I’m often asked what a core is.We hear computers described as being dual or quad core, but what does that actually mean to real life computing?
Every action on a computer is the result of amathematical calculation;that could be numbers in a spreadsheet being multiplied, or calculating view angles in a 3Dgame. But even very basic actions like moving the mouse pointer requires a series of calculationsto decide the colour of a single screen pixel. These calculationsare queued in the RAM memory, and fed into the processeror core. This queue is known as a ‘Thread’ and the processor is also known as the CPU or Central Processing Unit.
Processor speed is measured in Hertz, Hz, the number of times they process calculations per second. A 2.5GHz processor will process 2500000000 or 2500 million calculations per second.
About 20 years ago we reached a ceiling of about 4 GHz; above these speeds processors became unstable and a bit explody! In order to complete more calculations per seconds the computer designers needed to come up with other tricks.
Initially they put multiple processors in each computer. This worked well but increased computer costs due to the extra cooling systems, fans, power supplies and that also made them very heavy. Having multiple processors allowed one processor to concentrate on one job while another processor completed other tasks. Some intensive apps were written to support multiple processors so they could work at twice the speed. This is known as multi-threading. This method was commonly used in commercial workstations and servers, but was not economic for domestic computing.
In 2005 Intel built two processors on the same chip. Called the Pentium D (D for Dual) these machines had a single chip, single cooler and fan, and single power supply, but there were two separate processors on the chip able to process two threads at the same time, or handle multi-thread applications.This was the first dual-core processor.
Since then things have developed rapidly and we now commonly see quad-core processors with 4 cores, or hex-core processors with 6 cores, octa-core processors have 8 cores and some high-end processors can have 12 or 16 cores.
Gaming computer companies have developed additional processors that are used just for graphics. These GPUs or Graphical Processing Units run separately to the CPU and take some of the load away from the main processor.
In summary, the more processor cores you have the faster and more responsive your computer will be. We recommend quad core as a minimum and this is now common, even in tablets and phones, to make things faster.
I hope you find this information useful. If you would like to see particular subjects covered then please feel free to ask at www.alfindlay.com.
Al Findlay | Freelance IT & AV Support Consultant | Website design and Hosting | www.AlFindlay.com | 01395 542500