though. Look closely at the photos of the machine, particularly the shot of the rear, and you can see that the 48-core PC isn’t quite ready for prime time. No graphics card or any of the standard PC fittings are visible – the machine has an entirely custom motherboard purely aimed at research rather than running real applications.
Even so, it’s a considerable advance on the 80-core chip Intel showed off only a few years ago, at IDF Beijing 2007. It transpired that each of those cores was little more than a pocket calculator rather than a full x86 processor core.
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This wouldn't be ripped off their Larrabee test rig would it?
By rlsdaveas2000 on 2 Mar 2010 
Why would you expect a "cloud computer" to have a graphics card? Surely the target device will be a rack mount server operated via remote admin.
By milliganp on 3 Mar 2010
Quantum Computer's
This looks impressive but Scientists have already been able to make the first experimental quantum computer do small calculations and it is infinitely faster than a supercomputer. it will be another ten years before we see anything like it on the high st as it is likely to go to the Military first but I think Intel is already old technology and should be a bit more forward thinking if it is to stay ahead.
By VIPerbite on 4 Mar 2010
Unfortunately military controlled countries (and that is just about all countries) are preventing the release of a phenominal amount of technology, for fear the enemy get an edge on them. No doubt that CPU will be sitting is a military research lab very soon and will make its way into killing machines long before we see anything like it. This delay is the reason everything costs so much, you could call it a stealth bomber tax.
PS. Just because it has 48 cores does not mean it is fast, they could be Atom, LB or 800MHz Xeon cores.
By skgiven on 4 Mar 2010
Cloud
@milliganp or a could computer for streaming online gaming?
By urmaster on 4 Mar 2010
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