At the Hot Chips conference, Intel paid attention to energy efficiency not only for topical solutions, including server processor Xeon E5-generation Sandy Bridge-EP, and reported about experiments with processor power voltages close to the threshold value (Near-Threshold Voltage, NTV). It is a very early experiments, which should help the company to create the tools and methodology for the development of electronic circuits with power well below 1 volt.
Bench tests Claremont allow Intel to solve a number of fundamental issues related to the instability of logic circuits with supply voltage close to the threshold. This include the increasing influence of noise and the problems associated with the expansion of dynamic supply voltages range, as the creation of several independent power zones in the crystal, and the latency between the almost dormant logic requests periphery, and more. Already, in Claremont the company demonstrates the ability of 5-fold dynamic supply voltage range.
Claremont prototype is optimized for three conventional supply modes : at 66 MHz - 0.5 V (consumption of 20 mW) at 333 MHz - 0.74 (consumption of 80 mW) at 525 MHz - 1.05 (consumption 420 mW). But to achieve the dynamic range of power even wider: from 0.38 V (10 MHz, 1.5 mW) to 1.1 V (741 MHz, 445 mW). Such processor is well suited to be powered by solar panels . Related Products :
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