What is a dual-core processor

What is a dual-core processor

What is a dual-core processor? What does the concept behind a dual-core processor mean? In short, a dual-core processor is a processor core that has two identical functions on one processor based on a single semiconductor. In other words, integrate two physical processor cores into one core. Enterprise IT managers have also insisted on seeking ways to improve performance without increasing the actual hardware footprint. Multi-core processor solutions address these needs and provide stronger performance without the need to increase energy or physical space.

The introduction of dual-core processor technology is an effective way to improve processor performance. Because the actual performance of the processor is the total number of processor instructions that the processor can handle in each clock cycle, adding a core will double the number of units that the processor can execute per clock cycle. Here we must emphasize that if you want the system to achieve maximum performance, you must make full use of all executable units in both cores: that is, let all execution units have work and work!

Why can't dual-core products from vendors like IBM and HP be popularized because they are quite expensive and have never been widely used. For example, the size of the dual-core IBM Power4 processor with 128MB L3 cache is 115x115mm, and the production cost is quite high. Therefore, we cannot call dual-core processors such as IBM Power4 and HP PA8800 as the predecessors of AMD's upcoming dual-core processors.

At present, the application environment of the x86 dual-core processor is quite mature. Most operating systems already support parallel processing. Currently, most new or upcoming application software supports parallel technology. Therefore, once the dual-core processor is launched, the system performance The promotion will be rapidly improved. Therefore, at present, the entire software market has actually provided sufficient preparation for the multi-core processor architecture.

Innovative significance of multi-core processors

The x86 multi-core processor marks a major leap forward in computing technology. This important progress occurred at a time when companies and consumers faced with the rapid growth of digital data and the globalization trend of the Internet, began to demand more convenience and advantages from processors. Multi-core processors, compared to current single-core processors, can bring more performance and productivity advantages, and will eventually become a widely popular computing model. Multi-core processors will also play a key role in promoting PC security and virtualization technology. The development of virtualization technology can provide better protection, higher resource utilization, and more considerable market value in commercial computing. Ordinary consumers will also have more ways to achieve higher performance than before, thereby increasing the use of their home PCs and digital media computing systems.

The initiative to place two or more powerful computing cores on a single processor has opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Multi-core processors can provide an immediate, cost-effective technology to overcome today ’s processor design challenges—reducing the heat and power consumption that increase with the frequency (ie, “clock speed”) of single-core processors . Multi-core processors help provide superior performance for more advanced software in the future. Existing operating systems (such as MS Windows, Linux, and Solaris) can benefit from multi-core processors. In the future, when market demand is further improved, multi-core processors can provide an ideal platform for rationally improving performance. Therefore, the next generation of software applications will be developed using multi-core processors. Regardless of whether these applications can help professional animation production companies produce more realistic movies faster and more cost-effectively, or create a breakthrough way to produce more natural and inspirational PCs, hardware with multi-core processors is common Practicality will change this computing world forever.

Although dual-core and even multi-core chips have the opportunity to become one of the most important improvements in the history of processor development. It should be pointed out that one of the biggest challenges facing dual-core processors is the limit of processor energy consumption! Performance is enhanced, but energy consumption cannot be increased. According to documents obtained from the famous Tang hardware website, the thermal design power consumption of the code-named Smithfield CPU is as high as 130 watts, which is an increase of 13% over the current Prescott processor. Since today's energy consumption is already at a fairly high level, we need to avoid making the CPU a "small nuclear power plant", so the energy consumption of dual-core or even multi-core processors will be one of the important issues that will test AMD and Intel.

Regarding multi-core processors, from a global perspective, AMD ’s understanding of customers and the output of products that best meet customer needs are ahead of Intel, and this major progress has been planned since the 1990s , It was the first to announce the idea of ​​placing multiple cores on a single processor. Let me explain, dual channel is a noun about memory (what, you wo n’t even know what memory is!), Dual core is a noun about CPU

Dual-channel: Dual-channel memory technology is actually a memory control and management technology. It relies on the memory controller of the chipset to function. In theory, it can double the bandwidth provided by two memories of the same specification. It is not a new technology. It has been used in server and workstation systems for a long time. It only came to the foreground of desktop motherboard technology in order to solve the increasingly difficult memory bandwidth bottleneck problem of desktop computers. A few years ago, Intel introduced the i820 chipset that supports dual-channel memory transmission technology, which forms a pair of golden partners with RDRAM memory. The outstanding performance that it exerts makes it the biggest bright spot in the market, but the production cost The excessively high defect caused the situation of applauding and not applauding, and was finally eliminated by the market. Because Intel has given up support for RDRAM, the current dual-channel memory technology of mainstream chipsets refers to dual-channel DDR memory technology. The mainstream dual-channel memory platform Intel is the Intel 865 and 875 series, while AMD is NVIDIA Nforce2. series.

