Dual Core Processors- it’s no longer about the gigahertz!
By Parrish Reinoehl, Pathfinder Networks
June 2006
I’m sure most of you have already heard or seen the marketing blitz by AMD and Intel touting their new dual core processors. AMD started this new trend last year with their line of dual core Opteron processors for the server market. This month I’ll try to explain what a dual core processor is and why it is a good thing.
The processor core is the “brain” of your PC. This is most commonly referred to as the Central Processing Unit or CPU. It’s the part of your PC that does all the calculations and controls all the functions of the PC itself. Without a processor the PC would not function. Most processors in use are manufactured by either Intel or AMD. These processors are made of a silicon wafer mounted to a chip that installs in a special socket on the motherboard of your PC (the motherboard is what everything connects to inside your PC). Traditionally these chips have contained a single processor. If you wanted more than one processor in your PC you had to have a special motherboard that had extra sockets for extra processors. Setups such as this were normally relegated to the server room. These dual processor servers were used in large networks where large amounts of data were being processed. These servers benefited from the extra work that could be done by multiple processors.
Now things are changing. AMD and Intel are both now producing consumer level processors that contain two processor cores per chip. This is not a chip that has two processors mounted to it- instead it is a single piece of silicon that contains two processors within the chip itself. Over the next few years these dual core processors will become mainstream- meaning it will be common for all PC’s to have a dual core processor.
Now you may be asking yourself why the need for a dual core processor? First you need to understand the physical limits of current processor technology. AMD and Intel are both nearing the physical limits of how fast they can push the speed of their processors. Intel has processors that are now running at 4 GHz or greater. (A gigahertz is 1,000 megahertz. A Hertz is simply a measurement of frequency in cycles per second. One Hertz is one cycle per second.) Because of the way electrons flow within the processor it is becoming increasingly difficult to squeeze more Hertz out of these processors. Because of this both AMD and Intel have realized that to continue to get better performance out of their new processors they needed to make a radical change. This change comes in the form of dual core processors.
Having more than one processor allows for the operating system to split the work between two (or more) processors. It’s like having two factory workers instead of one. But, the worker analogy is not completely correct. This analogy implies that having two processors will double the work that is able to be done. While in theory this may be true- it is not true in practice. A dual core system will not be twice as fast as the single core counterpart. Typically speaking you may see about a 40% improvement in performance- which is not too shabby! The current problem is that for a system to utilize a dual core processor the software on that system must be written to work with the dual processor. Windows XP is able to do this- but it does not stop there. To be most efficient at using this extra processing power your other applications need to be able to work with them as well. Your everyday applications like AOL, Internet Explorer, cd burning software, games, word processor, spread sheet programs, media players, etc. all have to be written to take advantage of these processors. While all these applications will work with a dual core processor now they may not gain the maximum performance increase until they are specifically written to do so.
You can be sure that this is where technology is going. Just as applications and operating systems are being written to take advantage of the new 64bit processors so will they be written to take advantage of dual core processors. We will even see processors being marketed in the not so distant future that have more than two processors per core. We will likely see quad core processors no more than a year or two down the road. The days of buying a processor based solely on its clock speed are over. A dual core processor running at 4 GHz will outperform its single core counterpart running at the same clock speeds (at least if you are using an operating system and software that can take advantage of the extra processor).
For more in depth reading about this direction in processors you can visit this site:
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2005/dual_core.asp
Would you like an AMD dual core system now? Stop in or give us a call! We are an authorized AMD partner and can build you a dual core system of your dreams!
About the Author:
Parrish Reinoehl is President of Pathfinder Networks; a Niles based technology consulting firm specializing in providing affordable computer services to small businesses and home users including networks, PC support, sales, and service. Pathfinder Networks can be reached at 269-684-7696 or via email at parrish@pathfindernetworks.com
Pathfinder Networks website is http://www.PathfinderNetworks.com
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