sutton036

Intel recently published a paper with no less than 12 authors called Debunking the 100X GPU vs. CPU myth: an evaluation of throughput computing on CPU and GPU where they criticize the huge performance discrepancies cited by researchers publishing about General-Purpose GPU (GPGPU) programming in the context of what they call "throughput computing". We have also noticed bad science in this domain before. We tried to reproduce the incredible results of one paper, with a view to entering this market ourselves, only to discover they had used the reference implementation of LAPACK instead of the vendor tuned implementation for their CPU that was 10× faster. Like Intel, we found that the performance advantage of a GPU was relatively modest (2.5×) given the enormous costs and liabilities of using a GPU for number crunching. However, we are fortunate to be able to simply dismiss fantastical results as irrelevant propaganda but Intel are presumably feeling the pinch as misinformed cus...

The core of the computer industry, laptops and desktops, is on the brink of revolution with Intel and Microsoft set to lose their long-term stranglehold for three main reasons: Netbook sales are exploding and eating into the laptop and desktop markets. Ever more users are operating "in the cloud" where the CPU architecture and OS are irrelevant. Demand has shifted with users now wanting small solid-state fanless computers with long battery lives. Sales of netbooks rose from only 0.4M in 2007 to 11.4M in 2008 and 35M in 2009 with projected sales of 139M in 2013 . By the end of 2008, notebook sales had overtaken desktop sales for the first time in history . The tremendous growth in netbook sales was precipitated by the global financial climate making cheaper devices more alluring for cash-strapped consumers . Google are desperately trying to get a piece of the action with their Chrome OS , an operating system designed around their Chrome web browser specifically for the new bre...