Will ARM overtake x86?

[Orcvader]

Seeing this article here, it really has made me think how fast the ARM architecture is developing due to the demands of smartphones. Now it made me think this... will it overtake x86 sometime in the future? Also flying around is AMD may buy ARM .

 

[panyan]

i'd say that arm (or smartphone processors in general) will very quickly overtake our desktop/notebook/mobile processors

 

[PermaBanned]

It may well catch up in terms of cores and clock speed, but i'm suspicious about if it will actually catch up in terms of computing power. Thing is, it's pretty hard to actually gauge it considering there's very few pieces of software that actually run on both platforms

I sincerely hope it does take over though, i would gladly swap my... admittedly rubbish E2140 build for a similarly performing ARM based build. Same performance, a fraction of the power and a tiny size. What's not to love? Well, that may spell the beginning of the end for self-builds.

 

[xsistor]

Hmmm, it's actually possible. If it does here's how it will happen.

1) ARM will become extremely common in the embedded market
2) The embedded market will increasingly overflow its niche and take over functions of the desktop/laptop market (iPads already do that to an extent for example)
3) Some company will "invent" the ARM based desktop
4) Meanwhile, the software base for the embedded market will eclipse the x86
5) ARM desktops will start to gain traction, and become increasingly common
6) x86 will become a relic


That said I don't actually see it happening. Modern x86 processors are very very very advanced. But it's not impossible.

For a long time now embedded systems themselves have outnumbered mainstream microprocessor-based systems by a huge amount (as much as 20:1 according to the most recent estimate I saw in "Design with PIC Microcontrollers" by Peatman... No doubt the number is now much heavier on the embedded side of things). But the new trend in "thicker" embedded systems is probably the best shot that industry has of a hostile take over of mainstream computers.


Again, it's possible, but I don't think it will happen. (so said the Lords of the Minicomputer as they scoffed at the "toy" that was the PC ... Like their forefathers before them, the Lords of the Mainframe, who said the same when this upstart they call the Minicomputer entered the scene)

 

[philjohn]

Well, Microsoft have got Windows 8 running on ARM (shouldn't really have been overly difficult given that the OS was built to be platform agnostic in the first place) so I agree that in the tablet/low end of the market it could overtake the likes of the Atom and low power AMD chips unless there is a huge price disparity.

 

[Final8y]

AMD: We will adhere to the x86 architecture, not the arms to join the ARM !

Recently, there is news that will convince AMD to abandon x86 ARM architecture, ARM to join the fold. But foreign media reports today, AMD will adhere to the x86 platform, not for ARM license.

According to reports, AMD will rely on low-power Fusion APU into the tablet market, rather than like Samsung, Texas Instruments produces the ARM processor. According to the relevant head of AMD, said John Taylor, who on the Fusion APU bet a lot of effort, the final product is also very satisfied with them. Although the APU uses a x86 architecture, but its power consumption is not inferior to the ARM processor, the APU is also very suitable tablet machine to use, AMD is not engaged in ARM's.

Currently, ARM processor is considered to have higher energy efficiency than the x86 processor, ideal for tablet PCs. As the world's two major x86 processor manufacturers, AMD and Intel in the flat but few achievements in the field machine, it also made ARM processor found a foothold point. However, AMD low-power version of Fusion APU has officially shipped, it has a DirectX 11 class graphics core, TDP has just 18W, a variety of low-power equipment in good partner; Intel also plans to release in the fourth quarter of the new Generation Atom processor, the same low power consumption for various types of equipment available.

It seems in 2011, flat panel and other low-power equipment market will become the new battleground for ARM and x86 processors.

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