Understanding QuadCore

Bob The Builder · 07-17-2008, 06:10 AM

The quads are supposed to be for multi-tasking, right? How does the CPU know which core will do what task. For example: I start some video editing, surf the net, read e-mails, and run a scan. Is this what the Quad core is intended to be used for? Since there is 4 CPU's, can they each take a task and do it without bogging during the tasks? How does the CPU know where to send what info? Would it be good to OC the quad with this being what it will be used for? Not on the edge stuff, but just a little more performance! I appreciate your input!

Midnight_fox1 · 07-17-2008, 06:26 AM

i have the quad core in my computer. When I go to the task manager and look under the cpu, I see all four cores. And whenever I run a program (for example 1 program) it shows the activity in the third core. Here is a sample that I found of what it does..

The multiple cores of the Kentsfield most benefit applications that can easily be broken into a small number of parallel threads (such as audio and video transcoding, data compression, video editing, 3D rendering and ray-tracing). To take a specific example, multi-threaded games such as Crysis and Gears of War which must perform multiple simultaneous tasks such as AI, audio and physics benefit from the quad-core CPUs[32]. In such cases, the processing speed may increase relative to that of a single-CPU system by a factor approaching the number of CPUs. This should however be considered an upper limit as it presupposes the user-level software is well-threaded. To return to the above example, some tests have demonstrated that Crysis fails to take advantage of more than two cores at any given time [33]. On the other hand, the impact of this issue on broader system performance can be significantly reduced on systems which frequently handle numerous unrelated simultaneous tasks such as multi-user environments or desktops which execute background processes while the user is active. There is still however some overhead involved in coordinating execution of multiple processes or threads and scheduling them on multiple CPUs which scales with the number of threads/CPUs. Finally, on the hardware level there exists the possibility of bottlenecks arising from the sharing of memory and/or I/O bandwidth between processors.

hackapelite · 07-17-2008, 06:37 AM

Okay, so firstly... the CPU doesn't have to know where to "send" the data or what task to do or anything like that, the task manager does it (Every OS comes with one, so there's no need to panic or go looking for one).

Quad-core is meant to handle multiple threads, each one being able to take up one core. Most applications only run single thread, since creating multi-threaded programs is a lot harded and most applications don't need the performance of more than one cores. Some programs (such as video/graphics editing, and several games) are designed to create multiple threads to get the job done faster. And yes, you're right, you can use a quad-core to run several programs and they won't bog each other down, that's one thing it can be (and is) used for- multitasking.

OCing a quad doesn't differ from OCing dual-core CPUs in any way, you can OC a quad and a lot of people do that.

P.S. fox1... you may want to state the source when you quote stuff.

jdbennet · 07-17-2008, 08:58 AM

yeah thats why games which were written before multithreading became common run slower on a core2 than on a pentium 4

Midnight_fox1 · 07-17-2008, 05:26 PM

ok sorry i forgot to state the source.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_2

diduknowthat · 07-18-2008, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdbennet

yeah thats why games which were written before multithreading became common run slower on a core2 than on a pentium 4

Partially, but mainly because Pentium 4's uses a completely different architecture compared to C2Ds.

jdbennet · 07-18-2008, 01:10 AM

yeah but you notice the same thing in machines which have pentium 4s with hyperthreading - the other virtual cpu simply isnt taken advantage of properley by older apps

07-17-2008, 06:10 AM	#1 (permalink)
Bob The Builder New Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 21	Understanding QuadCore The quads are supposed to be for multi-tasking, right? How does the CPU know which core will do what task. For example: I start some video editing, surf the net, read e-mails, and run a scan. Is this what the Quad core is intended to be used for? Since there is 4 CPU's, can they each take a task and do it without bogging during the tasks? How does the CPU know where to send what info? Would it be good to OC the quad with this being what it will be used for? Not on the edge stuff, but just a little more performance! I appreciate your input!

