Computers are convoluted creatures with a million organs.  The core component in every system is arguably the CPU (central processing unit).  For those who don’t pay much attention to computers, the CPU to a computer is the brain to a human.

Intel has been making central processing chips for computer systems since 1971 when they introduced the first microprocessor.  I still remember when the single core was released, then the duo, along to the quad, which were then all replaced by the i3, i5 and i7.  All in all, Intel is becoming smarter in the chips that they release.

Although the core i7 is the most powerful calibre of chipsets, Intel is about to release a new mother chip that will render the i7 a mere runner-up.  Intel calls it the “Knights Ferry.”  While core i7 chip ran four cores that were all double threaded for a total of 8 cores, the Ferry will “scale to more than 50 processing cores.”  Now my question arises, why has Intel not began to build up the hype for this new outrageous chipset?

Intel has provided us with both television and internet commercials and even paper based advertisements for all previous CPUs, but why has the Knights Ferry passed entirely unnoticeable?  Even most computer users who demand the highest processing power have not yet heard about this new mother chipset.  Is there a reason why Intel has not virally spread this news across wide scale public marketing?

From a computer perspective, Intel knows that a machine as small as a laptop or even a desktop computer will not be able to support these new expensive chips.  Even if the average machine could support such power, the user in control would not need it.  As a result, the Knights Ferry will deliver the most impact and be mostly employed “in the hands of scientists, researchers, and engineers.”

Researchers in Geneva are smashing protons together at speeds faster than light in hopes of discovering the components of matter.  Aside from The Large Hadron Collider, the machine used to accelerate the particles, is the machine that captures and withholds the research data.  Such a machine would need to be able to record actions and frames at speeds beyond knowledge and for such, the deliverable processing power from the Knights Ferry is vital.

Wide scale public marketing will most likely not deploy as means of advertising this new breed of chips – simply because Intel will clearly target the realm of science and not the conventional computer user.  To answer my original question, (why is there no hype about this new chipset?) I respond on the contrary – the hype does exist and is shared among researchers, scientists and engineers from all over the globe.  Although we, as daily computer users cannot feel this hype, it is only because we are not the targeted market.

Architecture of Knights Ferry: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/many-integrated-core/intel-many-integrated-core-architecture.html

Geneva’s Large Hadron Collider: http://www.lhc.ac.uk/