This week at CeBIT 2007, AMD has revealed that its "accelerated computing" platform, codenamed Torrenza, is planned as a platform where application-specific processors can interact cost effectively and offer better performance than a general purpose CPU, while remaining compatible with off the shelf platforms. A Torrenza system will have at least two sockets, and both will accept accelerators and processors which have integrated "accelerators" embedded into them. According to AMD, Torrenza systems are not limited to CPU sockets and will accept accelerators in a PCI-Express interface too (Mercury systems announced a PCIe plug-in accelerator late last year), allowing for multiple application specific accelerators to access system memory and processor functions directly.
One accelerated-processor project is slated for 2008 under the codename Fusion. It combines a dedicated GPU or GPU accelerator onto the same package or even the same silicon die as the main CPU. Other Torrenza ready projects are also coming to light. Clearspeed announced its CSX600 math-coprocessor plug-in last year, with the stated intention of creating a socket plug-in version for Torrenza. Los Alamos National Labs is currently building the world's fastest supercomputer, Roadrunner, with Opteron and Cell processors on the Torrenza platform. Intel guidance suggests the company will announce its Torrenza competitor sometime in mid-2008.
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