Friday, February 16, 2007
IBM launches new processors with new style cache
IBM has announced that is has developed a new technology for putting memory on a processing chip (such as CPU’s) that the company believes will increase overall performance of the Personal and Business computers of the future.
The process will include using DRAM (dynamic RAM) in place of SRAM (static RAM) as the embedded memory cache built onto each of its chips.
IBM will include this new technology in its 45-nanometer processors due to be released in 2008. Each processor will store its data in one-third the area and use one-fifth the electricity for standby power. This will not only improve processing performance for multi-core processors and for applications that require large amounts of graphic data, but also have environment positive consequences.
In most processors available on the retail market presently the cache memory is integrated directly onto the chip. This is so that frequently used data can be accessed faster rather than going looking for it in the system ram which can take a few milliseconds.
IBM says it plans on putting anywhere from 24MB to 48MB of on-chip cache memory into its new processors next year.
The process will include using DRAM (dynamic RAM) in place of SRAM (static RAM) as the embedded memory cache built onto each of its chips.
IBM will include this new technology in its 45-nanometer processors due to be released in 2008. Each processor will store its data in one-third the area and use one-fifth the electricity for standby power. This will not only improve processing performance for multi-core processors and for applications that require large amounts of graphic data, but also have environment positive consequences.
In most processors available on the retail market presently the cache memory is integrated directly onto the chip. This is so that frequently used data can be accessed faster rather than going looking for it in the system ram which can take a few milliseconds.
IBM says it plans on putting anywhere from 24MB to 48MB of on-chip cache memory into its new processors next year.
# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 9:48 PM 
