pctechguide.com

  • Home
  • Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • Glossary
  • Contact

Multi-Core Processors

In October 1989, envisioning the future through the lens of Moore’s Law, four Intel technologists authored an article entitled Microprocessors Circa 2000 which predicted that multi-core processors could come to market soon after the turn of the century. Fifteen years later their predictions proved true, and multi-core processor capability development had become one of the top business and product initiatives for both Intel and rival chipmaker AMD.

Explained most simply, multi-core processor architecture entails silicon design engineers placing two or more processor-based computational engines within a single processor. This multi-core processor plugs directly into a single processor socket, but the operating system perceives each of its execution cores as a discrete logical processor with all the associated execution resources. This differs from Hyper-Threading technology, which computes with a single core using existing execution resources more efficiently to better enable threading.

By divvying up the computational work performed by a single microprocessor core in traditional microprocessors and spreading it over multiple execution cores, a multi-core processor can perform more work within a given clock cycle. To realise this performance gain, the software running on the platform must be written such that it can spread its workload across multiple execution cores. This functionality is called thread-level parallelism or threading. Applications and operating systems that are written to support it are referred to as threaded or multi-threaded.

A processor equipped with thread-level parallelism can execute completely separate threads of code. This can mean one thread running from an application and a second thread running from an operating system, or parallel threads running from within a single application. Thread-level parallelism is of particular benefit to many multimedia applications because many of their operations are capable of running in parallel.

When combined with Hyper-Threading, Intel dual-core processors will be able to process four software threads simultaneously by more efficiently using resources that otherwise may have remained idle:

Thread-level

The first Intel dual-core processor for desktop platforms, codenamed Smithfield and based on 90-nm process technology, debuted in 2005. The mainstream chip will be referred to as the Pentium D, and will be given a model number starting with 8. It will have Hyper-Threading disabled. The new dual core Pentium Extreme Edition will use the same numbering system as the Pentium D, and will differ only by having Hyper-Threading enabled.

  • Pentium Architecture
  • Pentium Pro
  • Pentium MMX Technology
  • Pentium II
  • Pentium SEC
  • Pentium “Deschutes
  • Pentium Xeon
  • Pentium III
  • Pentium Tualatin
  • Pentium 4
  • Pentium Northwood
  • Hyper-Threading Technology
  • Pentium Prescott
  • Pentium Processor Numbers
  • Multi-Core Processors
  • Pentium Smithfield
  • Pentium D
  • Pentium Roadmap

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Pentium CPUs

Latest Articles

Making Bitmaps with the RGB Colour System, Palettes and Look Up Tables

Making Bitmaps with the RGB Colour System, Palettes and Look Up Tables

As an image is captured and a grid of colour samples built up, each grid location's colour needs to be given a representative number. Yes, we're finally getting back to numbers again! Like a painter, when dealing with images the computer uses a palette. The palette contains the colour … [Read More...]

What Is The System Bus?

What Is The System Bus?

A modern-day system can be viewed as comprising just two classes of bus: a System Bus, connecting the CPU to main memory and Level 2 cache, and a number of I/O Busses, connecting various peripheral devices to the CPU - the latter being connected to the system bus via a bridge, implemented in … [Read More...]

Intel Mobile Pentium II technology guide

The natural progression of the low-power Deschutes family of Pentium II processors to the portable PC market took place with the launch of the Mobile Pentium II range in April 1998. The new processor, and its companion Mobile 440BX chipset, … [Read More...]


Eliminating Common WordPress Vulnerabilities to DDoS Attacks

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are serious threats that every website manager must be prepared for. Unfortunately, some of the most … [Read More...]

Securing Your Privacy Against Deep Packet Inspections

Network administrators, cybersecurity analysts and watchdogs use a variety of different tools to monitor Internet traffic. Deep packet inspection is … [Read More...]

Identifying and Protecting Against the Most Dangerous Keyloggers

Keyloggers are among the most frightening tools in the hands of a skilled hacker. They are malicious devices or malware applications that enable … [Read More...]

Excel Shortcuts for More Complicated Commands

We previously wrote an article on the benefits of using keyboard shortcuts in Excel. The shortcuts we focused on were used for simple formatting … [Read More...]

CleanTalk as Your Weapon against Spam

CleanTalk as Your Weapon against Spam

Are you tired of spam? You aren't alone. It has become a massive epidemic over the past few years. Around 14.5 billion spam messages are sent every … [Read More...]

VPN in 2019: Shortcut to Prevent Data Theft and Monitoring

VPN in 2019: Shortcut to Prevent Data Theft and Monitoring

Not all people are in the know about the beneficial functions of Virtual Private Networks. Some users install them to unblock torrenting sites, for … [Read More...]

Guides

  • Computer Communications
  • Mobile Computing
  • PC Components
  • PC Data Storage
  • PC Input-Output
  • PC Multimedia
  • Processors (CPUs)

Recent Posts

Alibaba And Its Tough Competitors

For most people in the world that have known Amazon and eBay, the company name Alibaba is not a very familiar name. But in China which has more than … [Read More...]

Website Builders Make Web Design Available to Everyone

  The Internet is a powerful communication medium. It gives people the power to share their ideas, passions or business with millions of … [Read More...]

Motherboard Audio

Finally, some motherboards provide a pin header that allows connection to a front-mounted audio connector, designed to support stereo audio output … [Read More...]

Return to top of page

Copyright © 2019 About | Privacy | Contact Information | Wrtie For Us | Disclaimer | Copyright License | Authors