Well it's a desktop machine containing some desktop board. The more interesting question is: They claim its ARM based CPU was designed in Russia. So they licensend some ARM core (hardware description) to scrabble their CPU design together? But where is it actually manufactured? Is there any chip factory in Russia which is capable to manufacture Integrated circuits in a modern CMOS process? Or maybe some older process using larger gate structures which was state of the art five or ten years ago? I'd assume these chips are manufactured in some factory in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore. And if we talk about sanctions: Isn't ARM CPU design the intelectual property of a company in the UK? Are there license free ARM designs?
Well it's a desktop machine containing some desktop board. The more interesting question is: They claim its ARM based CPU was designed in Russia. So they licensend some ARM core (hardware description) to scrabble their CPU design together? But where is it actually manufactured? Is there any chip factory in Russia which is capable to manufacture Integrated circuits in a modern CMOS process? Or maybe some older process using larger gate structures which was state of the art five or ten years ago? I'd assume these chips are manufactured in some factory in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore. And if we talk about sanctions: Isn't ARM CPU design the intelectual property of a company in the UK? Are there license free ARM designs?
If they come from China then there's not alot anyone can do about it at the moment. They could even come from China thru North Korea and shipped to Russia via train which again no one can do anything about at the moment.
If they come from China then there's not alot anyone can do about it at the moment. They could even come from China thru North Korea and shipped to Russia via train which again no one can do anything about at the moment.
Regarding the CPU's specs, I think it's not worth the effort...
TSMC.. Taiwan Semiconductor.... That's a sanction free Russian CPU? Okay.
[/EDIT:]
It looks like they're building their own trustworthy CPU hardware from trustworthy subsystems for top secret applications in administrations, government, military. Otherwise the effort would make no sense. As Mikey said, they could get more powerful and cheap CPUs from China.
Such state-planned projects always had disadvantages:
Even in the Cold War, USSR and its Eastern satellites had to handle sanctions on hightech industries. They created own CPU designs, often reengineering western CPU samples, and built up own chip factories at enormous costs. Main problem always was to step from producing prototype chips to a reliable (and cheap!) mass production. Eastern process technology always was roughly a decade behind, producing marginal numbers at extremely high costs (10 to 100 times the cost of Japanese or U.S. factories). In the end these state planned economies spend enormous amounts of their state budget to built up a semiconductor industry, far exceeding any economically reasonable ratio. This industry became a national status symbol used for propaganda purposes. The heads of state proudly visited chip factories to personally receive the first sample of a new chip design (when comparable chips were introduced 5..8 years ago in the west).
Sorry, I don't get this ARM desktop thing. If you could offer an explanation to go along what you post, it may help. But for me, I use AMD's CPUs. And I'm not really sure if Intel uses an ARM chip or not.
Tom M
)
Same thing. The article makes a point that the processors for this board make no sense in a client environment. Only datacenter or cloud instance.
Probably the negative comment is for the form factor.
https://www.tomshardware.com/
)
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/russian-anti-sanctions-pc-powered-by-new-skif-processor
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
It is 2023 and a russian
)
It is 2023 and a russian pocket computer is still as big as a washing machine.
Well it's a desktop machine
)
Well it's a desktop machine containing some desktop board. The more interesting question is: They claim its ARM based CPU was designed in Russia. So they licensend some ARM core (hardware description) to scrabble their CPU design together? But where is it actually manufactured? Is there any chip factory in Russia which is capable to manufacture Integrated circuits in a modern CMOS process? Or maybe some older process using larger gate structures which was state of the art five or ten years ago? I'd assume these chips are manufactured in some factory in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore. And if we talk about sanctions: Isn't ARM CPU design the intelectual property of a company in the UK? Are there license free ARM designs?
Tom M
)
I kinda like all the holes in the case to promote airflow but it seems overkill for that cpu unless they are trying to save metal
Scrooge McDuck wrote: Well
)
If they come from China then there's not alot anyone can do about it at the moment. They could even come from China thru North Korea and shipped to Russia via train which again no one can do anything about at the moment.
mikey schrieb:If they come
)
Regarding the CPU's specs, I think it's not worth the effort...
32bit quad core ARM Cortex-A53, 1.2 GHz, 1 MiB L2 caches, NEON SIMD, HEVC/H.264 capable GPU.
[EDIT:]:
TSMC.. Taiwan Semiconductor.... That's a sanction free Russian CPU? Okay.
[/EDIT:]
It looks like they're building their own trustworthy CPU hardware from trustworthy subsystems for top secret applications in administrations, government, military. Otherwise the effort would make no sense. As Mikey said, they could get more powerful and cheap CPUs from China.
Such state-planned projects always had disadvantages:
Even in the Cold War, USSR and its Eastern satellites had to handle sanctions on hightech industries. They created own CPU designs, often reengineering western CPU samples, and built up own chip factories at enormous costs. Main problem always was to step from producing prototype chips to a reliable (and cheap!) mass production. Eastern process technology always was roughly a decade behind, producing marginal numbers at extremely high costs (10 to 100 times the cost of Japanese or U.S. factories). In the end these state planned economies spend enormous amounts of their state budget to built up a semiconductor industry, far exceeding any economically reasonable ratio. This industry became a national status symbol used for propaganda purposes. The heads of state proudly visited chip factories to personally receive the first sample of a new chip design (when comparable chips were introduced 5..8 years ago in the west).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronics_industry_in_East_Germany
https://oiger.de/2011/08/26/die-teure-jagd-auf-den-megabit-chip/2189
https://www.servethehome.com/
)
https://www.servethehome.com/hpe-proliant-rl300-gen11-review-an-ampere-altra-max-arm-server/
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/
)
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2023/everything-ive-learned-building-fastest-arm-desktop
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
Tom M
)
Sorry, I don't get this ARM desktop thing. If you could offer an explanation to go along what you post, it may help. But for me, I use AMD's CPUs. And I'm not really sure if Intel uses an ARM chip or not.
To me, I'll let this pass...
Proud member of the Old Farts Association