# Current Status of Moore's Law **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 25, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950 "2003-12-25T02:50:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950/1 "2003-12-25T02:50:43Z")
Well? How are processor speeds doing? I did a few google searches but couldn’t find anything recent. ---
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950/2 "2003-12-25T02:52:06Z")
Look up Quantum computers or quantum computation. Wow! ---
**Author:** ![chillihead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@chillihead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chillihead)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950/3 "2003-12-25T03:17:14Z")
Still there [new scientist](http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994424) ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950/4 "2003-12-25T03:21:20Z")
Moore’s law has become unattainable, at least for Intel. The Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.4Ghz, based on the Northwood core, is going to be the fastest Intel processor released until 2005, when the new Tejas processor, running on the Socket-T platform, is released. Intel was expecting the new 0.9micron Prescott processor to cover 2004, but production, yield, and temperature problems prevent it from reaching even 3Ghz. Essentially, AMD has the market to itself for the launch of its Socket-939 platform for the Athlon 64 and Athlon FX 64-bit processors. ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950/5 "2003-12-25T03:26:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chillihead \* > \*\*Still there > [new scientist](http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994424) \*\* Thanks. I was able to find this article about IBM’s latest super-duper computer. [http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/news/20031114\_bluegene.shtml](http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/news/20031114_bluegene.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950/6 "2003-12-25T03:37:15Z")
From **chillihead** ’s link: > [@](#): > > Intel, the world’s biggest maker of computer chips, has achieved an average feature size of just 65 nanometres for its next generation chip. For silicon, with a bond length of ~0.235 nanometers, that distance represents about 276 atoms. So there’s only room for 8 more doublings. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950/7 "2003-12-25T05:15:42Z")
Of course, 8 more doublings would give us computers 256 times faster than what we have today. That’ll also take us forward another 12 years, by which time we may have an entirely new technology allowing us to keep on going. But at some point, it’s gotta slow down. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950/8 "2003-12-25T15:31:02Z")
Moore’s law is commonly thought to refer to processor speed, but it is really “the number of transistors that can be produced on a piece of Si for the same price doubles every two years”. This has been achieved by reducing feature size on the die. The shrinking line size has allowed both the number of transistors and the clock rate to advance together. In many ways Moore’s law is less a law than a self-fullfilling prophecy that drives the industry forward. Recent advances in reducing leakage will help address thermal issues that arise from reducing fearure size. In the long run there are other possibilities to extend Moore’s law such as building chips in 3 dimensions. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-status-of-moores-law/220950/9 "2003-12-25T19:07:14Z")
**DB** got it right about what Moore’s Law actually is. But even the [good folks at Intel](http://www.intel.com/research/silicon/mooreslaw.htm) are hedging their bets about how much longer it will hold up: > [@](#): > > Moore’s Law, the doubling of transistors every couple of years, has been maintained, and still holds true today. Intel expects that it will continue at least through the end of this decade.