update SINGAPORE--Although desktop PCs equipped with quad-core processors can now handle certain workloads such as digital animation, previously carried out on server farms, they will not replace server farms.
Patrick Liew, Intel's country manager for Singapore, told ZDNet Asia that while the performance gap between server farms and desktop PCs is narrowing due to stronger computing ability of "mainstream" quad-core processors, desktop PCs will not replace the need to build server farms.
Server farms or clusters are typically built to handle bulk computing for certain applications or tasks that cannot be handled by one machine, such as Web hosting and high-volume data churning.
"The server farm is [used for] a very different application [from] a desktop," Liew said. "I won't say a quad-core desktop, because of its better performance and computing power, is going to overtake server farm or can replace server farm."
"There are certain things that you do in a server farm that aren't so simple," he said. Liew was speaking at the sidelines of a media briefing held at TKA icafe, the first Internet cafe in Singapore to power their gaming desktops with Intel's Core 2 Quad processors.
According to Liew, quad-core PCs are "perfect" for handling applications that are "highly compute-intensive" such as Monte Carlo simulations, and typically deployed by verticals such as FSIs (financial services industries). Monte Carlo simulations deploy the use of random numbers and algorithms to simulate behavior of physical and mathematical systems and complex tasks, often applied in the fields of natural and social sciences, financial analysis, high-energy physics, chemical kinetics and combustion, as well as photorealistic rendering.
For instance, Liew said, banks would be able to leverage the strong computing ability of these quad core-equipped machines to run spreadsheet applications to "crunch numbers".
He added that other verticals and applications that require high computing power include, medical imaging, remote sensing imaging or high-end graphics, and 3D animation or rendering deployed by the creative designs industry.
Intel's multi-core processor technology, for example, was used in "Ratatouille", an animation film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios.
Since the chipmaker's mainstream quad-core processors was launched in 2006, 14 iterations have been introduced, according to Intel. Liew said: "Within three quarters [of its launch], we've shipped over a million units worldwide…that, by any standard, is a very successful indicator of how well-received quad-core [processors] are."
Asked when the 45-nanometer Penryn chips were due for launch, Liew declined to give details but said the "schedule looks very good" and the product is "on track" to be released later this year.
"I think it's going to be very soon. You'll see it literally in a matter of the next one [or] two quarters," he said. "[It's] anytime now."
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"For instance, Liew said, banks would be able to leverage the strong computing ability of these quad core-equipped machines to run spreadsheet applications to "crunch numbers"
Quad-core procs to run "Complex" excel formulas?
I was under the impression than these apps are RAM intensive. Of course these apps will benefit from a powerful processor, I just don't think that the performance gain from switching to quadcore from single core will justify the costs involved.
Posted by Mr.T on Tuesday, July 31 2007 11:13 AM