07-17-2008, 06:26 AM	#2 (permalink)
Midnight_fox1 Silver Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 188	i have the quad core in my computer. When I go to the task manager and look under the cpu, I see all four cores. And whenever I run a program (for example 1 program) it shows the activity in the third core. Here is a sample that I found of what it does.. The multiple cores of the Kentsfield most benefit applications that can easily be broken into a small number of parallel threads (such as audio and video transcoding, data compression, video editing, 3D rendering and ray-tracing). To take a specific example, multi-threaded games such as Crysis and Gears of War which must perform multiple simultaneous tasks such as AI, audio and physics benefit from the quad-core CPUs[32]. In such cases, the processing speed may increase relative to that of a single-CPU system by a factor approaching the number of CPUs. This should however be considered an upper limit as it presupposes the user-level software is well-threaded. To return to the above example, some tests have demonstrated that Crysis fails to take advantage of more than two cores at any given time [33]. On the other hand, the impact of this issue on broader system performance can be significantly reduced on systems which frequently handle numerous unrelated simultaneous tasks such as multi-user environments or desktops which execute background processes while the user is active. There is still however some overhead involved in coordinating execution of multiple processes or threads and scheduling them on multiple CPUs which scales with the number of threads/CPUs. Finally, on the hardware level there exists the possibility of bottlenecks arising from the sharing of memory and/or I/O bandwidth between processors. __________________ Mobo: EVGA 780i 3-way Motherboard CPU: Intel Quad Core Processor @ 2.4 GHz HDD: 250 GB Western Digital HDD GPU: EVGA GeForce 8800 GT RAM: 2GB OCZ Platinum Memory OS: Windows XP Professional Drive: Pioneer Lightscribe 8x Sound: Diamond X-Blaster

07-17-2008, 06:37 AM	#3 (permalink)
hackapelite Diamond Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Solicitor's office Posts: 1,826	Okay, so firstly... the CPU doesn't have to know where to "send" the data or what task to do or anything like that, the task manager does it (Every OS comes with one, so there's no need to panic or go looking for one). Quad-core is meant to handle multiple threads, each one being able to take up one core. Most applications only run single thread, since creating multi-threaded programs is a lot harded and most applications don't need the performance of more than one cores. Some programs (such as video/graphics editing, and several games) are designed to create multiple threads to get the job done faster. And yes, you're right, you can use a quad-core to run several programs and they won't bog each other down, that's one thing it can be (and is) used for- multitasking. OCing a quad doesn't differ from OCing dual-core CPUs in any way, you can OC a quad and a lot of people do that. P.S. fox1... you may want to state the source when you quote stuff. __________________ BY READING THE ABOVE POST, YOU AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING: "The above post is provided solely for entertainment purposes and is not to be taken as professional advice. Therefore, I shall not be held responsible for any damage or losses that are result from anything I have posted, to the extent applicable by law. In the unlikely event that I CAN be held responsible, I have never been here, I am not here, and I will never be here, and it will be highly questionable whether I even exist."

07-17-2008, 05:26 PM	#5 (permalink)
Midnight_fox1 Silver Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 188	ok sorry i forgot to state the source. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_2 __________________ Mobo: EVGA 780i 3-way Motherboard CPU: Intel Quad Core Processor @ 2.4 GHz HDD: 250 GB Western Digital HDD GPU: EVGA GeForce 8800 GT RAM: 2GB OCZ Platinum Memory OS: Windows XP Professional Drive: Pioneer Lightscribe 8x Sound: Diamond X-Blaster

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07-17-2008, 08:58 AM	#4 (permalink)
jdbennet Diamond Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: England / Dundee Posts: 1,653	yeah thats why games which were written before multithreading became common run slower on a core2 than on a pentium 4

07-18-2008, 01:10 AM	#7 (permalink)
jdbennet Diamond Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: England / Dundee Posts: 1,653	yeah but you notice the same thing in machines which have pentium 4s with hyperthreading - the other virtual cpu simply isnt taken advantage of properley by older apps

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