This month, August 2014, IBM
unveiled "TrueNorth". It is the most advanced and powerful computer
chip of its kind ever built. This neurosynaptic processor is the
first to achieve one million individually programmable neurons,
sixteen times more than the current largest neuromorphic chip. It is
designed to mimic the structure of the human brain and is uniquely
different from other computer architectures.
TrueNorth is the largest IBM chip ever fabricated, with 5.4 billion
transistors at 28 nanometers (A human hair is approximately 80,000-
100,000 nanometers wide) and it consumes orders of magnitude less
power than a typical modern processor. IBM hopes this combination of
ultra-efficient power consumption and entirely new system
architecture will allow computers to far more accurately emulate the
brain.
TrueNorth is composed of 4,096 cores, with each of these modules
integrating memory, computation and communication. The cores are
able to continue operating when individual cores fail, similar to a
biological system.
Showing posts with label Nanometer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nanometer. Show all posts
Aug 30, 2014
Jun 21, 2013
Quantum Computing Explained
Today's computers rely on
electrons to deliver information in binary bits, or yes/no, 1/0,
on/off.
Laws of quantum physics allow bits to be in multiple states simultaneously so it has the potential to be millions of times more powerful than today's most powerful supercomputers.
Quantum bits, or Qubits are more versatile than standard bits because they can exist in three states instead of two. Current computers represent things as a one or zero, but a quantum computer can render a qubit as representing a one, a zero, or every fraction between one and zero at the same time.
An interesting thing about qubits is that by just looking at one, it changes its state, so scientists had to devise a way to look without the qubit knowing it was being looked at. (Long story, but fascinating)
A 30-qubit quantum computer is approximately as powerful as a 10 teraflop computer. It can solve 10 trillion floating point operations every second vs. an average computer, which performs about seven gigaflops (seven billion) per second. Quantum computers process multiple calculations at once vs. current computers, which process one at a time.
Google and NASA have a 512-qubit quantum computer housed in a 10 foot black cabinet, but do not expect to buy one for your home in the near future. The NASA Ames machine may be upgraded to a 2,048 qubit chip in the next year or two. There are 25.4 million nanometers in one inch and fingernails grow one nanometer every second.
Laws of quantum physics allow bits to be in multiple states simultaneously so it has the potential to be millions of times more powerful than today's most powerful supercomputers.
Quantum bits, or Qubits are more versatile than standard bits because they can exist in three states instead of two. Current computers represent things as a one or zero, but a quantum computer can render a qubit as representing a one, a zero, or every fraction between one and zero at the same time.
An interesting thing about qubits is that by just looking at one, it changes its state, so scientists had to devise a way to look without the qubit knowing it was being looked at. (Long story, but fascinating)
A 30-qubit quantum computer is approximately as powerful as a 10 teraflop computer. It can solve 10 trillion floating point operations every second vs. an average computer, which performs about seven gigaflops (seven billion) per second. Quantum computers process multiple calculations at once vs. current computers, which process one at a time.
Google and NASA have a 512-qubit quantum computer housed in a 10 foot black cabinet, but do not expect to buy one for your home in the near future. The NASA Ames machine may be upgraded to a 2,048 qubit chip in the next year or two. There are 25.4 million nanometers in one inch and fingernails grow one nanometer every second.
Oct 7, 2010
New Intel Computer Chips
Intel's new computer chips are 32nanometers. Compared to Intel’s first microprocessor, introduced in 1971, a 32nm CPU runs over 4000 times as fast and each transistor uses about 4000 times less energy.
The price per transistor has dropped by a factor of about 100,000.
If you walked a billion steps, you would go around the earth 20 times.
The original transistor built by Bell Labs in 1947 was so large it was put together by hand.
More than 60 million 32nm transistors can fit on the head of a pin.
More than 4 million 32nm transistors can fit in the period at the end of this sentence.
A 32nm transistor contains gates that are so small, you can fit 3,000 of them across the width of a human hair.
A 32nm transistor can switch on and off over 300 billion times in one second. It would take you 4000 years to flick a light switch on and off that many times.
The price per transistor has dropped by a factor of about 100,000.
If you walked a billion steps, you would go around the earth 20 times.
The original transistor built by Bell Labs in 1947 was so large it was put together by hand.
More than 60 million 32nm transistors can fit on the head of a pin.
More than 4 million 32nm transistors can fit in the period at the end of this sentence.
A 32nm transistor contains gates that are so small, you can fit 3,000 of them across the width of a human hair.
A 32nm transistor can switch on and off over 300 billion times in one second. It would take you 4000 years to flick a light switch on and off that many times.
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