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The fact any modern computer chip works reliability is a pure miracle. The process variations are extreme, and you often end up with a lot of B-level engineers/
by proee 2y ago
The fact any modern computer chip works reliability is a pure miracle. The process variations are extreme, and you often end up with a lot of B-level engineers/technicians keeping things going. Having some experience in the semiconductor industry, it oftentimes felt like a lot of bubble gum and bailing wire was used to get the product out the door. Hats off to all the people keeping these systems alive and functioning.
- stonethrowaway 2y agoI’m at a point where I no longer call these things chips. I don’t know what they are, they have pins but to me the precision and machinery used is at the very least on a scale of atomic design. It should not be possible for automated machines to fabricate these things. Yet here we are.
- jcynix 2y agoSimilar to software, so the whole IT industry seems like a miracle sometimes. And the car industry gets more and more software installed ...
- globular-toast 2y agoThere must the a name for this phenomenon. Like, the more you know, the less faith you have in it actually working. I'm pretty sure everyone feels this way about their work. I just asked my partner if it's the same with her (non-tech) job and she said yes, she can't believe it works at all. Arthur C. Clarke's Travel by Wire comes to mind too.
- YurgenJurgensen 2y agoIs this just Gell-Mann amnesia, but for reliability?
- hnthrow289570 2y agoIt's more like disregarding all of the advantages and only focusing on the negatives or when incidents happen. People routinely clown on companies for downtime but do not celebrate sending multiple MB pictures and videos over cell networks in remote locations from a super computer in their pocket. Even 95% reliability is relatively good for networks working across the globe relative to what we've had through most of history. The average person easily plays into the trope that no one appreciates IT when it works, but readily has opinions when there are problems.
- sghiassy 2y agoEvery time I see someone FaceTime in an elevator and complain about a little choppiness - I think of this ^^
- seanw444 2y agoI would say it doesn't just work. That's why being a programmer isn't a one-off job. You're still there to glue things back together when they inevitably break unexpectedly.
- throwup238 2y agoI've worked on the construction of a large dam and I think that's the case for most modern technology. Obviously once a dam is up and running it's really stable compared to what goes on in a fab, but getting it built? That's a whole other story. The math and engineering behind dam construction are well understood but actually getting them built in practice is a years long story of yak shaving, cat herding, and trying to overcome every little piece of BS nature has to throw at the project. Unique and predictable geological conditions, unknown underground water sources, unexpected soil composition changes, surprise fault lines. Then there's the logistical nightmare of actually moving all the equipment in and earth out, the weather and environmental factors that impede every action, humans ignoring safety altogether, and so on and on. All of this implemented by workers on the ground who just barely know what's going on (for no fault of their own). I'm continually surprised that anything complicated ever gets built at all.
- tambourine_man 2y agoYes, but you don’t read much about AMD, Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm. Intel has been shooting themselves in the foot consistently. Processors are known for their reliability. Everything else will break first in a computer
- xcv123 2y agoYou can reduce that list of Intel competitors to TSMC and Samsung. AMD, Apple, and Qualcomm are TSMC customers.
- Out_of_Characte 2y agoThe industry has always been kind of monolithic. I'm not sure you can count qualcomm as a competitor just yet. competing means being in the same market. Laptop, desktop and server have all been categories that havent seen anything other than x86 for a long time.
- xcv123 2y agoQualcomm makes CPUs. That's what is relevant here.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 2y agoArm servers, such as gravitons and ampere altras, blow x86 out of the water right now.
- tambourine_man 2y agoTSMC does not design the chips. Who knows what percentage of the responsibility is due to manufacturing or design?
- xcv123 2y ago
- CTDOCodebases 2y agoThe funny thing is, anecdotally, I have never had a CPU fail on me. Memory, motherboards, PCIe cards, PSUs, hard drives, monitors, keyboards, mouse have failed but I have yet to loose a CPU or an SSD.
- shrimp_emoji 2y agoIs this Intel's marketing department doing damage control? Intel's been a disgrace, and that's why these chips suck. Imagine having all of the money and hiring everyone in sight and pulling all sorts of self-serving, dirty tricks industry-wide yet still letting an underdog on the verge of bankruptcy (AMD) beat you to 7 nm and eat your lunch.