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Chip breaks speed record in deep freeze

  • By Michael Kanellos, News.com
  • Posted Jun 20, 2006 10:54 am PT

IBM-Georgia Tech project gets silicon-based computer chip to run at an astonishing 500GHz; scientist theorizes 1 terahertz chips are possibility.

From News.com

IBM and Georgia Tech have coaxed a chip to run at 500GHz, a record for a silicon-based device, by dropping the temperature to minus 451 degrees Fahrenheit.

The experiment is part of a project to explore the ultimate speed limits of silicon-germanium (SiGe) chips. SiGe chips are similar to standard silicon chips, but they also contain germanium for better performance and lower power consumption.

Adding germanium, however, increases the price of producing wafers and chips that come out of the wafers, so SiGe chips are typically only found in a few select markets. IBM has sold hundreds of millions of SiGe chips since it began selling them in 1998, but the cell-phone industry gobbles up billions of plain silicon chips annually. (Germanium is sprinkled into standard silicon chips: Intel adds minute amounts of the element to create strained silicon in its processors).

At room temperature, the IBM-Georgia Tech chip operates at 350GHz, or 350 billion cycles per second. That's far faster than standard PC processors today, which range from 3.8GHz to 1.8GHz. But SiGe chips can gain additional performance in colder temperatures.

To that end, IBM and Georgia Tech scientists turned down the temperature and cryogenically froze the chip at minus 451 degrees F. It's about as cold as things get. An extremely cold temperature like that is found naturally only in outer space, but can be artificially achieved on Earth using ultracold materials such as liquid helium. Absolute zero comes at minus 459 degrees F.

SiGe chips, the scientists theorized, could eventually hit 1 terahertz, or 1 trillion cycles a second.

Ultimately, high-performance SiGe chips could be used in defense systems, space exploration vehicles, and remote sensing. Conceivably, you could also build a computer for Ted Williams and other cryogenically frozen celebrities.

145 Comments

  • KandyKornMan

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 2:36 pm GMT

    thats a superfast processor but it would cause errors and bottleneck the rest of yuor components.you know what kind of power supply is needed to run this thing.it might use less power with germanium but still.i see 10ghz as a good speed to achieve in 10 years or less.

  • -Noodles-

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 12:58 pm GMT

    oh my god 500 ghz i have a nerd boner.

  • jozolozo

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 11:16 am GMT

    its faster than commodore 64!!!

  • meischris39

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 9:22 am GMT

    damn this shames my dual core pc

  • jonathanseese

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 7:54 am GMT

    Absolute zero huh. Absolute zero chance of using that one soon.

  • MAcheTT3

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 6:48 am GMT

    I think I saw one of these on eBay.

  • redlar

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 1:35 am GMT

    I wonder why you can't just buy the current SiGe chips from IBM and put them into a current computer? That would be great.

  • Chynkinese

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 9:26 pm GMT

    Make me a processor that runs at that speed...oy..

  • ssj4_2004

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 8:23 pm GMT

    brothaval, yes, yes octohertz of course. Why didn't I think of that eh?

    I wonder just how big these chips are, and how much it cost them to develope? It's big step up from My 1.6 GZ machine eheh

  • alextrox69

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 7:13 pm GMT

    wow

  • KYOGRE

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 7:12 pm GMT

    Maybe with that technology we'll be able to have our own Navi's lke in Megaman EXE.!

  • irk_t_great

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 7:11 pm GMT

    i want a pc with one! But how much will the super-ultra cold freezer cost me?

  • jckoll

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 7:02 pm GMT

    That's almost as cold as my ex-wife! Oh... I'm sorry.

  • brothaval

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 6:47 pm GMT

    big deal, my cpu runs on 571 yoctohertz, which is 70 gazillion times faster than that

  • damstr

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 6:41 pm GMT

    hmmm they were close to absolute zero @ -233C .

  • nintendorocks

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 6:34 pm GMT

    Damn, that's fast. But it's in -451 degrees. But still at room temperature, that is very, very fast. It's gonna take a while to get a chip for your PC that runs at 500 GHZ. And what a glorious day that will be...

  • ElitePredator11

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 6:14 pm GMT

    Damn thats cold -451F but thats what u need if ure making a processor go all the way to 500Ghz imagine what kind of heat it would produce if it had no cooling at all.

  • Terran499

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 6:02 pm GMT

    It'll just be a matter of time before you see them. 50yrs or so.

  • adamfirefist

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:50 pm GMT

    smbius:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_prefix

  • rbarahona

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:48 pm GMT

    Simply awesome!!! However I really doubt that we will see a chip like that in our homes Nevertheless it's great to read that SiGe chips can reacn such speeds. Definitely a chip for Defense Systems or the next Space trip to Mars.

  • emadayag

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:43 pm GMT

    Could this be applyed into the ps4 when it comes out? I need to see Snake space walk the orbit of mars in search of his biological mother...

  • gmrscore-addict

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:42 pm GMT

    wow,,,wow.....wow....500ghz 8)

  • seg555

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:22 pm GMT

    Well cell looks like a nes processor

  • mrblah00

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:21 pm GMT

    that goes against the bible!

    REPENT SINNERS!

  • animorph_235

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:15 pm GMT

    I really dont care what speed it runs at if I moved to outer space. it runs about 90 times faster than my pc does with some of the best tech. All i care about rite now is where when who and how do i rob them?

    these things better be good cuz im gettin ma pretty penny ready!

  • diablusx

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:04 pm GMT

    That is great for all the people that can get -451 but what about the rest of us? This really only shows that once space exploration really revs up like in the 50/60's that we should be able to have better technology to comuunicate better and beat the pesky time delay caused by distance.

