A Finnish startup has reportedly found a way to increase the power of all processors by adding a special chip. The gain can go up to 100 times depending on the case.
THE processors which equip our computersour smartphones and other similar devices are becoming more and more powerful. Innovations keep coming in this sector, so much so that we quite regularly speak of revolution. The invention of the Finnish startup Flow Computing could well be one of them. She developed a chip called Parallel Processing Unit (PPU, or Parallel Processing Unit in the language of Molière). His utility ? Increase the power of any processor, up to 100 times.
By the admission of the engineers behind the project, this assertion is laughable. And yet, they would have achieved the impossible. To understand how their PPU works, you need to know that a processor, however fast it may be, cannot perform only one operation at a time. To simplify, even if the CPU completes a task in a nanosecond, it must still finish it before moving on to the next one. It is on this point that the Flow chip wants to act.
This startup claims to be able to multiply the power of processors by 100 by adding a chip
Imagine a mechanic repairing a car. He only has 2 hands and works at a given speed. But if he has an assistant who takes care of giving him the right tools when he needs them and without him having to move, he will necessarily go faster. The startup’s chip plays the role of this assistant. The processor frequency does not change, but it is capable of accelerating the pace because it relieves itself of additional operations.
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By default, a CPU associated with the PPU doubles its power. With software modifications, the gain can reach times 100. The challenge now is to convince CPU manufacturers to adopt Flow’s solution, which is not retroactive. The chip must be integrated from the start and code adjustments are necessary. Not sure that companies agree to take the risk, even though the promise of the product is very attractive.
Source: TechCrunch