[ale] dual core

James Sumners james.sumners at gmail.com
Mon Aug 27 15:17:22 EDT 2007


A little of both. A well written, and designed, threaded application
can make use of the multiple cores/cpus more effectively than a
non-threaded application. But, the OS kernel can split up the load
between its cores/cpus. That is, the OS can run XMMS on one core and
Quake on another.

The dual multicore processors are better designed, and thus faster,
than the old processors. They benefit from die shrinks and other such
improvements. A processor doesn't necessarily have to process data
faster to be better than the previous. It only has to process it more
efficiently.

Also, 1.86*2=3.72 which is greater than 3.2.

On 8/27/07, Terry Bailey <terry at bitlinx.com> wrote:
>
>
> Hi,
>
> On a particular chip, does Intel dual/quad core functionality require
> any participation from software or is it totally managed within the
> hardware?  Also, besides the dual core, does the architecture differ
> significantly?  It is my understanding that a dual core Pentium/Xeon
> running with a clock speed of 1.86 would be faster than a regular
> Pentium/Xeon running with a clock speed of 3.2.  Is this correct?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Terry Bailey


-- 
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59



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