4 ms·

> Power is on such a slow (and getting slower) cycle... so, how are we judging cycles here? I seriously doubt Intel and AMD use the same definition that IBM do

> Power is on such a slow (and getting slower) cycle... so, how are we judging cycles here? I seriously doubt Intel and AMD use the same definition that IBM do. Let's just say between IBM's cycles: - new PCI Express subsystem revision (first to market with PCI Express 4.0 in P9... who knows with P10) - new memory interface architecture (Centaur and DDR4 direct attach w/ P9 and now OMI with P10) - new coherent processor external accelerator bus (OpenCAPI and CAPI...) - new internal interrupt accelerator function architecutre (XIVE w/ P9) - new privilege level for hypervisor/guest separation (Ultravisor/PEF in P9+/P10) ... and so on. Intel and AMD do NOT do that. Let's compare apples and apples here instead of using ill-defined words like 'cycles'.

wmf 7y ago
Looking at the roadmap, IBM released nothing in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2019. The number of cores has been stagnant from 2014 to 2020.
- justinjlynn 7y ago
  It's nice that, with the ISA being open, now IBM won't need to compete with commodity chip maker pressures and niche providers can make directly compatible chips on a regular schedule which suits their niches best. As for the number of cores, memory bandwidth needs to keep those cores fed and now we're just seeing real memory bandwidth improvements - the number of cores and threads is expected to increase commensurately with that in the next revisions of the micro-architecture. Shipping excellent, up to date, and competitive processors is more than just releasing a moderately tweaked, more tightly binned SKU every 6 months.
- close04 7y ago
  > IBM released nothing in Neither AMD nor Intel shine though, if they were the target of the comparison. For the past 5+ years Intel more or less released slightly tweaked versions of the same CPUs and all those tiny bumps were just wiped out anyway so we can basically just count on marginal power improvements. And up until Zen in 2017 AMD had practically been a no-show for 6 years.

wmf 7y ago

Looking at the roadmap, IBM released nothing in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2019. The number of cores has been stagnant from 2014 to 2020.

justinjlynn 7y ago
It's nice that, with the ISA being open, now IBM won't need to compete with commodity chip maker pressures and niche providers can make directly compatible chips on a regular schedule which suits their niches best. As for the number of cores, memory bandwidth needs to keep those cores fed and now we're just seeing real memory bandwidth improvements - the number of cores and threads is expected to increase commensurately with that in the next revisions of the micro-architecture. Shipping excellent, up to date, and competitive processors is more than just releasing a moderately tweaked, more tightly binned SKU every 6 months.
close04 7y ago
> IBM released nothing in Neither AMD nor Intel shine though, if they were the target of the comparison. For the past 5+ years Intel more or less released slightly tweaked versions of the same CPUs and all those tiny bumps were just wiped out anyway so we can basically just count on marginal power improvements. And up until Zen in 2017 AMD had practically been a no-show for 6 years.