#CHIPS: "Haswell Ups Parallelism Ante"

The semiconductor roadmap has hit a dead-end as far as scaling is concerned, with new microprocessors actually scaling back their processor speeds--to lower power consumption--instead of increasing them as has been the trends since the 1980s. Intel's new Haswell micro-architecture is the perfect example, since it increases performance while cutting power by adding support for parallel execution instead of just cranking up the clock: R. Colin Johnson

Executive vice president and chief product officer David Perlmutter provides updates about Haswell at the recent Intel Developers Forum.

Here is what Go-Parallel says about the Haswell micro-architecture to debut in 2013: Intel has revealed new architectural details about the Haswell micro-architecture and its support for parallel processing. The faster, lower power Haswell will drastically cut power across the board, offer almost double the graphics processing speed and will include new advanced vector extension (AVX) instructions and other parallel enhancements, the company says. Two- and four-core Haswell processors for PCs, tablets and Ultrabooks will be available early in 2013, with workstation and server models to come later.
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