A team of researchers from the University of California’s Davis campus have produced the KiloCore; a 1000 core processor designed for supreme multitasking.
Have you ever tried to encode a massive video file and thrown out obscenities while your laptop becomes unavailable over the course of the next ten years? It’s a struggle we all have to endure. A team of researchers at the University of California’s Davis campus have thought of a solution to that problem, however; a 1000 core processor named the KiloCore.
Multiple cores are beneficial on processors that need to handle parallel tasks such as encryption and encoding; a multi-core processor can delegate tasks across its cores to delegate tasks and instructions. While one might see benefits of a quad-core or octa-core computing setup, it’s safe to say that UC Davis’ 1000 core processor squarely blows that out the way.
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The KiloCore, which is capable of shutting down individual cores, can handle 115 billion instructions per second, using just 0.7W of power. To clarify, that means that the processor could function running off a single AA battery.
While that sounds like the kind of technological advancement we’ve been craving, mass production is a way off. The team of researchers behind the KiloCore manufactured the chip alongside IBM, and made use of a 32-nanometer process; presently, most manufacturers rely on a more efficient 14-nanometer technique.
While the 1000 core processor could theoretically see use in everything from laptops to smartphones, it is likely the unit would head to research centres first to aid number-crunching efforts.
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What are your thoughts on the KiloCore processor? Where in what area of research or development could you envision a 1000 core processor bringing value to? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
