What's With This WEIRD Russian CPU? (Elbrus)

Learn all about Elbrus, the Russian-made CPU you may have never heard of.

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[someonesomething]

Ah yes, the cpu that curses at you and calls you a debil if you overclock it too far.

[Stychinsky]

Mount Elbrus (Эльбрус) is the highest peak in Russia, a part of the Caucasus mountain range, in case you were wondering what the CPU is named after.

[rkadi]

Intel : add extra plus to 14nm
AMD : you should move to 7nm
Russian : blyat, 28nm is fine

[alexhere]

Fun fact - one of the core architects of early Elbrus computers, Vladimir Pentkovski, worked at Intel in the 90s and led the development of Pentium 3.

[YszapHun]

1:01 "The Russian government has Put in..." indeed they do

[hubertnnn]

Me: Can I use this computer?
Employee: Sorry, its out of order.
Me: Can't it do some out of order processing?

[discreet_boson]

*When you realize it can't be our CPU because it is only sold in Russia*

[nottsoserious]

0:52 This is the most cringe way of installing a CPU. Look at how much pressure is used. I hope that's stock footage and not actually filmed by someone at LMG.

[YashAtishay]

I bet the Russians will have 7nm before intel does

[_framedlife]

Russians in 4 years: 7nm processors.
Meanwhile Intel:

[MrRobot-ryky]

Intel 2030: HAHA we have 10nm now.
MCST 2030:Ivan, davai release 5nm.
AMD 2030: Y'all still using nm to measure?

[sasjadevries]

As a Russian speaking guy I want to correct you. *PLZ hear me out.* You got some the reasons "why" wrong. And you got some of the pros and cons wrong.
One main difference between x86 and Elbrus is that Elbrus does not have technologies like SMT, or microcode that's susceptible to the "spectre"-like attacks. On Intel and AMD the microcode decides *how* to perform a certain task, what instruction-set-extensions to engage, etc. On Elbrus that task is fulfilled by the compiler. And this is the result:
1) You cannot perform a spectre attack or microcode that doesn't exist.
2) You cannot put "your own" backdoors in microcode that doesn't exist.
3) Since the compiler decides HOW a program executes, you'll be sure your program will perform the same way each and every time. That's good for predictability and reliability.
4) X86 programs aren't optimised for Elbrus; I mean normal x86 compilers aren't designed to do the low level stuff, because on Intel that's done by the microcode. So when running X86 on Elbrus you don't just lose 20%, but you also don't run in the most effective working order.
5) Programming for Elbrus natively isn't much harder than programming for regular x86 Linux, the compiler does the heavy lifting. The special Elbrus compiler doesn't support all program languages. If you program in plain C++ or python then it will be easy, if you use a more exotic programming language then you have to look out and check for compatibility.
>>>Here is the reason why they do it this way: In Russia there is a bit of an abundance of software developers (compared to other countries). It's easier to find software developers than to find hardware developers. That's why it makes sense to hand over some of the tasks (that others do in hardware) to the Software department of Elbrus.
---
And then memory management is done differently, is has more isolated memory stacks, memory access is more restricted; this prevents memory leaks and buffer overflows from happening.
Sorry, I forgot the scientific term for this memory-technology.
---
Programming in OpenCL or CUDA is also very different from X86 programming, and not many programs are made using it, I mean no-one will make something like mspaint or office in OpenCL. But there are still enough devs that need parallelism and that go to through the hassle and learn OpenCL (Same with CUDA).
Developing for an Elbrus CPU is still very CPU-like, because actually it is a CPU, just a more parallel one. I mean it's less scary than developing GPGPU-stuff.
---
I got all this information mostly from interviews and speeches of the deputy CEO of MCST.

[ivanandreev]

Some say that instead of *beep* those motherboards *blyat*

[ordinosaurs]

As far as I know Elbrus is a very respected "brand" name in computing in Russia, first as a successor to the massively successful soviet BESM-6 supercomputer in the early 70's. The BESM-6 was actually the first super-scalar implementation in the world, and the Elbrus ported the design from discrete logic to a more modern modular approach. We're talking 20 years earlier than when Intel issued its first super-scalar micro, the Pentium. Well of course, in the 70's it was all rows of cabinets instead of a single microprocessor, but still impressive. In computing, Russia is a shadow of its former self, but I wouldn't dismiss the competition as ridiculous in the near future.

[deepfriedwaffles]

CPU:
*_C_* ommunist
*_P_* arty of the
*_U_* SSR

[darkcrw.]

That early clip of someone pressing onto that ryzen CPU while installing it, triggered my OCD.

[fkfk]

It is good to see VLIW getting made. With the correct compiler, you can outperform CISC and RISC.

[markpetrov]

next day: so we got our hands on this new mysterious CPU

day later: this mysterious CPU got its hand on our data

[samtherat]

All this security and the system will be broken into because somebody left their password on a post it note on the monitor.

[jimmysgameclips]

Me: "My computer runs so well-"
Russia: "Our computer"