SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. INTC.O has devised a new structure for transistors -- the tiny switches that make up semiconductors -- in a development it said could lead to microprocessors that run at blazing speeds and consume far less power than conventional ones.
The technology, Intel said, solves two of the more intractable problems facing the development and manufacture of microprocessors today as more and more transistors are packed onto each chip: power consumption and heat. In addition, as the geometries on chips become ever smaller, it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure that electrons go where they were engineered to go, a problem that can lead to current leakage within the device.
The advances, which Intel calls the TeraHertz transistor because it cycles on and off 1 trillion times per second, could ultimately lead to new applications, such as real-time voice and face recognition, computing without keyboards and ever-smaller electronic gizmos with higher performance and improved battery life. To compare, it would take a person more than 15,000 years to turn a light switch on and off a trillion times.
"The real significance of this is that they've basically invented a new transistor technology that's fundamentally different and it's manufacturable," said analyst Dan Hutchinson of market research firm VLSI Research. "They've completely re-engineering the transistor as we know it."
This leakage of electrical current within a transistor, which is simply a solid-state switch that toggles between an "on" and an "off" position when current is applied, can quickly become problematic. Leakage can lead to a microprocessor generating data errors, producing so much heat that the silicon actually melts, and consuming too much power.
"The general issue of heat is one that everybody is confronting," said analyst Nathan Brookwood of market research consultant Insight 64.
View: Complete article at Reuters.
News source: Reuters - Intel Says in Breakthrough in Transistor Design
The technology, Intel said, solves two of the more intractable problems facing the development and manufacture of microprocessors today as more and more transistors are packed onto each chip: power consumption and heat. In addition, as the geometries on chips become ever smaller, it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure that electrons go where they were engineered to go, a problem that can lead to current leakage within the device.
The advances, which Intel calls the TeraHertz transistor because it cycles on and off 1 trillion times per second, could ultimately lead to new applications, such as real-time voice and face recognition, computing without keyboards and ever-smaller electronic gizmos with higher performance and improved battery life. To compare, it would take a person more than 15,000 years to turn a light switch on and off a trillion times.
"The real significance of this is that they've basically invented a new transistor technology that's fundamentally different and it's manufacturable," said analyst Dan Hutchinson of market research firm VLSI Research. "They've completely re-engineering the transistor as we know it."
This leakage of electrical current within a transistor, which is simply a solid-state switch that toggles between an "on" and an "off" position when current is applied, can quickly become problematic. Leakage can lead to a microprocessor generating data errors, producing so much heat that the silicon actually melts, and consuming too much power.
"The general issue of heat is one that everybody is confronting," said analyst Nathan Brookwood of market research consultant Insight 64.
View: Complete article at Reuters. News source: Reuters - Intel Says in Breakthrough in Transistor Design
Internet Play:
EverQuest is an internet-only game, requiring players to connect to Sony Online Entertainment servers via their own Internet connection for which they are responsible. Additional online fees and valid credit card required.
EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin is unique as an expansion to an existing product. Rather than simply more zones, more items, and more encounters, Shadows of Luclin goes several leaps further and includes an almost entirely new graphics engine, and with that engine, new player character models which change the "look and feel" of the world dramatically.
In creating these new player characters, the goal was to provide the highest quality models ever seen in a first person game. Every model was made extremely detailed, in many cases ten times the complexity of the original models in EQ. Rather than simply "catch up" with current technology, Shadows of Luclin raises the bar even higher.
Minimum Required RAM
The amount of memory required to display 40 all-new models with high quality textures, realistic bone structures, etc., greatly increased polygon counts and as such we have changed our minimum memory requirement to 256MB of RAM, and our recommended to 512MB of RAM.
Although technically below minimum specifications, EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin WILL run with 128M of ram, and you will be able to see all the new zones, the new race (Vah Shir) and the new class (Beastlord) without much decrease in performance. However, if you want to see all the new models you will need at least 256MB of RAM. Even at 256MB you may need to modify new graphical options we will be providing. If you want smooth performance and fast loading times, we recommend that you get 512MB of RAM.
Additional menus are added for those with 256MB of RAM to tune which models are loaded (among many other options we will be providing), further increasing performance. For example, you may choose to see the Troll Male but not the Ogre Female. Fewer new models will reduce the amount of memory EverQuest requires.
We understand that this may be upsetting to those caught off guard by the increase in memory requirements. But rather than reducing the detail of the character models we have in order to display them all at lower quality with 128MB RAM, with only minor improvements for players with 512MB of RAM, we felt it better to create models that would remain "high quality" for years to come.
Hardware T&L
Along with these changes, a new graphics engine which supports hardware T&L is included. If you have a graphics card with hardware T&L, you should see much higher frame rates in all zones, not just Shadows of Luclin zones. However, some older cards may have trouble displaying all the new player models with their increased polygon counts. This is why we recommend a GeForce 2 or better video card. See your video card manufacturer's website to determine if your card includes hardware T&L support. A list of models supported in EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin will be presented on the official EverQuest website very soon.
Again, no features of EverQuest: Shadows of Luclin will be lost even at 128M of RAM, except for the ability to see the new player models. The rest of the rich world, along with the new graphics enhancements, will work. The Shadows of Luclin still has more zones, more new NPCs, and more exciting encounters than any other expansion, as well as a new class AND a new race to enjoy. As you upgrade your computer to 256MB and 512MB of RAM, and obtain future graphics cards, your EverQuest experience will be enhanced right along with them.
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