when will we see an 8 core chip

[Devin Johnston]

Like the title says I'm wondering if anyone knows the answer, I'm supposed to get a new system in the next six months and I'd like to put in that kind of processor if it's available.

[whitetr]

I'll bite...

We already have dual quad cores (we run dual Xeon X5355's here at work). It's nice seeing 8 buckets rendering:) I'd imagine Intel and AMD are both looking at 8 core chips, but I think it comes down to a consumer driven decisiion on which way to push. Workstation-wise, the need for multiple cores is obvious...especially in servers and applications that most of us in this community enjoy. However, mainstream users...the vast majority of computer owners...don't need that many cores. In fact, 2 cores is pushing it for most consumer level computers. Quad core machines are still not mainstream despite the massive price cuts (you can get a Q6600 for $200.00 right now at Microcenter). There's only a limited number of applications that use multiple cores. So the chip makers are refining the architecture, making it smaller, faster and more energy efficient. Of course, this will eventually lead to the ability to put more cores in a single package. But who knows when that'll happen.

I think I read that 8 cores are on the roadmao for Intel and AMD...but I can't remember the source (maybe Anandtech). So it's coming, it's inevitible:) It's just a matter of time.

[Devin Johnston]

I guess I expected them to be out by now because of the announcement Intel made a few years ago about having an 80 core chip within 5 years. At this pace I don't think there going to make it.

[whitetr]

Yeah, I remember that:) I also remember before that, they said we'd have 12+GHz processors by now on a single CPU. In effect, we do. 4 CPU's at 3GHz each. But instead of 1 processor that's super fast, we have 4 CPU's working together. So, we have even better processing power overall.

Somehow, I think we'll have something equivalent to 80 cores within a few years. It may not be 80 physical cores, but it'll be something as good or better than what we can percieve as what an 80 core machine would be.

[gfa2]

I'm getting a couple of these soon...

 

http://www.boxxtech.com/Products/renderfarm/Renderfarm_Overview.asp

 

No difference to me if all the cores are sitting on my desk or some of them are in the server room. I'll get all the buckets either way when I hit render.

[AJLynn]

If you want 8 cores in one socket you'll probably need this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehalem_(microarchitecture)

[castroman]

I remember reading an article somewhere, this was just after duo core was introduced, that they were testing out 16 core processors, but that they were going to produce 4 core and 8 core processors before releasing the 16 core.

 

Don't know the full reason for not jumping right to 16 core, but reading between the lines is that they would make more money by taking it step by step.

 

If I find the article I will post it. That being said, I have a quad core now with 3.2 ghz xeon processor with 8 gigs of ram and Revit is running smooth as silk, even on big projects.

[Aaron2004]

Wait...so how does it work. If I buy a quad core that's 3 ghz, Is that REALLY 12 ghz, or does it not work like that?

[AJLynn]

No, it's 4 CPUs at 3GHz each. Depending on how well your software multithreads (most renderers are good at this) your efficiency (how close it approaches the performance of a hypothetical 12GHz chip) will vary.

[castroman]

if you do rendering on a regular basis then get a quad machine, but if you rarely do rendering than getting a 3.4 duo core would be better than getting a 2.66 quad core. Most of the stuff in revit uses only one core, some of them utilizes more, rendering uses all 4 cores( I think it is limited to 4 cores). Have anybody tested rendering on a dual quad core(8 core)? Does it use all cores?

[F J]

Like the title says I'm wondering if anyone knows the answer, I'm supposed to get a new system in the next six months and I'd like to put in that kind of processor if it's available.

 

no one wants to confirm the exact release date, but it is said to be out late this summer, or worst case cenario, early 2k9..

 

i wouldnt wait for them tho, mainly because of release price, secondly cuz OCed Q6600's make some fine render nodes

[Devin Johnston]

Have anybody tested rendering on a dual quad core(8 core)? Does it use all cores?

That's what I've got now and yes Max and Vray use all 8 cores.

[F J]

also the 8-core from AMD is said to arrive sometime next year, native 45nm, doubt they'll win that race tho

 

www.nordichardware.com/news,7471.html

[Devin Johnston]

This will be coming out later this year.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/25/intel_six_core_coming_in_2008/

[F J]

«...Nehalem effectively includes the only remaining advantages AMD held over Intel with respect to memory performance and interconnect speed - you can expect a tremendous performance increase going from Penryn to Nehalem because of this. Intel is expecting memory accesses to be around twice the speed in Nehalem as they are in Penryn, which thanks to its aggressive prefetchers are already incredibly fast. If you think Intel's performance advantage is significant today, Nehalem should completely redefine your perspective - AMD needs its Bobcat and Bulldozer cores if it is going to want to compete...»

 

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3264&p=1

 

[Slinger]

The real question of this thread should be when will software be able to utilize 4-cores, let alone 8,16,32, etc!!!

[Devin Johnston]

My software (3D Studio Max, Vray) uses all 8 cores on my current system, but you don't really need all that power when doing Word documents and e-mail.

[SandmanNinja]

BUT - you can spellcheck like a demon!

[Justin Hunt]

MAx Design2009 will be able to use 512 cores:D

 

jhv

[AlekseyR]

can someone explain to me what this quad core thing is? To me it's kinda annoying, because as mentioned instead of a 12ghz super fast processor i have 4 slower ones. which is all fine except that my new pc does not boot up 4 times faster than my old one. I mean why split up the cores? And what the hell does that mean anyway?

[AJLynn]

They do it that way because they can't make a 12GHz CPU, but they can make a die with four CPUs on it. Four 3GHz CPUs beats the crap out of one 3GHz CPU.

[AlekseyR]

a die? Like a color dye?

 

4 beats one really? but my pc still boots at the same rate although it's quad core now.. I mean i remember upgrading from 733 mghz to 1.4ghz and it like flyed!

[pipjor]

im no expert but i do have a Q6600 quad core and not sure if it's faster during boot(who really cares, i boot up once a week maybe) but it renders 4 "buckets" instead of just 1 "bucket"out of 3ds8 Brazil 2..

 

i.e. it will render 4x faster

[AJLynn]

A die is the technical term for the actual part that's mounted on the small square of circuit board and enclosed by the metal housing, which you will be familiar with if you've ever installed a CPU on a motherboard. A single-socket motherboard basically accepts one die; if you put four CPUs on the die instead of one, you've quadrupled the speed in multithreaded apps such as most renderers. Trust me, 4 is better than 1. If you judge your PC's performance by how fast it boots you are probably not experienced in rendering.

[F J]

processing power isnt responsible for booting up, HDD bandwidth n memory access is..