Velocità o core? Invece di proporre nuovi processori con velocità strabilianti da diverso tempo si intede suggerire strutture di calcolo con sempre più core all’interno.
Probabilmente l’idea di AMD è quella di potenziare le architetture di calcolco suggerendo diversi core al fine di sfruttare la distribuzione della capacità.
A questo proposito il post di John Fruehe, direttore della sezione Server e Workstation, “Core – More is Better” può essere interessante per capire al meglio la strategia del diretto concorrente di Intel.
A questo proposito Fruehe scrive:
In looking through sales data for the first half of 2010, 12-core processors clearly outsold their 8-core counterparts – by a wide margin. I was expecting that there would be a slight bias towards the 12-core, but I figured there were plenty of applications where the extra clock speed of an 8-core might be popular [..] Apparently I was wrong, customers are voting with their budgets, and cores matter.
A questo proposito il diriegente di casa AMD prospetta tre differenti scenari visto che la stessa casa costruttrice si sta apprestando a proporre Magny Cours:
Virualizzazione – Many customers have told me that they have a rule of “one VM per core”, so with 12-core processors, their consolidation can get even denser. With 24 cores in a 2P server, there are plenty of resources to allow all of the VMs to have plenty of access to compute power whenever they need it.
Database/business Apps – Databases are the kings of simultaneous multi-user access. Having a dozen cores in a socket helps ensure that all of your queries come back quickly, your reports aren’t delayed and when you are making new sales, you’re not waiting behind that bonehead in marketing to finish finding out who bought toothbrushes in Toledo last Tuesday.
High Performance – If you are breaking a big problem up into millions of smaller pieces and pushing that out to a cluster to solve, having 12 cores per processor means that you can dramatically cut the time involved through parallel processing. Folks like CSCS in Switzerland are taking advantage of AMD’s 12-core technology with their new Cray XE6 system that was recently installed.
Sembra che proprio la scelta di oreintarsi su architetture basate su diversi core rappresenta una buona scelta e una precisa volontà commerciale, così, sempre secondo Fruehe:
That message is very good to hear because next year will see 16 total cores in our Bulldozer-based products