Substantial but not exceptional. I'll stick with the Alphas, thanks. We're
running the 440 MHz EV56 (EV5 process 0.35 micron geometries on the new EV6
production line which was designed for the next shrink -- this allows them to
debug production before pushing the geometry envelope; Clever, no?) parts in
our new 8400s. They're 2.0V CPU, 3.3V I/O 64 bit processors, pipelined,
quad-issue superscalar (4 instructions are executed simultaneously, as long as
the pipeline stays full). On chip it has 8 Kbyte write-through I and D caches,
and a 96 Kbyte 3-way set-associative write-back L2 cache. The TurboLaser
System Bus in the 8400 is 256 data bits wide, with 40 address bits, and can
pump 2 GBytes per second. The CPU cards have 2 processors each, with 4 MBytes
of L3 cache for each CPU. A single CPU has a SPECfp_rate95 figure of 1115. We
have 10 CPUs in each box.
Granted, this isn't a desktop system, but the Alphas also are showing up in
notebooks now.
Rumor has it that the 622 MHz parts (air-cooled, mind you!) are nearing
production, and that a 32-processor system is in the works. The rumor mill
also says it may have a TPC rating in the 7 digit range. The 1024 processor
Intel supercomputer I've been hearing about may be outclassed (and can't
possibly compete in price/performance) well before it ships.
Good find, CBoy!
Wayne