I discovered a $1/core processor, somewhat interesting.
I discovered a $1/core processor, somewhat interesting.
It's listed on eBay for Intel Phi coprocessors. The details explain what makes it interesting—essentially a processor paired with RAM on a PCIe card, used similarly to a CPU and memory. It likely needs particular software to run. It sounds like a high-end option with 61 cores at 1.2GHz and 16GB DDR5 RAM for $150, which appears to be an older Threadripper model from the 2010s era using Intel 10nm/22nm technology. That’s quite unusual hardware, so it caught my attention.
These models were phased out by 2014. They employ GDDR5 memory, which is significantly older than DDR5, and feature a completely different architecture. The more recent versions transitioned to Xeon CPU sockets, combining a specialized cache with standard DDR4 on the motherboard, achieving 14nm fabrication (the 10nm lines were discontinued). The newest line dates back to 2017, and it seems the product range has largely ended, possibly due to the shift toward simpler CPUs and GPUs. Wikipedia lists them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeon_Phi. They are quad-threaded, which is impressive. Intel’s official site doesn’t confirm thread counts but notes the 5110P model has 60 cores or 240 threads: https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon_Phi/Intel-Xeon Phi 5110P.html I’ll need to try booting it to test functionality, though they’re aimed at enterprise use cases with limited software support. My current setup uses a main rig because of power supply constraints.