  • smbius

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:02 pm GMT

    500 GHZ? Holy CRAP! 1 Thz? What's higher than a terabyte or terahert?

  • mhder

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 4:47 pm GMT

    We seemed impressed now but remember back 10 years ago when we had 120MHZ proccessors and were saying "wow, maybe one day we'll go as fast as 500mhz." We would of thought that at speeds like that, we could run anything for years. As computers and programs become more complicated, we'll need every GHZ to make them run. I'm just speculating of course but that's whats been happening for the last decade..

  • blacktorn

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 4:22 pm GMT

    Its funny how everyone who just sees the '350ghz' then imediatly comes to the conclusion that they can buy one in the near future.The chip porbably needs a cooling system the size of your desk and uses a 1000-watt power supply.

  • dukerav

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 4:15 pm GMT

    errr..... wow. Something like that will eventually find its way into the home, but it will be quite some time, but again WOW. By the way I wonder what a chip of that Science-Fiction like speed would cost?

  • ryohazuki1987

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 4:13 pm GMT

    Does anyone else think it's odd that +451 F is the temp. that paper burns at, and that the opposite of that, -451 F, has produced the fastest computer chip speed ever? Machines will one day replace all.

  • elythemonkey

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:55 pm GMT

    That's it, Im putting my 360 in the freezer.

  • IgnatiusX

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:54 pm GMT

    Hey guys. They didn't say that anything could be stable at that. Think about memory speeds, FSB, HT, and the rest of the determining factors that make your PC up, the cycles per second only are one factor on a processor.

    The main factors are probably; cycles per second, L1/L2/(L3 maybe ) caches, media instructions (SSE, MMX, 3DNow!), pipeline design (different chip designs to get the processor's data moving through it), the math coprocessor, number of cores, manufacturing process (90 mn, etc.), bus width... etc, etc, etc.

    There's a bunch more, but I'm just an A+ Hardware geek (

  • degrassirulez

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:48 pm GMT

    Woah...

  • BigDanG

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:41 pm GMT

    Vulpis makes some good observations. Although 500 GHz sounds impressive, clock speeds are a shallow statistic to use when comparing the processing power of a chip. Just because this chip has an incredibly high clock speed, nothing is known about its Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). For example, the PS2's Emotion Engine processor has a clock speed of 300MHz, while the XBOX's Intel was clocked at 733MHz. While the XBOX is more powerful than the PS2, one would be hard pressed to call it more than twice as powerful. The EE's ISA is probably more game-centric than the off the shelf Intel, so it requires less clock cycles than the XBOX's to perform similar tasks.

    Comparing the power of two of the same chip with different clock speeds is not as bad, but still erroneous. In a similarly equipped machine with same processor at two different clock speeds, ratio of benchmarking results still would differ from the ratio of clock speeds. The bottleneck is the limiting factor in this situation. Having a lightning fast processor makes no difference if it cannot retrieve its desired information due to its lagging bus.

    Clock speeds are convenient stats used to compare the strengths of a CPU, but don't mean much when comparing different architectures, and are not the only determinant in the performance of a machine. Benchmarks of real world applications are what accurately determine the power of a CPU. The IBM SiGE chips sound impressive on paper, but don't be so naive as to compare it to the CPU housed in your PC.

  • Primenova

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:34 pm GMT

    Coming soon from Sony: an anouncement that the Playstation 4 will use one of these chips. *jokes*

  • stevetuttle1985

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:14 pm GMT

    Dont worry, Microsoft can come up with an operating system to slow it to 200mhz performance.

  • xbox_gamer1

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:05 pm GMT

    $$$$$

  • assassinX01

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:04 pm GMT

    1. LIQUID HELIUM?!

    2. How much does that COST? Im assuming that if it is a joint project that its gotta be really expensive.

    3. How much ram would you need to even use that to its potential? 100 gigs? 200?

  • mad_max01

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:02 pm GMT

    Oh god....I think I've come.
    This just in, The PS3 has changed it's mind about the Cell Processor and switched to SiG processor. The Cost::::: Your body and soul.
    Sad thing is i'd still probably buy it.

  • T1Panda

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:00 pm GMT

    That is very cold...

  • Pablo620

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 2:45 pm GMT

    I keep telling people. PCs run much better in Alaska in your backyard. Jeesh!

  • Vulpis

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 2:44 pm GMT

    Nice concept, but notice they didn't define just what kind of 'chip' they were running there--was it an actual working *processor*, or was it just some clock chip that cycled at 500Ghz? Also, what were the power requirements for it (and the cooling requirements for when it was running at room temperature)? Not to mention what would be the cost to manufacture them? There's a lot of unanswered questions here--and potentially, a lot of developments that will take a while to turn into something actually *useful* to the consumer.

    'caughtsomefire', where are you seeing a picture, BTW? I'm looking both here and at the CNET.com article, and I'm not seeing a picture. Maybe you're seeing an ad?

  • anjul

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 2:43 pm GMT

    That's AMAZING!!!!

    I'll take two please. ; D

    No, really........ please??

  • joshramsey

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 2:39 pm GMT

    I'm getting cold just reading this article!! I need to go put on a parka real quick.

  • grimfate

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 2:39 pm GMT

    Hmmm... so if 500 Ghz means a threshold in A.I. has finally been reached, does that mean that "brains" will finally be available for all the politicos out there?

  • sk7731

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 2:25 pm GMT

    Just the thing I'm looking for! I need this for my Gundams, Armored Cores, Hounds, and my lawnmower!

  • joeylopez12

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 2:20 pm GMT

    ohh and again this is low tech dell sells this for 499 u shoud she what alienware offers

  • NabilF

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 2:20 pm GMT

    I go to Georgia Tech

  • e_boulanger

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 2:19 pm GMT

    That's fast. But put XP Home Edition as the OS and you'll get the performance of a 486.... nyark... nyark....

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