Hacker News with Generative AI: Processors

Notes on the Pentium's microcode circuitry (righto.com)
Most people think of machine instructions as the fundamental steps that a computer performs. However, many processors have another layer of software underneath: microcode. With microcode, instead of building the processor's control circuitry from complex logic gates, the control logic is implemented with code known as microcode, stored in the microcode ROM. To execute a machine instruction, the computer internally executes several simpler micro-instructions, specified by the microcode.

Computer Architecture, Microcode, Hardware, Processors, History

180 points by leotravis10 3 days ago | 32 comments

Intel AVX10 Drops Optional 512-Bit: No AVX10 256-Bit Only E-Cores in the Future (phoronix.com)
Intel updated their AVX10 whitepaper and associated open-source compiler patches around this next Advanced Vector Extensions standard... While AVX10 had intended to allow either 256-bit or 512-bit modes depending upon processor capabilities, Intel has dropped the 256-bit-only approach and going for 512-bit everywhere.

Intel, Processors, Hardware, AVX10, Open Source

34 points by doener 16 days ago | 20 comments

AMD's Strix Halo under the hood (chipsandcheese.com)
At CES 2025 I got the chance to sit down with Mahesh Subramony, AMD Senior Fellow, to talk about AMD's upcoming Strix Halo SoC which is a brand new type of product for AMD and is the big iGPU SoC that many of us have been waiting for from AMD for a long while.

AMD, Processors, CES, Technology, Hardware

162 points by kristianp 21 days ago | 141 comments

RISC-V Processor Design – Lec 6 – EXU and Co-Simulation (ycombinator.com)
In this lecture, we stitch together a custom Instruction Set Simulator I created with the RISC-V CPU (now with the execution stage) and see the first instructions flowing in the pipeline.

RISC-V, Computer Architecture, Simulation, Processors

5 points by marcux95 23 days ago | 1 comments

AMD EPYC 9845 Makes for a Persuasive Upgrade with Performance and Efficiency (phoronix.com)
With the new AMD EPYC 9005 processors there are SKUs up to 500 Watt with the likes of the EPYC 9965 flagship at 192 cores for Turin Dense cores or 128 Turin classic cores with the EPYC 9755. But for those looking at upgrading from an existing EPYC 9004 series server and bound by the motherboard BIOS support and/or cooling/power capacity, 400 Watts is a sweet spot.

AMD, Processors, Servers, Performance, Efficiency

3 points by ksec 23 days ago | 1 comments

Apple M3 Ultra SoC: Disappointing CPU Benchmark Result Surfaces (techpowerup.com)
Just recently, Apple somewhat stunned the industry with the introduction of its refreshed Mac Studio with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra SoCs.

Apple, Processors, Benchmarks, Technology, Hardware

5 points by speckx 24 days ago | 1 comments

Apple M3 Ultra (apple.com)
Apple today announced M3 Ultra, the highest-performing chip it has ever created, offering the most powerful CPU and GPU in a Mac, double the Neural Engine cores, and the most unified memory ever in a personal computer.

Apple, Processors, Hardware, Computers

1077 points by ksec 30 days ago | 1029 comments

Frameworknew Laptops AMD Ryzen AI 300 CPUs (pcworld.com)
Today, repairable laptop maker Framework previewed the new Framework Laptop 12 — a smaller budget option — alongside a new version of its flagship Framework Laptop 13 with AMD’s recent Ryzen AI 300 series processors inside.

Laptops, AMD, Processors, Hardware, Technology

6 points by markgavalda 37 days ago | 0 comments

Intel Announces Xeon 6500P and Xeon 6700P Processors (phoronix.com)
After launching the Intel Xeon 6900P "Granite Rapids" processors last September, today Intel is expanding the family with the launch of the Xeon 6500P and Xeon 6700P server processors.

Hardware, Processors, Intel, Servers

5 points by ksec 38 days ago | 1 comments

Intel Xeon 6700P and 6500P Granite Rapids-SP for the Masses Initial Benchmarks (servethehome.com)
This Intel Xeon 6 series has been a launch we have been waiting on for around three quarters. Today, we have the launch of the Intel Xeon 6700P and Xeon 6500P series. These are the smaller Socket E2 (LGA4710-2) processors compared to the big socket Intel Xeon 6900P series. At the same time, they are not necessarily “lower-end” as they can scale to 4 sockets, eight sockets and beyond.

Hardware, Processors, Intel, Benchmarks, Servers

8 points by ksec 38 days ago | 0 comments

Intel launches new 18A website, highlights milestones and specifications (tomshardware.com)

Intel, Processors, Technology, Hardware

8 points by LorenDB 39 days ago | 1 comments

AMD's game-changing Strix Halo, formerly Ryzen AI Max, poses for new die shots (tomshardware.com)

AMD, Processors, Computer Hardware, Gaming

33 points by rbanffy 44 days ago | 19 comments

AVX-512 gotcha: avoid compressing words to memory with AMD Zen 4 processors (lemire.me)
The recent AMD processors (Zen 4) provide extensive support for the powerful AVX-512 instructions.

