Researchers tout breakthrough in single chip parallel processing

Researchers at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering have developed a prototype of what they say could be the "next generation" of personal computers, one that's apparently 100 times faster than current desktop PCs. That considerable feat was made possible though the use of parallel processing on a single chip, in this case, cramming 64 processors onto a circuit board the size of a license plate. Just as importantly, the researchers also developed the necessary software to ensure all that computing muscle gets along, which they say makes the system "feasible for general-purpose computing tasks" for the first time. They don't appear to be content with things just yet though, saying that the same principles could one day be applied to systems with 1,000 processors on a chip the size of a finger nail.

[Joe Henson @ Jun 25th 2007 12:05PM]

Dang it... just as I was about to upgrade my Mac.
It's always the way.

[Greg Thompson @ Jun 25th 2007 12:09PM]

License Plate? In what country? Because American license plates are smaller then most other plates. Or maybe you meant motorcycle plates, which are really small, like PCI small. WTF ENGADGET!!!?!!!!??!

www.amacny.com

[anonymous @ Jun 25th 2007 12:27PM]

I smell BS....

[CowboyGA @ Jun 25th 2007 12:37PM]

I agree. Potential is one thing, but actual function in typical consumer usage is another. This might lead to better engineering, and it might be great for specialized purposes, but I doubt you'll be using it in your home computer any time soon.

[shelterpaw @ Jun 25th 2007 12:28PM]

" They don't appear to be content with things just yet though, saying that the same principles could one day be applied to systems with 1,000 processors on a chip the size of a finger nail."

Aaah. An excuse to give someone the finger.

[Dan @ Jun 25th 2007 12:47PM]

God, that is the worst photo ever. Doesn't show a thing, and adds NOTHING to the article. For a university, I expected better.

[yocallmed @ Jun 25th 2007 12:51PM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the major breakthrough is in the distribution of normal programming on a parallel architecture. The source article refers to the use of a novel algorithm to accomplish the task. Of course, I'm not a programmer, so this could be way off; but, my programmer friends always talk about this as the main hurdle to overcome in multicore architectures. Also, the article cites 100x the speed of current desktop CPU's vs. the 1000x stated in Engadget. In any case, it sounds exciting!

[yocallmed @ Jun 25th 2007 12:53PM]

oh...nevermind that last bit...I must be delirious. Shame on me for correcting Engadget. Self-killed.

[Bman @ Jun 25th 2007 1:02PM]

I can't wait for my 1Gigachip processor. It'll go great with my 512TB memory.

[cory3218 @ Jun 25th 2007 1:17PM]

Its gonna be a few years folks. I guess Quad core will have to do for now.

[tyler @ Jun 25th 2007 1:43PM]

why would u need a personnel computer 100 faster than the fastest one out now.

theres only so many tasks a person can do at a time.

i mean if u want yur own super computer to find a cure for cancer. thats awesome!

but for a personnel desktop its jsut over kill. whats out by todays standards is fine.

[Nav @ Jun 25th 2007 2:04PM]

Bought my first pc in 83, it came with a 10 MB hard drive.
At the time i was told i wouldn't see the end of it...

[Aaron @ Jun 25th 2007 2:26PM]

That's a critical mistake to make with anything computer related. As anyone else here will tell you, we all thought we saw some pretty amazing shit years ago, and it's just laughable now. I remember being impressed with 200mhz processors. Later, my dad and I were blown away by the 400mhz computers in Costco. They could even play DVDs! And later still I remember telling him about someone I knew that got a brand new computer with crazy specs, including a whopping 14 GB hard drive. He said, "Fourteen gigabytes! Fourteen... why would you EVER need that much?" To put that in perspective, I have around 800 GB of total hard drive space now, and I plan to add more in a few months.

This was only a few years ago. Older people can tell you crazier things than that, like Nav there with the 10 MB hard drive. Perhaps what you mean to say is there is no use for this now. But never say anything is enough, because it won't be for long.

[anonymous @ Jun 25th 2007 2:36PM]

it is so that you can be done with what you thought you were going to work on before you get started.

[DorianGray @ Jun 25th 2007 2:47PM]

@tyler

dude. how did you even *find* this site? is there a link from "imafrigginluddite.com"? oh wait, I'mAFrigginLuddite Corp doesn't believe in websites...

[Dave @ Jun 25th 2007 6:15PM]

So my robot can think, stupid.

[tyler @ Jun 25th 2007 7:24PM]

you guys are all gay

[phil @ Jun 25th 2007 1:53PM]

@tyler
Yeah, "640K ought to be enough for anybody."

[Constable Odo @ Jun 25th 2007 3:36PM]

One mainframe per company. Nobody needs a computer on their desk.

[nathan @ Jun 25th 2007 2:19PM]

Until we can develop software to fully utilize 64 concurrent threads, this is just nice and quaint for the mass markets. Great for breaking WEP keys though ;) I mean, folding proteins!

[anonymous @ Jun 25th 2007 2:38PM]

WEPs already broken, onto the WPA 2-second breakers now.... and then the 1024bit codes and then the quantum theory codes....

[Crayola @ Jun 25th 2007 2:36PM]

Haven't we heard that before... IBM Cell processor is said to be a breakthrough, where's the all adopting applications?

Here's another example...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transputer

[tonyp @ Jun 25th 2007 3:16PM]

Now I can finally play FSX with half the settings turned to medium! Yehey!

[Noga Rosenthal @ Jun 25th 2007 7:02PM]

This seems more practical for advanced computer application like CAD or scientific modeling, rather than personal use. Really, how fast of a computer do you need to run a web browser and MS Word?

- Noga Rosenthal

[silvarga @ Jun 25th 2007 9:30PM]

I'd love a computer that runs 100 times faster.

Unfortunately once I've had it for 6 months, I'm sure that between my new technologically advanced OS, graphics, gaming, and rendering programs(Google Colonoscopy anyone!?!), it will be running 50 times slower than the one I currently have.

Well, it'll be nice while it lasts.

[mijj @ Jun 26th 2007 11:55AM]

whatever happened to the Transputer?

[Darrin @ Jul 10th 2007 1:21PM]

It isn't that they will stick 50 3.0Ghz processors on one chip. They are talking about using 50 1.0Ghz processors on a chip and still being 50x faster than anything out there now. Just think, in theory, if you use a crap load of tiny processors that take almost no power individually and you throw in the ability to manage power consumption you could have a computer that performs a task in a few cycles and then turns off most of the processors so you are using almost no power. Energy efficiency is the way of the future. If we don't start doing something soon we (humans) won't be on this planet for too much longer.

--- And to the second post since it is the University of Maryland I am sure they are talking about an American license plate. Use a little common sense.