We've heard of 8 core and 16 core processors, but what about 36 core processors? These processors are on the verge of being reality thanks to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The idea here is to design processors that deliver more performance.
The new processor is designed to lessen the number of sequences required to perform tasks creating data transfers between cache and cores in a more intelligible manner, according to Bhavya Daya, a Ph.D. candidate in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
MIT researchers have come up with a smart way to redirect data packets to open up more bandwidth inside multicore processors, according to Daya. Such a research could benefit applications such as particle simulation studies and financial analytics.
The research on this chip is all about creating a shadow network that will allow caches in specific cores to anticipate data packets. Any data sets received by this 36 core chip is broken down and migrated across multiple cores. These cores typically have their own cache to store data, but only temporarily.
If the core should need data, the requests is then broadcast across the cores in the chip.
With this new shadow network, MIT researchers have recorded relatively decent improvements so far. Compared to similar chips, this 36 core processor has improved by 12.9 percent in 64 core, and 24.1 percent in 36 core replications.
Right now the only operating system that supports this 36 core processors, are the ones based on Linux, though it is not certain which Linux based OS MIT researchers are using.
For those who might expect to see this chip available in a store or online for purchase, don't get too excited just yet. The chip in its current form is designed solely for research, as it is not in fully workable condition. At the moment, the researchers are mainly focusing on getting the shadow network implementation to scale on chips with hundreds to thousands of cores.
Chances are we might very well see a 36 core processor in the years to come, but would likely not come from MIT. The boys at Intel, AMD, and ARM should make this a reality before anyone else.
