IBM to double chip power

Speaking at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, an IBM representative has claimed the company will double its microprocessor power in 2008. The design secret is apparently a faster form of embedded dynamic RAM (eDRAM), which should occupy a mere third of the space commonly used by static RAM (SRAM). For comparison, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor is 60 percent occupied by memory. The new chips should also consume one-fifth the electricity needed to maintain standby power. IBM expects that the technology could drastically improve the speed of multicore processors, as well as graphics-intensive applications, such as games. IBM chips are used in the three major game consoles produced by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. [via IDG News]

By Electronista Staff