4 ms·

What would be the point of this? Who actually wants to build custom processors with Intel x86 cores? Obviously, Intel is not going to let you compete with the

What would be the point of this? Who actually wants to build custom processors with Intel x86 cores? Obviously, Intel is not going to let you compete with their own products so they will have license limits or gimp the cores available for licensing some how.

traverseda 4y ago
Well you could add some x86 specific extensions to RISC-V to significantly speed up x86 emulation?
- meepmorp 4y ago
  If you're using x86 cores to run the code, it's not really emulation.
- snvzz 4y ago
  If you're intel or AMD, you can add a x86 mode to your RISC-V processor. Even a hardware-based x86 frontend. It could e.g. run usermode code uninterrupted, escaping to RISC-V on syscalls, interrupts, exceptions.
transpute 4y ago
> Who actually wants to build custom processors with Intel x86 cores? Hyperscaler?
- senttoschool 4y ago
  Why would they build their own over buying from AMD or Intel? If they're going to buy their own, wouldn't it make more sense to use ARM like AWS with Graviton?
peoplearepeople 4y ago
I also think that the corporate-strategy angle for this makes the concept useless. Intel will accidentally clobber you
tumetab1 4y ago
Microsoft and Windows laptop vendors. A laptop with arm and x86 cores might allow Microsoft to speed up its transition from x86 to ARM in the laptop/mobile world. No idea on viability but sounds fun :D
- snvzz 4y ago
  >A laptop with arm and x86 cores might allow Microsoft to speed up its transition from x86 to ARM in the laptop/mobile world. I simply don't see this transition happening. Microsoft is working on a RISC-V port (as per RISC-V CTO talks in the RISC-V Summit), and Qualcomm is unlikely to release many more generations of ARM-based SoCs (as per the lawsuit, and as per Qualcomm's own talks in the RISC-V Summit). The only way forward is RISC-V. x86 is finally going away, and RISC-V is its replacement.
marssaxman 4y ago
Think "processor" in the sense of "coprocessor", not in the sense of "CPU". There are enormous numbers of chips which embed multiple processor cores, often with heterogeneous architectures; baseband processors, network switches, all kinds of SoCs. Consider Intel's own Movidius VPU, which includes two different LEON cores (SPARC) and 16 SHAVE cores (VLIW vector processors) all on the same die. There are many options for the cores used in such a device - ARM, RISC-V, MIPS, others - and now Intel wants Xeon cores to be an option too.

traverseda 4y ago

Well you could add some x86 specific extensions to RISC-V to significantly speed up x86 emulation?

meepmorp 4y ago
If you're using x86 cores to run the code, it's not really emulation.
snvzz 4y ago
If you're intel or AMD, you can add a x86 mode to your RISC-V processor. Even a hardware-based x86 frontend. It could e.g. run usermode code uninterrupted, escaping to RISC-V on syscalls, interrupts, exceptions.

transpute 4y ago

> Who actually wants to build custom processors with Intel x86 cores? Hyperscaler?

senttoschool 4y ago
Why would they build their own over buying from AMD or Intel? If they're going to buy their own, wouldn't it make more sense to use ARM like AWS with Graviton?

peoplearepeople 4y ago

I also think that the corporate-strategy angle for this makes the concept useless. Intel will accidentally clobber you

tumetab1 4y ago

Microsoft and Windows laptop vendors. A laptop with arm and x86 cores might allow Microsoft to speed up its transition from x86 to ARM in the laptop/mobile world. No idea on viability but sounds fun :D

snvzz 4y ago
>A laptop with arm and x86 cores might allow Microsoft to speed up its transition from x86 to ARM in the laptop/mobile world. I simply don't see this transition happening. Microsoft is working on a RISC-V port (as per RISC-V CTO talks in the RISC-V Summit), and Qualcomm is unlikely to release many more generations of ARM-based SoCs (as per the lawsuit, and as per Qualcomm's own talks in the RISC-V Summit). The only way forward is RISC-V. x86 is finally going away, and RISC-V is its replacement.

marssaxman 4y ago

Think "processor" in the sense of "coprocessor", not in the sense of "CPU". There are enormous numbers of chips which embed multiple processor cores, often with heterogeneous architectures; baseband processors, network switches, all kinds of SoCs. Consider Intel's own Movidius VPU, which includes two different LEON cores (SPARC) and 16 SHAVE cores (VLIW vector processors) all on the same die. There are many options for the cores used in such a device - ARM, RISC-V, MIPS, others - and now Intel wants Xeon cores to be an option too.