[extropy-chat] more moore

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:

> 
>  
> > Eugen Leitl...
> 
> > Nevermind that Moore is not about performance, but 
> > integration density.
> > Performance (as measured by benchmarks) doesn't follow that 
> > nice linear
> > semilog plots. <-- How often need I say this sentence until 
> > people here stop
> > using Moore as sloppy shorthand for faster computers?
> 
> 
> Im specifically interested in reducing feature size, in
> some ways even more so than increasing speed.  My understanding
> is that given two processors running at the same clock speed with 
> similar numbers of transistors, the one with the smaller features 
> would use less power.  Is that right?  For M-Brain apps, that will 
> be a huge factor.  spike

It would use less power to do the same amount of processing, but it
also will have the potential to be faster simply because the paths
between transistors are shorter, so they could be clocked faster than a
larger dimensioned chip made of the same materials.

What Intel is doing though is using more conductive materials: more
copper, gold, and silver in the chip. These metals are also more
thermally conductive than just silicon, so they cool better.

Moore isn't directly about performance, but so much of the performance
of a PC has absolutely nothing to do with the CPU: how much RAM, RAM
speed, network bandwidth, bus speed, hard drive speed, etc Beyond this
is the software, how MUCH software, and how well it is written.

Integration density has an impact to varying degrees on many of these
things, but not all of them, just as the efficiency of the engine on a
car has a limited impact on the overall efficiency.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                         -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


	
		
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