Oracle (née Sun) has announced the SPARC T3, featuring 16 cores, with the ability to handle eight threads each, for a total of 128 threads. The 40nm CPU has a limited 6MB L2 cache, a maximum clock speed of 1.65GHz, and a TDP of 139W, in addition to SMT (simultaneous multi-threading) capabilities.It is true that these processors are nothing like the Phenom and Core processors we are used to today, given their different target market (servers), however it may give us a clue to the way desktop processors will evolve in future.
The potential of this CPU for folding BigAdv units isn't in question, but unfortunately there are currently no cores available for the SPARC architecture.
Source: Tom's Hardware (in French)
KaySL
On: 10/21/10
