By: Richard Cownie (tich.delete@this.pobox.com), January 30, 2013 9:58 am
Room: Moderated Discussions
David Kanter (dkanter.delete@this.realworldtech.com) on January 30, 2013 12:12 am wrote:
> Cell phones have almost no memory. Ditto for Calxeda.
>
> OTOH, I think SNB-EP can talk to half a TB of memory?
Maybe. But there are also a lot of virtualized servers with only 512MB-2GB per
virtual machine, and those would presumably be attractive targets for ARM-based
products, e.g maybe 32-core server chip with 4 DDR3 channels each with 2 x 8GB,
which could be done without matching Intel's expertise in huge-capacity
memory systems.
> >The combination
> > of "good enough" and "really cheap" can be very successful.
>
> I agree. But I think the difference in cost between an ARM SoC and an
> Intel one is FAR smaller than say the P6 vs. PA-RISC circa 1995.
That is true, but you have to multiply that difference by the number of units -
we're talking 10M+ server cpu's a year now, rather than 50K (?) or so back in 1995,
possibly a factor of 200x.
> Cell phones have almost no memory. Ditto for Calxeda.
>
> OTOH, I think SNB-EP can talk to half a TB of memory?
Maybe. But there are also a lot of virtualized servers with only 512MB-2GB per
virtual machine, and those would presumably be attractive targets for ARM-based
products, e.g maybe 32-core server chip with 4 DDR3 channels each with 2 x 8GB,
which could be done without matching Intel's expertise in huge-capacity
memory systems.
> >The combination
> > of "good enough" and "really cheap" can be very successful.
>
> I agree. But I think the difference in cost between an ARM SoC and an
> Intel one is FAR smaller than say the P6 vs. PA-RISC circa 1995.
That is true, but you have to multiply that difference by the number of units -
we're talking 10M+ server cpu's a year now, rather than 50K (?) or so back in 1995,
possibly a factor of 200x.
