Posted on Thursday, September 02 2010 @ 21:07 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
HotHardware
reports IBM has released a new zEnterprise series mainframe processor that's clocked at 5.2GHz, making it world's fastest microprocessor. The z196 has four cores, it's made on IBM's 45nm SOI process and packs 1.4 billion transistors on a 512-square millimeter surface.
We're sure this claim could be challenged on multiple fronts, namely by hardcore overclockers who have seen their own chips operate at much higher speeds with the help of liquid nitrogen. But IBM's new silicon doesn't require any complicated cooling; it's just blisteringly fast.
Of course, this 5.2GHz chip won't find its way into any consumer PCs anytime soon, but that doesn't mean it won't end up there eventually. The new chip will ship to mainframe customers starting on September 10th, and IBM says that the record-breaking speed is ecessary for businesses managing huge workloads, such as banks and retailers, especially as the world becomes increasingly more inter-connected, data has grown beyond the world's storage capacity, and business transactions continue to skyrocket.
