The Teraflops Research Chip (also called Polaris) is a research processor

Central processing unit

The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

 containing 80 cores developed by Intel Corporation's Tera-Scale

Intel Tera-Scale

Intel Tera-scale Computing is a research and development program aiming at scaling Intel multi core architectures for the future.It has so far developed:* 2007: Teraflops Research Chip, an 80 cores processor prototype....

 Computing Research Program. The processor was officially announced February 11, 2007 and shown working at the 2007 International Solid-State Circuits Conference. Features of the processor include dual floating point engines, sleeping-core technology, self correction, fixed-function cores, and three dimensional memory stacking. The purpose of the chip

Integrated circuit

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...

 is to explore the possibilities of Tera-Scale architecture (the process of creating processors with more than four cores) and to experiment with various forms of networking and communication within the next generation of processors.

Features

The processor consists of 80 individual cores on a single chip. The cores are different from the cores used in today's main stream dual or quad core processors in that they are much simpler in design. The same parts and ideas that went into constructing today's generation of processors were used in the new processor. These parts and ideas are simply reconstructed in a fashion which defines the new tera-scale era of processor architecture and allow for more than four cores to function on one chip.

Dual floating point engines

Each of the cores onboard the teraflops research chip contains two floating point engines.

Energy efficiency

The new tera-scale technology which allows for so many cores to be integrated on one chip also allows for better load distribution and a decreased chance of overheating. If a core is overloaded then the heat produced by that core increases, which reflects a decrease in efficiency and a waste of energy. In the teraflops research chip, if some of the cores are being overloaded, that load can just be delegated to other cores, resulting in a load distribution which does not create as much heat. The processor introduces a notion of sleeping cores. To further power efficiency and optimize the ratio between computing usage and power consumption, cores that are not in use or are not needed will sleep. In other words they will not be powered or operational other than to perform their communication duties.

Core communication

Along with 80 cores, the chip also contains 80 routers. Each core has a dedicated router which is responsible for the communication of that core with all other cores and components of the processor. The router uses a five port system with 1 port going to each of the surrounding cores and one going to the DRAM

Dynamic random access memory

Dynamic random-access memory is a type of random-access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. The capacitor can be either charged or discharged; these two states are taken to represent the two values of a bit, conventionally called 0 and 1...

 (the processors local memory). The chip is laid out in an 8 core by 10 core format. Each of the 8 cores in any of the 10 rows, called nodes

Node (networking)

In communication networks, a node is a connection point, either a redistribution point or a communication endpoint . The definition of a node depends on the network and protocol layer referred to...

, has the ability to communicate directly with other cores within the same node. Communication between nodes and to other processor components is directed through a routing system. The on-die

Die (integrated circuit)

A die in the context of integrated circuits is a small block of semiconducting material, on which a given functional circuit is fabricated.Typically, integrated circuits are produced in large batches on a single wafer of electronic-grade silicon or other semiconductor through processes such as...

 interconnect fabric which the cores use to communicate with each other is currently being researched. One option being considered is the ring topology, which consists of various sized ring networks being integrated within each other to connect the cores. A more flexible and likely solution is the mesh topology in which the cores will be connected on a grid layout.

Self correction

The processor allows for the use of a self correction system. If a core is unable to function, it can delegate all of its workload permanently to another core without the need to edit the software interacting with the processor.

Fixed function cores

With tera-scale technology processors such as the teraflops research chip can dedicate cores to certain functions. The number of cores dedicated and the functions that they are dedicated to will be dependent on the use of the processor. Functions include graphics, networking, security, and more.

Memory stacking

In the demo processor an SRAM chip ("Freya") was stacked directly underneath the cores ("Polaris"). This vertical connection is relatively new compared to the old technologies of having the memory be next to the cpu on the die, or embedded within the die. The distance of the DRAM main memory to CPU is one of the roadblocks to maximizing the capabilities of the processor. However, while minimizing this distance minimizes the signal delay and power consumption, it also brings the DRAM closer to the CPU's heat (max temperature easily over 120 °C), increasing the risk of data loss.

Research properties

The idea behind making a research chip of this sort is that it allows companies to explore the possibilities of tera-scale computing. Instead of being forced to work in theory, engineers and researchers can instead work with the chip itself experimentally. The chip is a wake-up call to other computer-related industries to advance their products to meet the needs of the new computing power. Through the exploration of the 80 core processor, concepts such as the Larrabee processor, that has both the CPU and GPU on one chip, can be better understood and made more realistic. With the computing power of the teraflops research chip, technologies such as graphics virtualization and visual recognition become much more realistic.

Software issues

As is often the case, the development of new processor architecture is accompanied by the issue of software development. Software tends to lag behind hardware development, especially in the case of multi-core chips. Intel aims to solve this problem by creating a new programming language

Programming language

A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....

 especially for the 80 core processor called Ct

Intel Ct

Intel Ct is a programming model developed by Intel to ease the exploitation of its future multicore chips, as demonstrated by the Tera-Scale research program.It is based on the exploitation of SIMD to produce automatically parallelized programs....

. Intel also created a software development kit

Software development kit

A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...

 to accommodate visual recognition and multi thread instructions. Both Intel and Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 are supporting a new age of programmers by jointly donating $20 million to the cause.

Statistics

Frequency	Voltage	Power	Aggregate Bandwidth	Performance
3.16 GHz	0.95 V	62W	1.62 Terabits/s	1.01 Teraflops
5.1 GHz	1.2 V	175W	2.61 Terabits/s	1.63 Teraflops
5.7 GHz	1.35 V	265W	2.92 Terabits/s	1.81 Teraflops

Dimensions

The processor is constructed using a 65 nm CMOS

CMOS

Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...

 process, the die is 12.64 mm by 21.72 mm (274.5 mm²) and contains 100 million transistors. The package is connected through a 1248 pin LGA with 343 signal pins.