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1、计算机专业时文选读(974)MulticoreProcessorsIn1965,whenhefirstsetoutwhatwenowcallMoore’sLaw,GordonMoore(wholaterco-foundedIntelCorp.)saidthenumberofcomponentsthatcouldbepackedontoanintegratedcircuitwoulddoubleeveryyearorso(lateramendedto18months).In1971,Intel’s4004CPUhad2,300transistors.In1982,the80286
2、debutedwith134,000transistors.Now,run-of-the-millCPUscountupwardof200milliontransistors,andIntelisscheduledtoreleaseaprocessorwith1.7billiontransistorsforlaterthisyear.Foryears,suchprogressinCPUswasclearlypredictable:Successivegenerationsofsemiconductortechnologygaveusbigger,morepowerfulproc
3、essorsonever-thinnersiliconsubstratesoperatingatincreasingclockspeeds.Thesesmaller,fastertransistorsuselesselectricity,too.Butthere’sacatch.Itturnsoutthatasoperatingvoltagesgetlower,asignificantamountofelectricitysimplyleaksawayandendsupgeneratingexcessiveheat,requiringmuchmoreattentiontopro
4、cessorcoolingandlimitingthepotentialspeedadvance——thinkofthisasathermalbarrier.Tobreakthroughthatbarrier,processormakersareadoptinganewstrategy,packingtwoormorecomplete,independentprocessorcores,orCPUs,ontoasinglechip.Thismulticoreprocessorplugsdirectlyintoasinglesocketonthemotherboard,andth
5、eoperatingsystemseeseachoftheexecutioncoresasadiscretelogicalprocessorthatisindependentlycontrollable.HavingtwoseparateCPUsallowseachonetorunsomewhatslower,andthuscooler,andstillimproveoverallthroughputforthemachineinmostcases.Fromoneperspective,thisismerelyanextensionofthedesignthinkingthat
6、hasforseveralyearsgivenusn-wayserversusingtwoormorestandardCPUs;we’resimplymakingthepackagingsmallerandtheintegrationmorecomplete.Inpractice,however,thismulticorestrategyrepresentsamajorshiftinprocessorarchitecturethatwillquicklypervadethecomputingindustry.HavingtwoCPUsonthesamechiprathertha
7、npluggedintotwoseparatesocketsgreatlyspeedscommunicationbetweenthemandcutswaitingtime.ThefirstmulticoreCPUfromIntelisalreadyonthemarket.Bytheendof2006,Intelexpectsmulticoreprocessorstomakeup40%ofnewdesktops,70%ofmobileCPUsandawhopping85%ofallserver
