Posted on Sunday, June 29 2008 @ 21:20 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Sun Microsystems is planning to release its Niagara 3 server processor by late 2009. The Register
learned this chip will have 16 cores and a whopping 16 threads per core.
Today, Sun sells an eight-core "Niagara" chip that can handle eight software threads per core. Customers can fit two of these UltraSPARC T2+ chips, as they're officially called, into a server, providing up to 128 threads in a 1U system. Soon enough, Sun will also sell a four-socket system code-named Botaka.
We've confirmed that Sun is looking to push the UltraSPARC Tx line to even greater heights with a 16-core, 16-thread per core eight-socket server. So, each socket is chewing through an insane 256 threads. And the eight-socket box will do 2,048 threads.
That 16-core chip is the third major Niagara revision and is code-named KT. It's due to tape out in six months or so, as we hear it.