Dual-channel memory technology is a low-cost, high-performance solution to resolve the conflict between CPU bus bandwidth and memory bandwidth. Now that the CPU's FSB (Front Side Bus Frequency) is getting higher and higher, Intel PenTIum 4 has much higher memory bandwidth requirements than AMD Athlon XP. The data transmission between the Intel PenTIum 4 processor and the Northbridge chip uses QDR (Quad Data Rate, four data transmission) technology, and its FSB is 4 times that of the external frequency. The FSB of Intel PenTIum 4 is 400, 533, 800MHz, the bus bandwidth is 3.2GB / sec, 4.2GB / sec and 6.4GB / sec, and the memory bandwidth provided by DDR 266 / DDR 333 / DDR 400 is 2.1 GB / sec, 2.7GB / sec and 3.2GB / sec. In the single-channel memory mode, DDR memory cannot provide the data bandwidth required by the CPU and becomes a performance bottleneck of the system. In the dual-channel memory mode, the dual-channel DDR 266, DDR 333, and DDR 400 can provide memory bandwidths of 4.2GB / sec, 5.4GB / sec, and 6.4GB / sec, respectively. As you can see here, the dual-channel DDR 400 memory just meets the bandwidth requirements of the 800MHz FSB PenTIum 4 processor. For the AMD Athlon XP platform, the data transmission technology of its processor and Northbridge chip uses DDR (Double Data Rate, double data transmission) technology, FSB is twice the external frequency, and its memory bandwidth requirements are far lower For the Intel Pentium 4 platform, the FSBs are 266, 333, and 400MHz, and the bus bandwidths are 2.1GB / sec, 2.7GB / sec, and 3.2GB / sec, which can be satisfied by using single-channel DDR 266, DDR 333, and DDR 400 Because of its bandwidth requirements, the use of dual-channel DDR memory technology on the AMD K7 platform can be said to have little effect. The performance improvement is not as obvious as the Intel platform. The most obvious impact on performance is the integrated motherboard with integrated display chip.

The nForce chipset introduced by NVIDIA is the first to expand the DDR memory interface to 128-bit chipset, and then Intel also used this dual-channel DDR memory technology on its E7500 server motherboard chipset, SiS and VIA have also In response, actively develop this technology that can double the bandwidth of DDR memory. However, for various reasons, to achieve this dual-channel DDR (128-bit parallel memory interface) transmission for many chipset manufacturers is no easy task. DDR SDRAM memory is completely different from RDRAM memory. The latter has the characteristics of high latency and serial transmission. These characteristics determine the difficulty and cost of designing a dual-channel RDRAM memory chipset. However, DDR SDRAM memory has its own limitations. It is low-latency. It uses a parallel transmission mode. The most important point is that when the DDR SDRAM operating frequency is higher than 400MHz, its signal waveform will often be distorted Problems, these all bring great difficulty to design a chipset that supports dual-channel DDR memory system, and the manufacturing cost of the chipset will increase accordingly. These factors restrict the development of this memory control technology.

The ordinary single-channel memory system has a 64-bit memory controller, while the dual-channel memory system has two 64-bit memory controllers. In dual-channel mode, it has a 128-bit memory width, which theoretically reduces the memory bandwidth Double it. Although the bandwidth provided by the dual 64-bit memory system is equivalent to the bandwidth provided by a 128-bit memory system, the effects achieved by the two are different. The dual-channel system includes two independent, complementary intelligent memory controllers. In theory, both memory controllers can operate simultaneously with zero delay between each other. For example, two memory controllers, one for A and the other for B. When controller B is preparing for the next memory access, controller A is reading / writing the main memory and vice versa. This complementary "natural nature" of the two memory controllers can reduce the waiting time by 50%. The two memory controllers of the dual-channel DDR are identical in function, and the timing parameters of the two controllers can be individually programmed. This flexibility allows users to use two DIMMs with different configurations, capacities, and speeds. At this time, dual-channel DDR is simply adjusted to the lowest memory standard to achieve 128bit bandwidth, allowing DIMMs with different density / latency characteristics to be used. Work together reliably.

