Arm Reveals Cortex-A15, Capable Of Quad-Core Computing At 2.5Ghz


Uh...Clem

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http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/09/arm-reveals-eagle-core-as-cortex-a15-capable-of-quad-core-compu/

In the video, TI claims to have already shipped 3 billion ARM-based devices of which 250 million were OMAPs.
 
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2010/09/09/49414/Update-ARM-Cortex-A15.htm

Word is that there's a move to a triple-issue front end, 128-bit floating point NEON, and improvements in the memory hierarchy (more than one load or store at a time would be quite nice). Stated goal is a typical 50% better IPC over Cortex-A9.

If this really does ship in 2013 then I hope Intel has moved on from Atom by then, or else they don't stand a chance.

ARM is obviously gunning for servers here too, and if their perf/watt at 2.5GHz really is competitive vs Intel and AMD then they might stand some shot. PAE is kind of a dodgy way to get more memory, but maybe if they did it right they could get enough access to more memory without hurting performance too much... When you think about it, full-on 64bit is kind of a waste for most of what it's good for, when just moving to say 40-48bit AGUs and wider address buses would accomplish a lot of the same thing... with enough ISA tweaks.
 
Interesting, I wonder what kind of virtualization support are they doing, and that physical address extension is really needed as ARMs are running out of address space pretty badly already.
 
I don't think it's going to be well embraced though... like how PAE on x86 wasn't really.. and now that x86-64 is mainstream I think anyone that really needs the memory is going to stick to using it.

Maybe for applications with lots and lots of independent processes that don't need a lot of memory per-process.

I still think Atom is in trouble.. Bobcat stands a good chance to push them out of the netbook market and Scorpion/Cortex-A9 will continue to keep them out of the phone market, with both fighting over the tablet market... I'm still waiting for handheld Atoms to really happen. If Intel loses netbooks and nettops right now it's all over for Atom. Of course, Cortex-A15 is years off so that's not really here nor there.
 
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