Processors, Optimization, AMD, Hardware, Performance

6 points by ibobev 48 days ago | 0 comments

Do M4 chips have a new security processor? (eclecticlight.co)
There was a stir of excitement last year when some claimed that Apple’s M4 and the A18 chip inside iPhone 16 models had a new security processor, the Secure Exclave Processor, a sister to the Secure Enclave Processor in all modern Macs. This article considers whether there’s evidence to support that.

Security, Apple, Processors, Hardware

8 points by ingve 50 days ago | 0 comments

Ask HN: Are there any open source RISC-V processors that I can buy and use? (ycombinator.com)
As of now there are some places which offer small RISC-V processers, such as the StarFive JH7110 (used in DeepComputing DC-ROMA), however when I went to the website it said the CPU was proprietary. Are there any fully open source RISC-V CPUs that are not just hardware simulations that I can actually buy?

RISC-V, Open Source, Hardware, Processors

10 points by applestone 59 days ago | 14 comments

New Apple CPU side-channel attacks steals data from browsers (bleepingcomputer.com)
A team of security researchers has disclosed new side-channel vulnerabilities in modern Apple processors that could steal sensitive information from web browsers.

Security, Apple, Processors, Web Browsers

39 points by whyoh 65 days ago | 2 comments

SiFive's P550 Microarchitecture (chipsandcheese.com)
RISC-V is a relatively young and open source instruction set. So far, it has gained traction in microcontrollers and academic applications. For example, Nvidia replaced the Falcon microcontrollers found in their GPUs with RISC-V based ones. Numerous university projects have used RISC-V as well, like Berkeley’s BOOM. However, moving RISC-V into more consumer-visible, higher performance applications will be an arduous process.

RISC-V, Microarchitecture, Hardware, Open Source, Processors

20 points by klelatti 67 days ago | 4 comments

Interesting BiCMOS circuits in the Pentium, reverse-engineered (righto.com)
Intel released the powerful Pentium processor in 1993, establishing a long-running brand of processors.

Reverse Engineering, Hardware, Processors, Intel

57 points by DamonHD 72 days ago | 14 comments

Skymont: Intel's E-Cores reach for the Sky (chipsandcheese.com)
The 2020s were a fun time for Intel’s Atom line, which went from an afterthought to playing a major role across Intel’s high performance client offerings.

Intel, CPUs, Hardware, Processors, Performance

128 points by ksec 75 days ago | 92 comments

SysBumps: Exploiting Speculative Execution in Apple Silicon (dl.acm.org)
Apple silicon is the proprietary ARM-based processor that powers the mainstream of Apple devices.

Security, Apple, Hardware, Processors

10 points by latexr 83 days ago | 0 comments

TSMC Arizona allegedly now producing AMD's Ryzen 9000 and Apple's S9 processors (tomshardware.com)

TSMC, AMD, Apple, Processors, Semiconductors

19 points by rbanffy 85 days ago | 2 comments

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D claims 20% faster gaming performance vs. Intel (tomshardware.com)

AMD, Gaming, Performance, Processors, Intel

9 points by speckx 87 days ago | 0 comments

The Alder Lake SHLX Anomaly (tavianator.com)

Hardware, Processors, Anomaly

234 points by panic 91 days ago | 74 comments

XiangShan – Open-source high performance RISC-V processor (github.com/OpenXiangShan)
XiangShan (香山) is an open-source high-performance RISC-V processor project.

RISC-V, Open Source, Processors, Hardware

270 points by gjvc 91 days ago | 98 comments

AMD Continued Ramping Up Their Linux and Open-Source Investments in 2024 (phoronix.com)
AMD's new products this year have not only been supported well on the server side with their new EPYC 9005 "Turin" processors but also on the consumer side with the Ryzen AI 300 series laptop and Ryzen 9000 series desktop Zen 5 processors.

AMD, Linux, Open Source, Processors, Hardware

29 points by freedomben 96 days ago | 1 comments

VPR: Nordic's First RISC-V Processor (danielmangum.com)
VPR (pronounced “Viper”) is Nordic Semiconductor’s first RISC-V processor, landing in the new nRF54H and nRF54L lines of SoCs after their initial announcements in April and October of 2023 respectively.

RISC-V, Hardware, Processors, Semiconductors

165 points by hasheddan 100 days ago | 40 comments

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K "Arrow Lake" Windows 11 vs. Ubuntu Linux Performance (phoronix.com)
One of the areas for benchmarking exploration that I had been meaning to dive into since the launch of the Intel Arrow Lake processors back in October was checking out the Microsoft Windows 11 vs. Linux performance for the new Core Ultra 9 285K flagship processor.

Performance, Linux, Intel, Processors, Operating Systems

33 points by rbanffy 105 days ago | 67 comments

Intel Abandons "X86S" Plans to Focus on the Regular x86-64 ISA Advisory Group (techpowerup.com)
Intel has announced it will not proceed with X86S, an experimental instruction set architecture that aims to simplify its processor design by removing legacy support for older 32-bit and 16-bit operating modes.

Intel, Processors, Architecture, Hardware, Industry News

4 points by ksec 105 days ago | 0 comments

Intel Terminates X86S Initiative (tomshardware.com)

Intel, Processors, Technology, Business

29 points by jamesy0ung 105 days ago | 18 comments

Intel terminates x86S initiative – x86 de-bloat quest ends (tomshardware.com)

Intel, Processors, Technology, Hardware

10 points by pella 105 days ago | 2 comments