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The Future : Reconfigurable Computing
Everybody is always worried about clock speed. Who has the fastest processor and
how much can we overclock it further? Even AMD went to the extreme of "boosting"
clock speeds using measures such as processor ratings (i.e. 2600+) which
is nothing but a relative speed measurement. We know where that got them. How
else can we get these computers to run our software faster without resorting
to ever higher clock speeds?
Intel tackled the problem with a two-pronged approach. They first increased their bus speeds which provided a nice boost in speed. It also had the whole industry following with faster RAM, hard drives and anything else that could be sped up! They then implemented Hyper-Threading in their processors but this required software to be rewritten or optimized to make use of it. Isn't there a better way to speed up our computers substantially?
Yes, there is! It is a little off the beaten path but it may be the future of computing.
Today, we will take a look at this completely different approach to computing called reconfigurable computing!
