100 Core General Purpose Processor.....

[bustr]

http://www.gizmag.com/tilera-tile-gx100-100-core-general-purpose-processor/13236/

If you thought Intel's plans to embed eight cores in its high-end processors were a bit too out there, you'll find that the latest processor developed by semiconductor start-up Tilera is even more of an extreme. Packing 100 1.25GHz to 1.5GHz cores on a single chip, the Gx100 brings parallel processing to the extreme thanks to a new architecture that minimizes the bus bottleneck in today's multi-core processors.

Wonder if you need much specialised equipment for this CPU?

Because the chip is general-purpose, programmers can recompile and run applications designed for Intel's x86 architecture on Tilera's processor without the need for further adaptation.

Leave it to Microsoft and Intel to drag their feet.....

The 100-core processor, fabricated using 40-nanometer technology, is expected to be available early next year, but won't be supported by Windows 7. For that, consumers will have to wait for Intel's 80-core version, which the IT giant promised to deliver to consumers sometime during the next five years.

So is this a possible near future for desktop computing?

[cattb]

more for servers and the like, looks like from what i saw still in R and D. Interesting stuff

[Denholm]

Sounds great although I have to agree with cattb in some respects. Consider this an example of Normans and Saxons during the reign of Prince John. I think this type of technology won't reach the Saxon consumer for another few years.

[guncrasher]

will my 9800gtx+ pny vc work with that? or will i have to spend another 100 getting another one  .

semp

[skribetm]

this isnt a cpu, its an accelerator, much like your gpu. we've had a pretty good discussion about this here.

[Vulcan]

Looks similar to the Cavium Octeon CPU's we see in Sonicwall and Palo Alto boxes (except they're MIPs orientated).