Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 6th Dec 2006 23:04 UTC
Sun has been touting the efficiency of servers using its first-generation UltraSparc T1 'Niagara' processor, but it's promising greater gains with the chip's sequel. The first Niagara consumes about 70 watts running flat out. Sun now thinks Niagara 2 will consume between 70 and 80 watts, John Fowler, executive vice president of systems, said in a meeting with reporters at Sun offices here Tuesday. Although that power consumption is 'just a teeny bit above Niagara 1', Fowler said, the newer chip absorbs several functions that today require separate electronics and also can handle 64 simultaneous instruction sequences, called threads - twice that of Niagara 1.
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Member since:
2005-07-06
To me, a 64 thread server with an FPU for each core (I believe that makes 8 FPUs) and hardware encryption make for the ideal server for any high traffic application. Whether you're running a web server, app server, or even a database, to be able to scale like that (especially with such a small footprint and low power consumption) makes the new CPUs extremely attractive.
Way to go Sun!