Giant CPU?

[peytberk]

Ok, this may be stupid, but why keep cpus small? Why can't Intel or AMD build a cpu taller, not larger (as in more surface area without more hight) like in a thread ripper. Couldn't they build a cpu 30 cm high and put in a stupid amount of cores? I would take a tall cpu with 30 cores, and don't say you wouldn't. Yes, they would be tremendously heaver and would require supports, and a special cooling system, but I am just wondering if this is possible and why no companies have done this.

[Orochimario]

Printed circuit boards are flat, thats the main reason.

[Streetguru]

8 minutes ago, peytberk said:

 

You couldn't keep a CPU like that cool for normal use and it would be ungodly expensive to make a CPU that's tall and actually works, look at how hard it is just to make HBM memory

Best to just do what AMD is doing with Ryzen

 

[TheRandomness]

That would be insanely expensive, considering they'd have to produce it in small, thin slices, then layer them with interconnects.

[J400]

26 minutes ago, peytberk said:

Ok, this may be stupid, but why keep cpus small? Why can't Intel or AMD build a cpu taller, not larger (as in more surface area without more hight) like in a thread ripper. Couldn't they build a cpu 30 cm high and put in a stupid amount of cores? I would take a tall cpu with 30 cores, and don't say you wouldn't. Yes, they would be tremendously heaver and would require supports, and a special cooling system, but I am just wondering if this is possible and why no companies have done this.

they really don't need to right now, as adding a bazillion more cores now wouldn't help much, and then there's things like the manufacturing process, which is expensive af (just look a HBM), power draw, efficiency, prices, and the fact that most applications are single threaded anyway.

 

maybe in the future, when more cores actually mean something for gamers or general consumers, and the manufacturing process is cheaper, but for now, there is simply no reason.

[8uhbbhu8]

3 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

That would be insanely expensive, considering they'd have to produce it in small, thin slices, then layer them with interconnects.

Not to mention the possibly massive latency increase

[TheRandomness]

1 minute ago, 8uhbbhu8 said:

Not to mention the possibly massive latency increase

Just imagine the latencies going from the top of the stack, all the way to the bottom for contact with the rest of the system.

[8uhbbhu8]

13 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

Just imagine the latencies going from the top of the stack, all the way to the bottom for contact with the rest of the system.

*Shudders*

[8uhbbhu8]

14 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

Just imagine the latencies going from the top of the stack, all the way to the bottom for contact with the rest of the system.

Actually that could mean a whole new type of system design.... Imagine not needing a motherboard in the sense we have now and literally connecting everything directly to the cpu on the different sides. Cooling would need to be liquid 100% but you could integrate that into the cpu as well