Desktop chipsets that support dual-channel DDR memory technology. Intel platforms include Intel's 865P, 865G, 865GV, 865PE, 875P and later 915, 925 series; VIA's PT880, ATI's Radeon 9100 IGP series, and SIS's SIIS 655 , SIS 655FX and SIS 655TX; AMD platform includes VIA's KT880, NVIDIA's nForce2 Ultra 400, nForce2 IGP, nForce2 SPP and later chips.

AMD's 64-bit CPU, because of the integrated memory controller, so it depends on whether the CPU supports dual-channel memory. At present, AMD's desktop CPUs only support dual-channel memory for 939 interfaces, and dual-channel memory for 754 interfaces. In addition to AMD's 64-bit CPU, whether other computers can support dual-channel memory depends on the motherboard chipset. The chipset that supports dual channels is described above, and you can also view the motherboard chipset information. In addition, some chipsets theoretically support memory modules of different capacities to achieve dual channels, but in practice it is recommended to use two memory modules with the same parameters as much as possible.

Dual-channel memory generally requires pairing according to the color of the memory slot on the motherboard. In addition, some motherboards also need to be set in the BIOS. The general motherboard manual will have instructions. After the system has implemented dual-channel, some motherboards will be prompted during power-on self-test, you can take a closer look. Since the self-test speed is relatively fast, it may not be visible. So you can use some software to view, many software can be checked, such as cpu-z, which is relatively small. There is a "channels" item in the "memory" item. If the word "Dual" is displayed here, it means that dual channels have been implemented. Two 256M memories forming a dual channel effect will be better than a 512M memory because a single memory cannot form a dual channel


Dual-core: With the recent launch of various new dual-core CPU products from Intel and AMD, the concept of "dual core" has gradually warmed up in the industry. Interestingly, although both are dual-core, Intel and AMD do talk about each other. Intel talks about dual-core to desktop, and AMD takes the dual-core server market directly. What is the difference between the two companies' dual core? The following is background information about dual-core technology for your reference.

Dual-core technology background

Dual-core processors refer to the integration of two computing cores on one processor to improve computing power. The concept of "dual core" was first proposed by IBM, HP, Sun and other high-end server manufacturers supporting RISC architecture. However, due to the high price and narrow application of RISC architecture servers, it has not attracted widespread attention.

Different architectures

The concept of "dual-core" which has gradually become popular recently mainly refers to the dual-core technology based on the open architecture of X86. In this regard, the leading manufacturers are mainly AMD and Intel. Among them, the two ideas are different. AMD has considered support for multiple cores from the beginning. All components are directly connected to the CPU, eliminating challenges and bottlenecks in system architecture. The two processor cores are directly connected to the same core, and the cores communicate at the chip speed, further reducing the delay between the processors. Intel uses multiple cores to share the FSB. Experts believe that AMD's architecture is more likely to achieve dual-core or even multi-core, Intel's architecture will encounter bottlenecks in which multiple cores compete for bus resources.


Different architectures of AMD and Intel

Dual Core and Dual Core (Dual Core Vs. Dual CPU):

The dual-core technology of AMD and Intel is also very different in physical structure. AMD builds two cores on a Die (core) and connects them through a direct-connected architecture for higher integration. Intel uses two independent cores packaged together, so some people call Intel's solution "dual core", think AMD's solution is the real "dual core."

