It wasn't long ago that the idea of putting
several processors into one package seemed exotic,
But with modern multi-core CPUs that integrated
graphics, maybe it was only a matter of time before Intel and AMD added even
more functionality to your computer's most important component, the CPU.
Both companies are working on hybrid CPU that
could really shake up what the future of computing will look like, specifically
for laptops and devices that depend heavily on good battery life.
But what exactly is a hybrid CPU?
The basic idea is that it's a multi-core CPU where
all the cores are not the same.
Instead you get a mix of high power and low power
cores, a paradigm that's already used in many Arm chips for smartphones called
big.LITTLE.
The advantage of this is many of the tasks we do on
our laptops, such as working in a Word processor or browsing social media, don't
necessarily use tons of computing power, but the processing cores which are
designed to do a lot more, can still use a lot of electricity when they're
doing those things, even if the system is throttling their clock speeds.
So instead, a hybrid CPU takes advantage of cores
that specifically dont have the same capabilities as a traditional laptop
processor core, but the major plus is that they use a lot less energy
But when your PC is doing something that needs
some extra processing muscle, you still have those higher power cores for the
heavy lifting.
Scheduler
Assigning tasks to the low power or the high
power cores is the responsibility of a scheduler.
A scheduler is typically built into the operating
system and is responsible for deciding the order in which your computer will
execute tasks.
In a hybrid CPU, the hardware is specifically
designed to coordinate with the operating system scheduler so that the CPU and
Windows or whatever OS you are using, can work together to figure out what
tasks makes the most sense to assign to each core.
So a demanding foreground tasks like photo
editing could get assigned to the big core, while background tasks will be
delegated to the little cores, which are more power efficient,
But I can hear you already, what about just
putting Arm CPUs inside of laptops?
Apple's doing it, so why doesn't everybody just
follow suit?
Well, the big difference is that AMD and Intel's
hybrid projects are still built around x86 architecture,
the same one they've been using for decades, and
the one that most Windows applications are written for.
Apple has the luxury of being able to rewrite its
own operating system and software to work well on its in-house designed Arm
CPUs
But on Windows laptops, trying to translate x86
applications to run on Arm CPUs, results in significant performance loss.
In fact, Qualcomm, a major manufacturer of Arm
chips, has tried to break into the Windows laptop market with Arm CPUs, but the
slowdowns that result from the fact that Windows applications won't run
natively on Arm has prevented Qualcomm from becoming a major player in the
laptop processor market.
But this doesn't mean that just because hybrid
processes run on x86 architecture that they're perfect solutions.
Scheduling for maximum efficiency presents a real
engineering challenge
And because you're mixing different types of
processor cores, code that might work on one type of core may not work on
another.
So chip makers might be forced to remove support for
certain instructions from one or more cores to ensure programs can run on both
sets of cores without causing an error, as software typically assumes all cores
support the same instructions.
But despite those challenges, the technology does
have promise.
Intel in particular has sunk a great deal of
money into developing it.
And at the time we are writing this post, there's
already one laptop that features an Intel hybrid CPU code named Lakefield.
We also know AMD has filed a patent for a similar
technology though is unclear when we'll see hybrid CPUs from team red.
But as for me, I just want something that'll last
a long time, even if I misplace my laptop charger, which I've done once or
twice.
So that was all in today’s post, hope you gained
some information and if you did, please let us know your views in the comment
section down below.
1 Comments
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