With all the hype of multi-core processors and their supposed benefits, it’s easy to get lost in the mire of benchmarks, manufacturer comparisons, and the laundry list of reviews.  So should you go to a dual or even quad core processor?  Well, the answer all depends on what you do when you sit down in front of your computer.  Are you a casual multimedia buff listening to The Verve while creating a digital home movie masterpiece?  Are you a hard-core internet addict with  three flavors of anti-spyware running alongside Norton Antivirus and BlackICE firewall?  Do you burn CD’s while you’re claiming a few hundred victims on Battlefield2? 

If any of these describe your habits, then multi-core might just be what you’re looking for.  Multi-core processors are designed to handle multiple processes simultaneously.  When you have multiple applications running at one time, a multi-core processor can balance the load across the various cores with efficiency and ease.  While core 1 is chewing away at your home video, core 2 can be working on your background antivirus scan or Mozilla Firefox browsing session.    

This paradigm shift in processor hardware, however, does not come without a price.  Since processor cores are coming in multiples these days, a heavy burden has been placed on the software developers that write application and operating system code to implement a multi-threaded, parallel design.  Uh, can we have that in English please?  Basically, most software on the shelf today is optimized to run on processors with a single core.  To write software that takes advantage of multiple processors, a software engineer (politically correct term for programmer) has to  work with complex timing issues that are both difficult to program and debug.  Because of this extra complexity, many software development companies are continuing to write programs that only cater to single core processors.  That being said, some are making the move to parallel processing techniques and those with multi-core processors get to reap the benefits.  

So does that mean that if I have a multi-core processor and all my apps are designed for single-cores that I won’t seen any gains with my new fancy Intel Core 2 Quad Kensfield processor?  The answer is no!  You will see performance gains with your quad core because you have many applications running on your system simultaneously all the time.  Just peek into your task manager in Windows or run “ps -ef” in linux.  You’ll see a variety of strangely named processes as well as ones you may recognize as web browsers, media players, photo editors or email apps. 

For you serious gamers, many current games don’t support multi-threading, so its very likely that you will see better performance with a higher speed processor with two cores than a lower speed processor with four.  Once the software catches up to the hardware, though, hold on to your levi’s and get ready for a sweet virtual ride.    

 Warning:  I have grossly oversimplified some of the technical details for reasons of brevity, so don’t shoot the messenger!

Categories: Hardware
1 Comment »