I looked at this diagram and I am wondering me that the increasing of the CPU performance seems to stop although the transistor count is still increasing. I mean what are the profts of the increasing transistor count after 2005? All other specs stoped to increase.
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Clock speed doesn't equal performance. See megahertz myth.– gronostajCommented May 23, 2016 at 15:33
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You start to see multi-core processors enter the market at the time the clock speed levels off. More transistors, more cores, hyper threading etc... but similar clock speeds– Joe TaylorCommented May 23, 2016 at 15:34
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There are many other factors that must be accounted for other than those featured in this graph.– Ctrl-alt-dltCommented May 23, 2016 at 15:34
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1Yes. But why ILP is not increasing anymore, too?– MichaelCommented May 23, 2016 at 17:55
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1 Answer
Your example graphic is kind of outdated, but kinda answers the question at hand. Transistor count increases with the tech-ups (getting to a lower nm fab process) but once certain caps are hit, the increase in performance is no longer in-pair with the transistor count increase and that's the sign that a new architecture is needed. The story itself is quite long. An example of what I'm saying was the Athlon architecture performance jump or the i-core one. In both cases, new archtecture designed prevailed vs. increase in frequency (in 1st case) or number of cores and frequency (in second case). Your graph shows exactly a cap being hit, where the architecture becomes inefficient to keep-alive / maxed out.
So basically, more bullets in a gun are good, as long as the enemy gun does not out-range yours. When that happens, it's time that you re-design your gun.
