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ARM busts out server-to-superphone superchips — Parallax Forums

ARM busts out server-to-superphone superchips

Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL) Posts: 1,720
edited 2012-10-31 19:48 in General Discussion
ARM busts out server-to-superphone superchips - Low-power juggernaut takes two more steps towards world domination

By Rik Myslewski in Santa Clara • Get more from this author


Posted in Servers , 30th October 2012 22:40 GMT
ARM TechCon ARM has rolled out a new series of processors – the Cortex-A50 Series – that it says will find their way into everything from smartphones to mega-data centers.


The beefier member of the two-chip series has already found at least one data-center home in future ARM-based Opteron server chips, as announced this Monday by AMD.


The processor design that AMD chose, the high-performance Cortex-A57 (formerly code named "Atlas"), was unveiled along with its low-power sibling, the Cortex-A53 (née "Apollo"), by ARM processor honcho Simon Segars during his keynote on Tuesday at the ARM TechCon 2012 conference in Santa Clara, California.


Describing the A57 as "the highest-performance processor from ARM," Segars said that it would provide "PC-class performance in a superphone power envelope." (An ARM spokesman told us that by "superphone", ARM means devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S III and the iPhone 5.)


The Cortex-A53, on the other hand, was described by Segars as "the most energy-efficient processor that we have built," providing superphone-level performance at not only low power levels, but at low cost as well.




Simon Segars, EVP and general manager of AMD's Processor and Physical IP Divisions, at ARM TechCon 2012
Both the A57 and A53 employ the 64-bit extensions to the ARMv7 architecture that were announced when the 64-bit ARMv8 architecture was unveiled last October at that year's ARM TechCon. They're not limited to 64-bit code however; they'll also run existing 32-bit code without a hitch, thus easing the transition to the inevitable all-64-bit, all-the-time future.


In case it is not too obvious, we'll point out that to run both 32-bit and 64-bit code, the operating system being run on the A53 and A57 will have to be 64-bit. But you knew that.

Source:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/30/arm_cortex_a50_series_announcement/

Comments

  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,183
    edited 2012-10-30 19:21
    Interesting, so we dig down and find "release planned for 2014.", and then history shows us
    "The first AMD64-based processor, the Opteron, was released in April 2003".

    So 11 years behind the X86, and final performance still comes down to Process, and Memory and Data Links.
  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2012-10-30 20:09
    And the AIM alliance had the G5 in 02 . 64Bit is To me Old news ... .. Good that arm is gonna step it up ! ... Funny a ARM core is RISC Like the PPC series was ... Hmmmm I wonder why ..
  • rod1963rod1963 Posts: 752
    edited 2012-10-30 21:14
    And the PPC is still going strong, just ask Freescale.

    Still you can't stuff a Opteron in a cell phone or any of the Intel egg cookers that are called CPU's. AMD and Intel may rule the desktop market, but it's not growing anymore. They're not capturing other markets with their ancient x86 power guzzling devices either. ARM's are.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2012-10-30 21:55
    ...it's amazing what can grow from a little Acorn!!
  • TonyDTonyD Posts: 210
    edited 2012-10-31 03:44
    mindrobots wrote: »
    ...it's amazing what can grow from a little Acorn!!
    ARM = Acorn Risc Machine :-)

    before it changed to Advanced Risc Machine
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-10-31 16:37
    jmg,
    So 11 years behind the X86,

    Depends what is behind what. ARM have been a bit busy in those 10 years making sure all our phones, smartphones. tablets and any number of gadgets with embedded processor work. Emphasis here being on small, low power consumption and cheap. Features that Intel are clearly behind with.

    I'm not sure where the 64 bit ARMs will go. Do we really need 64 bit processesors in phones? In the server space they might make sense if they can deliver decent performance with lower power consumption.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-10-31 16:46
    TonyD,
    ARM = Acorn Risc Machine

    Yep, and now I can run the original Archemides operating system on a 30 dollar Raspberry Pi and have that Archie I could not afford at the time.
  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2012-10-31 19:48
    rod1963 wrote: »
    And the PPC is still going strong, just ask Freescale.

    Still you can't stuff a Opteron in a cell phone or any of the Intel egg cookers that are called CPU's. AMD and Intel may rule the desktop market, but it's not growing anymore. They're not capturing other markets with their ancient x86 power guzzling devices either. ARM's are.
    Yea it is! Its core is in a modded form in all our TV based video games ....
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