News Chinese CPU Maker Debuts 32-Core Chiplet-Based Processor

[Admin]

Samples of Loongson's 32-core processors coming in 1H 2023.

Chinese CPU Maker Debuts 32-Core Chiplet-Based Processor : Read more

 

[atomicWAR]

Smart way to work around their node restrictions.

 

[bit_user]

32-core CPUs from China incoming.

Subtitle is rather ironic, given that China has stopped exports of Loongson:

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/china-bans-exports-of-its-loongson-cpus-to-russia-other-countries

LoongArch resources, for the curious:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loongson#Loongson_3_LoongArch_processors
• https://loongson.github.io/LoongArch-Documentation/LoongArch-Vol1-EN.html

As interesting as it is to watch the development of this architecture, I think RISC-V is likely to be more relevant in the near/mid-term, at least.

 

[bit_user]

Smart way to work around their node restrictions.

The key question is whether they really gain anything from sharing a package.

Years ago, Intel packaged 2 Cascade Lake Xeon dies together in a single CPU, but it was mostly just a PR stunt. They still talked to each other using the same UPI links they'd use, if they were in separate packages.

How to Tarnish Platinum: Sell It as Xeon 9200

www.anandtech.com

 

[atomicWAR]

The key question is whether they really gain anything from sharing a package.

Years ago, Intel packaged 2 Cascade Lake Xeon dies together in a single CPU, but it was mostly just a PR stunt. They still talked to each other using the same UPI links they'd use, if they were in separate packages.

How to Tarnish Platinum: Sell It as Xeon 9200

www.anandtech.com

I vaguely recall the debacle with all that. The Pentium D was another poor example gluing chips too if I recall correctly. No question how they execute their link will extremely important on how well these chips perform and scale not to mention the potential heat issues from using older nodes. Anyways I always applaud solid ingenuity working a problem with the tools available to you (and that's all I'll say on that part of it as I don't wish to be political here, not that anyone has been so far). Correctly excuted though this could be quite the performance bump in their home grown chips. Or it could just end up being a hot mess... time will tell.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Yawn. I’ll take an amd or Intel cpu any day.

 

[sylas]

It will be at least a decade before their chips can run Crysis.

 

[bit_user]

I vaguely recall the debacle with all that.

I think the issue was that it didn't solve a real problem, so there was no market demand. The main thing it let Intel do was seem like they were keeping up in the core-count race, by having a 56-core CPU.

The Pentium D was another poor example gluing chips too if I recall correctly.

Perhaps it was poorly executed, but at least in that case we're talking about fitting 2 cores into a uni-processor system, where you wouldn't otherwise have an option to install a second CPU. I actually had a Pentium D at work, and it wasn't bad for that point in time. It had a giant heatsink with a 140 mm fan, but that was enough to keep it fairly quiet.

In the case of the server CPU I mentioned above, it added no real value because it didn't change the total number of cores you could put in an Intel server machine.

No question how they execute their link will extremely important on how well these chips perform and scale not to mention the potential heat issues from using older nodes.

I think the M1 Ultra stands out as the best-case scenario. It uses a purpose-built 2.5 GB/s interconnect for joining the two dies. It's highly-optimized and not just reusing a package-level interconnect like what Intel did with UPI or what AMD did with Infinity Link (over PCIe), in their first-gen EPYC.

Correctly excuted though this could be quite the performance bump in their home grown chips. Or it could just end up being a hot mess... time will tell.

Whether it's a performance win or just a space-saving way to hook the same 128-cores together that they could before, they'll definitely gain valuable experience from working with chiplets. So, I think the key point is the trajectory they're on, rather than how good this particular CPU will be.

 

[gg83]

Build a giant old tech super to design new tech super computers. If China puts enough resources at it they will get ahead of everyone else. It will be the battle of the AI's and supercomputers.