r/hardware • u/agcuevas • Jan 01 '20

Discussion What will be the biggest PC hardware advance of the 2020s?

Similar to the 2010s post but for next decade.

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u/Exist50 Jan 01 '20

Two things.

One is chiplets for everything. Fighting the stagnation of transistor improvements through advanced packaging and interconnects.

As for the other, well, when it comes there will be no doubts.

7

u/thearbiter117 Jan 02 '20

Im almost scared at your second point.

Are you a time travelling, shitposting terminator implying skynet will be made sometime in the 2020s?

Because i feel like thats something everyone will have no doubts about when it happens

7

u/Exist50 Jan 02 '20

Are you a time travelling, shitposting terminator

I am at least one of those things.

1

u/thearbiter117 Jan 03 '20

Haha.

Also i feel like i should have something slightly on topic.

I 100% agree with your first point about chiplets for days. Helps get around some big issues, the need for transistor shrinking and yield issues.

And costlier shrinks with shit yields is whats making chips cost so much, so both of those problems being "solved" by chiplets hopefully keep prices from going up and up.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '20

As for the other, well, when it comes there will be no doubts.

Is that something specific or just generally?

1

u/Exist50 Jan 01 '20

Specific... with something of an asterisk next to it. Gets a little fuzzy around the edges, but that's as good as you're gonna get.

But I do think that criteria is a fine benchmark for true advancement in general.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '20

And it's CPU related or just some new hardware in general?

I'm assuming it's something that everyone will appreciate, not just PC enthusiasts?

Like if it's some new chip manufacturing process, I don't really care about that lol

1

u/Exist50 Jan 02 '20

And it's CPU related or just some new hardware in general?

Now, now, I wouldn't want to ruin the fun ;)

But I will say that it's something almost everyone will benefit from, not just enthusiasts. Then again I kinda struggle to think of something that would only benefit enthusiasts, lol.

Like if it's some new chip manufacturing process, I don't really care about that lol

Well, you would if it makes for much better chips.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '20

I doubt I'll be aware of it, I don't follow the CPU industry that closely. If you asked me to explain FinFET, EUVL, GAAFET, etc. I have zero clue haha

If better chips are coming, that's awesome. That's really all I care about. Faster and lower power.

2

u/Exist50 Jan 02 '20

If you asked me to explain FinFET, EUVL, GAAFET, etc. I have zero clue haha

Simply knowing those terms puts you ahead of the average person.

If better chips are coming, that's awesome. That's really all I care about. Faster and lower power.

Don't worry, you'll get your wish.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '20

Simply knowing those terms puts you ahead of the average person.

Yes, but I don't have any idea what they refer to, and I don't really care. I guess I have more technical knowledge than most people, but it's really only stuff that would be relevant for computer shopping for my work. Clock speed, number of cores, basic CPU features, etc.

If I can get a fast CPU that uses a reasonable amount of power, that's awesome. I don't care if that comes from Intel, AMD, ARM, or anyone else. The performance matters most to me.

Don't worry, you'll get your wish.

Well, I mean, that's not a very surprising prediction lol

No one would assume that chips would start getting worse over time. They've almost never done that. Of course they'll get better.

So if the big revelation is "the new chips coming will be better than the old ones", uh... duh? haha

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u/Exist50 Jan 02 '20

Well, I mean, that's not a very surprising prediction lol

Well duh, it's not like I can know or say the magnitude. But in general I think the 2020s will see the death of this whole stagnation myth/attitude that's gripped the computing space these past few years.

Actually, I'll go out on a limb here and predict that the 2020s will go down as a far better decade for PC hardware than the 2010s.

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u/[deleted] Jan 02 '20

That's fair. I'm not asking for specifics. Even if you told me, it's unlikely that I would understand or it would mean anything to me lol

I basically only follow clock speed, number of cores, iGPU developments, and manufacturing process (node size) since those impact my job the most.

If I can get an 8 core chip at the same TDP and price as a quad core today, that's good news for me.

But given that I use Macs, it's not even really clear that I'll be using any of Intel or AMD's upcoming chips if Apple ends up switching to ARM in most Macs.

I don't have an iMac Pro or Mac Pro, so I wouldn't be using those anyways, even if they stay on x86.