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CPU speeds stopped increasing because the market stopped focusing on CPU speed (coincidentally to this discussion, the change was largely to reduce power demand
by mikeyouse 12y ago
CPU speeds stopped increasing because the market stopped focusing on CPU speed (coincidentally to this discussion, the change was largely to reduce power demands). Transistor count has kept plugging right along;
http://i.imgur.com/FvVrnn4.png http://i.imgur.com/FvVrnn4.png
- semi-extrinsic 12y agoI think it is misleading to say it was due to reduce power demands. Rather it was due to needing to cool the damned things. If you were to have a 500W TDP chip, you would either need a crazy huge cooling system or a much bigger surface area. Consumers want light and thin, so Bob's your uncle.
- lkbm 12y agoEven if consumers were fine with big heavy things (and except for maybe phones, I don't think the CPU weight/size are an issue for consumers), light travels roughly 1ft/ns. You want fast, you have to be small.
- yongjik 12y agoI think it's the other way? That is, market stopped focusing on CPU speed because they hit the wall and clock speed could no longer be used as a differentiating factor.
- ajuc 12y agoYes, market would be more than happy to have 100GHz CPUs by now, it would make scaling everything much easier.
- mikeyouse 12y agoSurprised by the negative reaction.. More technically, processor speeds required far more electricity to increase clockspeed which required much more energy to disappate in the form of fans and heatsinks.