On May 14, 4:40 pm, John Larkin
<jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 14 May 2013 05:34:42 -0400, rickman <
gnu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >On 5/14/2013 12:08 AM, Jamie M wrote:
> >> Hi,
>
> >> Apparently some new Intel CPU's are being tested with on board voltage
> >> regulators (2.4V input buck converters for CPU power rails). Whats
> >> really surprising is these voltage regulators include the power mosfets
> >> and also the inductors, and possibly even the capacitors I'm not sure!
>
> >> The efficiency right now is only about 80% for the on die regulator,
> >> which might be a deal killer I'd say, plus it is eating up expensive
> >> real estate on the CPU die, and adding heat. But I wonder how long until
> >> IR.com has a programmable one of these on their site?
>
> >> Here are the links to the story and a pdf of the technology:
>
> >>
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/05/13/2249209/intels-haswell-mo...
>
> >>
http://www.psma.com/sites/default/files/uploads/tech-forums-nanotechn...
>
> >That sounds a lot like the Enpirion technology. They have been selling
> >switchers for a number of years that include on die magnetics. I agree
> >that it seems an odd duck to want to include in the CPU package much
> >less on the die.
>
> It looks like the switcher is a separate piece of silicon, in the package with
> the CPU but not the same chip.
maybe that is because it is a test chip?, it says 90nm, the processor
they used is 65nm. don't know if it is even possible to do all the
thick metal and magnetic layers in the process used for the CPU
the e7330 they used is already two processor dies in one package
>
> The umpta-phase switcher is cool. I've done three phase, but IC designers don't
> much care about parts count.
>
> What's the "virus" on p18 of the PDF?
>
I believe that is what they call a special software that can put
maximum load on all parts of the chip at the same time
-Lasse