While the awesome Xeon Phi offers some impressive performance options, it is a co-processor, that means that it needs a normal CPU to function, which is why the Xeon Phi normally comes installed on an add-in card, much like a modern GPU.
Intel are looking to address this issue with the launch of the upcoming, next-generation Knights Landing model which Intel revealed this week at the Supercomputing Conference.
Designed using a 14 nanometer process, the new chip will be made available as a stand-alone model that can run software much like any traditional CPU. However, since the new independent co-processor will no longer need to rely on a main CPU to shuttle data to it, it will be faster, more efficient and cheaper to get up and running than ever before. Intel are pushing this integrated performance even further by adding integrated high-speed memory on the chip.
Due for release in late 2014 or early 2015, the new Knights Landing models could be quite the revolution in the world of massively parallel computing.
Thank you Engadget for providing us with this information.
Image courtesy of Engadget.
Is it stand-alone or move-along?