Intel: Meltdown, Spectre silicon fixes coming 2018; 3D XPoint RAM, not so much

by jjuhl on 1/27/2018, 3:01 PM with 24 comments
  • by hannob on 1/27/2018, 5:24 PM

    Reading the headline I had wished for more details.

    What does it mean to fix spectre? The microcode updates that were presented weren't... very elaborate as far as I understood it. They basically add optional capabilities for software to say "please let speculative execution run into nowhere and I know it'll be really slow".

    What will these fixes look like? Will they add memory permission management to speculative execution? Is that even possible? Will they move away from speculative execution? Is it possible to have a performant processor without it? Will the fixes "just work" or will they require changes in software? In compilers? Will they be on by default or only for sensitive processes?

  • by nirv on 1/27/2018, 4:36 PM

    So Intel just hit earnings records[1] for 2017Q4 despite all the vulns (AMT). And now, after recent events (Meltdown/Spectre) with no warranty losses, are anticipated in excitement to hit new records in 2018Q4 with new, apparently not much faster, but fixed CPUs. Awesome.

    [1] https://www.anandtech.com/show/12371/intel-announces-q4-2017...

  • by kartD on 1/27/2018, 3:59 PM

    Highly doubt that any proper silicon fix is going to be out this year. Silicon validation is no joke, so I’d expect 3years before speculation issues are fixed properly. I think the new fixes will be in microcode instead

  • by Animats on 1/27/2018, 8:38 PM

    OK, time to hold off on computer purchases until the fixed version is out the door. Maybe by then the big GPU shortage due to cryptocurrency mining will have been resolved.