Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Geef Imagine if a processor was really that big! The size and weight of the heatsink! :unsure: Then imagine what a current day CPU of that size could do. The processing power! 🤯 A 128 thousand cores … with 512 TB of level 3 cache… Wonder if it will run Crysis… (random numbers, wasn't thinking in reality.) Reply
usertests Geef said: Imagine if a processor was really that big! The size and weight of the heatsink! :unsure: Then imagine what a current day CPU of that size could do. The processing power! 🤯 A 128 thousand cores … with 512 TB of level 3 cache… 1. Wafer Scale Engine shows what you can get out of a 300mm wafer. WSE-3 is made with TSMC 5nm. It has ~900,000 very small "cores", and 44 gigabytes of SRAM. You can look into the cooling solution, which is monstrous, since it needs to handle 23 kW. 2. Rectangular panel substrates are being researched as a potential replacement for 300mm wafers, yielding more usable area and looking even more like a gigantic mask. 3. TSMC is aggressively increasing maximum interposer size, to about 9.5x reticle limit now, 14x and larger in the future. Roadmap at the top of this TH Premium article. 4. We need some form of 3D to realistically hit terabytes of SRAM. It seems plausible, but an expensive technical challenge. Reply
steve schmidt there should be 6 masks, not one…. the one shown appears to be the top metallization layer as you can clearly see the bonding pads around the perimeter…. wonder what they want restored? Cant be used for anything… its just a wall hanger Reply
ezst036 Geef said: Imagine if a processor was really that big! The size and weight of the heatsink! :unsure: HDMkw6lnzmI View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDMkw6lnzmI Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/owner-of-original-intel-8080-pre-production-layout-seeks-restorer-handcrafted-rubylith-mask-shows-5-000-transistors-and-interconnect-patterns-of-the-fabled-2-mhz-cpu#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.