From the user's point of view, AMD's solution can make the dual-core CPU's pins, power consumption and other indicators consistent with the single-core CPU. From single-core to dual-core, there is no need to replace the power supply, chipset, cooling system and motherboard, only You only need to update the BIOS software, which is very beneficial to the investment protection of motherboard manufacturers, computer manufacturers and end users. Customers can use their existing 90-nanometer infrastructure to migrate to dual-core based systems through BIOS changes. Computer manufacturers can easily provide single-core and dual-core versions of the same hardware, so that customers who want to improve performance and maintain the stability of the IT environment can upgrade to dual-core without interrupting business. In an environment with high rack density, the customer's system performance will be greatly improved by migrating to dual cores while maintaining the same power and infrastructure investment. In the same system footprint, by using dual-core processors, customers will get a higher level of computing power and performance.


What is a dual-core processor

What is a dual-core processor? What does the concept behind a dual-core processor mean? In short, a dual-core processor is a processor core that has two identical functions on one processor based on a single semiconductor. In other words, integrate two physical processor cores into one core. Enterprise IT managers have also insisted on seeking ways to improve performance without increasing the actual hardware footprint. Multi-core processor solutions address these needs and provide stronger performance without the need to increase energy or physical space.

The introduction of dual-core processor technology is an effective way to improve processor performance. Because the actual performance of the processor is the total number of processor instructions that the processor can handle in each clock cycle, adding a core will double the number of units that the processor can execute per clock cycle. Here we must emphasize that if you want the system to achieve maximum performance, you must make full use of all executable units in both cores: that is, let all execution units have work and work!

Why can't dual-core products from vendors like IBM and HP be popularized because they are quite expensive and have never been widely used. For example, the size of the dual-core IBM Power4 processor with 128MB L3 cache is 115x115mm, and the production cost is quite high. Therefore, we cannot call dual-core processors such as IBM Power4 and HP PA8800 as predecessors of AMD's upcoming dual-core processors.

At present, the application environment of the x86 dual-core processor is quite mature. Most operating systems already support parallel processing. Currently, most new or upcoming application software supports parallel technology. Therefore, once the dual-core processor is launched, the system performance The promotion will be rapidly improved. Therefore, at present, the entire software market has actually provided sufficient preparation for the multi-core processor architecture.

Innovative significance of multi-core processors

The x86 multi-core processor marks a major leap forward in computing technology. This important progress occurred at a time when companies and consumers faced with the rapid growth of digital data and the globalization trend of the Internet, began to demand more convenience and advantages from processors. Multi-core processors, compared to current single-core processors, can bring more performance and productivity advantages, and will eventually become a widely popular computing model. Multi-core processors will also play a key role in promoting PC security and virtualization technology. The development of virtualization technology can provide better protection, higher resource utilization, and more considerable market value in commercial computing. Ordinary consumers will also have more ways to achieve higher performance than before, thereby increasing the use of their home PCs and digital media computing systems.

The initiative to place two or more powerful computing cores on a single processor has opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Multi-core processors can provide an immediate, cost-effective technology to overcome today ’s processor design challenges—reducing the heat and power consumption that increase with the frequency (ie, “clock speed”) of single-core processors . Multi-core processors help provide superior performance for more advanced software in the future. Existing operating systems (such as MS Windows, Linux, and Solaris) can benefit from multi-core processors. In the future, when market demand is further improved, multi-core processors can provide an ideal platform for rationally improving performance. Therefore, the next generation of software applications will be developed using multi-core processors. Regardless of whether these applications can help professional animation production companies produce more realistic movies faster and more cost-effectively, or create a breakthrough way to produce more natural and inspirational PCs, hardware with multi-core processors is common Practicality will change this computing world forever.

Although dual-core and even multi-core chips have the opportunity to become one of the most important improvements in the history of processor development. It should be pointed out that one of the biggest challenges facing dual-core processors is the limit of processor energy consumption! Performance is enhanced, but energy consumption cannot be increased. According to documents obtained from the famous Tang hardware website, the thermal design power consumption of the code-named Smithfield CPU is as high as 130 watts, which is an increase of 13% over the current Prescott processor. Since today's energy consumption is already at a fairly high level, we need to avoid making the CPU a "small nuclear power plant", so the energy consumption of dual-core or even multi-core processors will be one of the important issues that will test AMD and Intel.

Regarding multi-core processors, from a global perspective, AMD ’s understanding of customers and the output of products that best meet customer needs are ahead of Intel, and this major progress has been planned since the 1990s , It was the first to announce the idea of ​​placing multiple cores on a single processor.