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IBM, Intel, and AMD are finding ways around the physical problems that have hampered their efforts to make chips faster To understand the quest to build ever faster and more powerful computers, it's helpful to understand the problems that hold them back from getting faster in the first place. While chips themselves are getting faster all the time, faster is a relative term. Even though chipmakers like Intel (INTC) and IBM (IBM) are building more powerful chips every 12 to 18 months, other chips that go inside a computer haven't historically kept up in the performance race. If you think...

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 13 — I.B.M. researchers say they have set a speed record for a type of computer memory that promises a fundamental performance increase in a coming generation of microprocessors with multiple computing engines. The announcement, to be made at a conference here Wednesday, sets up a potential confrontation between I.B.M. and Intel over the design of microprocessors that will begin to be available commercially next year. While I.B.M. now appears to be planning to integrate ultrafast memory directly into its processors, Intel has been hinting that it will instead stack memory chips on top of its processors...

The cores inside Barcelona, the quad-core chip coming from Advanced Micro Devices later this year, are going to lead independent lives when it comes to power consumption. The processor, which AMD will discuss at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) next week in San Francisco, will sport a new version of AMD's PowerNow technology that will let all four cores simultaneously operate at different speeds, depending on their work loads, to curb power. If one of the cores is running a 3D simulation, for instance, it can crank past 2GHz, while the other three can slumber at 1GHz. The...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Intel Corp. has designed a computer chip that promises to perform calculations as quickly an entire data center — while consuming as much energy as a light bulb. The world's biggest chipmaker said Sunday it developed a programmable processor that can perform about a trillion calculations per second, or deliver a performance of 1.01 teraflops. It accomplishes this feat while consuming 62 watts of power when the chip is running at a frequency of 3.16 gigahertz.A similarly powerful supercomputer in 1996 at Sandia National Laboratories took up more than 2,000 square feet, used nearly 10,000 Pentium...

A "very damning" report by the Defense Department's inspector general depicts a Pentagon that purposely manipulated intelligence in an effort to link Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida in the runup to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, says the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. ADVERTISEMENT "That was the argument that was used to make the sale to the American people about the need to go to war," said Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich. He said the Pentagon's work, "which was wrong, which was distorted, which was inappropriate ... is something which is highly disturbing." The investigation by...

Moore's Law, which postulates that the number of transistors on a chip will double every 18 to 24 months, recently faced a major roadblock: power leakage. However, by using so-called "high-k" materials, IBM and Intel both say they have remedied this efficiency problem, allowing the continued shrinking of computer chips. Worries over the imminent death of Moore's Law have apparently been greatly exaggerated. At least that is the word following announcements on Saturday from both IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) that each has developed a new energy-saving microchip design. According to the two chip makers, the advance is...

Intel claims major advancement in the 45nm technology for processors, but IBM and Intel’s rival AMD had already claimed the same thing last December. The 45 nanometer (45 nm) process is the next milestone (to be commercially viable in mid 2007 to early 2008) in CMOS fabrication. Intel stated in 2003 that high-k gate dielectrics may be introduced at the 45 nm node to reduce gate leakage current. However, chipmakers have since then voiced concerns about introducing these new materials into the gate stack. Intel’s researchers say their advancement in the 45nm technology represents the most significant change in...

IBM and Intel accelerated their horse race in semiconductors when each unveiled at midnight Saturday Eastern Time similar chip-manufacturing advances. The research from both companies involves a crucial building block — called high-k material — to build smaller, more efficient transistors in microprocessors. High-k materials are better insulators than standard silicon dioxide, allowing engineers to keep shrinking transistors without losing efficiency through leaking electricity.In both announcements, engineers say they plan to use the material to build transistors that switch on and off better, using “high-k metal gate” technology.The announcements promise to keep alive Moore’s Law, which holds that the number...

Chips push through nano-barrier New materials have had to be developed to shrink the transistors The next milestone in the relentless pursuit of smaller, higher performance microchips has been unveiled. Chip-maker Intel has announced that it will start manufacturing processors using transistors just 45 nanometres (billionths of a metre) wide. Shrinking the basic building blocks of microchips will make them faster and more efficient. Computer giant IBM has also signalled its intention to start production of chips using the tiny components. "Big Blue", which developed the transistor technology with partners Toshiba, Sony and AMD, intends to incorporate them into its...

Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, has overhauled the basic building block of the information age, paving the way for a new generation of faster and more energy-efficient processors. Company researchers said the advance represented the most significant change in the materials used to manufacture silicon chips since Intel pioneered the modern integrated-circuit transistor more than four decades ago.

Sun to Use Intel Chips in Some Servers Server and software maker Sun Microsystems Inc. has agreed to use chips from Intel Corp. in some of its servers and for Intel to endorse Sun's Solaris operating system, a person close to the deal told the AP late Sunday night. An announcement is expected Monday, according to the person, who requested anonymity because the deal had not been made public. Specifics of the arrangement were not disclosed. The companies scheduled a joint news conference with Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini and Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz for Monday morning in...

European Union investigators have recommended that EU Antitrust Commissioner Neelie Kroes formally charge Intel Corp. with illegally thwarting competition... Ms. Kroes must either act against the Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker or drop the six-year-old case. She has asked for more information before making a decision, the people said. She can do so at any time. Last October, EU investigators convened an internal panel of legal and economic experts to explore possible weaknesses in their case. In a reflection of the case's high economic and political stakes, the EU investigators then spent nearly three months on internal debate before reaching...

LONDON — Intel Corp. has linked up with two Saudi Arabian software companies to develop an electronic version of Islam's holy book, the Quran, and a training computer to help teach a Saudi government-approved curriculum, according to an Associated Press report.

When predicting traditional or conventional military threats, the U.S. Army employs analytical methodologies such as intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) and related tools. The terrorist threat, however, is unique in that its nature and survival require it avoid direct engagements with main force units. Terrorists are exceedingly mobile, have mastered the art of blending into the surrounding population, and employ harsh measures to ensure security. On the other hand, our national collection assets provide so much diverse information that making sense of it all is a daunting task. Reports on terrorist activity originate from all intelligence disciplines, to include...

Monday, December 11, 2006 Incoming House intelligence chief botches easy intel quiz WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two of the key terrorist organizations the intelligence community has focused on since the September 11, 2001 attacks. When asked by CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein whether al Qaeda is one or the other of the two major branches of Islam -- Sunni or Shiite -- Reyes answered...

I've been watching part of the Gates confirmation hearing this morning, as much as time would permit anyway. I had expected Gates to be little more than a typical intellectual analyst (the kind so common in the Company) given his background. However, so far, I've been favorably impressed by the few segments of testimony and examination I have witnessed thus far. I especially liked his tendency to place the onus on long term Strategic outlines for the War in Iraq and the War on Terror back upon Congress. I see obvious Cold War parallels here where the necessity for maintaining...

Thursday November 30, 2006 AMD Demos Native Quad-Core Server CPU AMD demonstrated native quad-core processors earlier today at the AMD Industry Analyst Forum. AMD Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Henri Richard is pictured below holding a native quad-core Barcelona processor next to Intel’s Clovertown processor that uses two separate processors on one package. AMD today demonstrated the industry’s first native quad-core x86 server processor, achieving four x86 processing cores on a single die of silicon. At the annual AMD Industry Analyst Forum, a server powered by four upcoming Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processors (codenamed Barcelona), manufactured on 65nm silicon-on-insulator process technology,...

It's been a long, long time, but I'm back in the market for a new PC. The last time I built a machine (10 years ago 8^) I used an AMD processor, but there were always "issues". I've been looking over at the Dell site, and they seem to have some very good deals. What is interesting is that the AMD-based machines are a good deal cheaper - and what about that Celeron? So today I'm looking to tap into the deep pool of Freeper knowledge.

After careful deliberation, the 9/11 commission concluded that continuity in the leadership of the congressional intelligence committees doesn’t matter. It thought bipartisanship should be avoided on the committees if at all possible and recommended that personal pique and racial politics trump substantive considerations. Actually, of course, the commission said none of those things, and on continuity, said the opposite. The sum total of the Democratic consensus on national security, judging by the bare-bones platform the party ran on this fall, is implementing the remaining unimplemented recommendations of the 9/11 commission. But House Majority Leader-elect Nancy Pelosi could flout the spirit...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2006 -- Failure of the coalition and Iraqi government to create a unified, peaceful Iraq would be catastrophic for that country and the region, and would embolden terrorists throughout the world, the directors of the Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency said here yesterday. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, and Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the DIA, said that the coalition presence in Iraq is what’s keeping the country together, and an early withdrawal would cause a significant rise in violence....