Dual Core Computing: Part 1
Techtree Test Labs, Jul 19, 2005 2023 hrs IST
Computing pioneers have seen the need for multi-core processors ever since the advent of multitasking...
A Core or Two!
Computing pioneers have seen the need for multi-core processors ever since the advent of multitasking, but due to the lethargy of chip makers, and their flawed strategy of making faster, yet singular architecture based CPUs, the true multitasking revolution has been held back far too long. But then, better late than never - even though the reasons for going multi-core now may be a lot different from those in the early days.
The Hypertasking Future
Multitasking allows more than one task to run on the PC at the same time. A PC's productivity has gone up noticeably over the years as more efficient operating systems and applications are developed specifically to utilize multi-tasking capabilities of a computer.
Everything from productivity tools, basic apps such as internet browsers, email apps, and tiny applets like search, reminders, etc. have become inherently more accessible and usable as they can now all run at the same point in time. These applications are of a very different nature, as they don't need much computer resources when you're actually using them and almost none when they're in the background.
In the current scenario, with the software industry gaining pace everyday, there isn't any dearth of applications for users to play with. Even the operating systems themselves, for instance, are being designed to enhance a user's experience in various ways by having more things at hand at any given time (a perfect example of this would be Mac OS X's Dashboard widgets). An OS can very effectively juggle the hardware resources between these apps.
But these are all low-resource apps. What about the really heavy ones? As of now, there are a fair bit of high-performance singular tasks a PC can do very well, examples of this being gaming, video recording and playback, content creation applications like Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, or for that matter, encoding and decoding audio, video and data (Zip, MP3, or DiVX). The moment you asked the PC to execute two of these tasks together, it would just crawl and crawl until you realized there was no point in running both the apps together, and shut one of them down.
Worse, in recent times, many of these "singular" applications have become passive tasks, which have become an inherent function of our PC. If you have a PC that also doubles up as a DVR, it's certain that as of now, it crawls, maybe even dies when it's actually recording something in the background, and you're trying to sort your photos, or even worse, play a game.
That's a disturbing trend, as this kind of application usage is going to be the basis of the PC becoming the hub of all communications and applications in the Digital Home of the future. If it can't run these "Hypertasks" together, it can't do what it takes to be the center of your life.
USER COMMENTS
E6600 is the best....... u can overclock and do whatever with it./....
by vijay, delhi, on Dec 01, 2006 12:47 AM, Report abuse
Go for dual core. I recommend AMD Athlon X2
by Deepz, Bangalore, on Mar 10, 2007 01:51 PM, Report abuse
AMD Athlon64 X2 FX range of processors,that can also beatdown latest range of Core2 Duo processor offered by intel.
by Circuit163, kolkata, on Sep 20, 2007 02:27 PM, Report abuse
i chagning my motherboard of my computer which motherboard shall i take
by vikas, belgaum, on Aug 19, 2007 08:11 PM, Report abuse Reply
hi yawl.. man all this is getting so borin... lets settle it.. everyone here are talkin abt enthusisasts and the others.. who dont understand what they r really buying.. alright background first.. i've owned amd & intel processors .. quite recently i upgraded to an e6700 core 2 duo.. i dint sell my old one which is an amd 4800+ x2.. all those who say amd sucks are quite right after a lot of comparisons.. ps i knw e6700 is faster than the 4800+ ..so i even tested it with a e6600 and e4300 ... guess what ..intel overpowers the damn amd thing by benchmarks u wuldnt waste time on counting.. coz u'd be working as slow as an amd.. it's a proven fact 1st of all that intel has lower core temperatures allowing the proc to b most of the time at it's optimum performance.. temps not the only thing.. the overall design and the fact tha tthey r such good overclockers ..it's like when they get out of the factory.. they still have the potential to run atleast 30-40% faster.. whereas the amd processors seem to b already at their max.. at stck levels.. u rarely see amd go over 20% without getting bsod errors.. . overall ..i'd love to list my actual pc .. config here.. for those people who think i'm biased towards intel.. it's just that no matter what hardware i choose.. it must b a higher performer.. and stable for long periods of tym.. for now bcoz of the c2d's intel @ no. 1 .. even the amd 6000 series processor.. top of the line in this comparison isnt quite able to beat an e6600.. fuhget getting close to e6800/6700.. they beat it like babies..
by Aayush, Mumbai, on Jul 24, 2007 02:21 AM, Report abuse Reply
AMD IS THE WORST. YOUR REVIEW IS TOTALLY WRONG BECAUSE I HAVE TESTED BOTH AND INTEL IS MUCH FASTER THAN THE X2.east or west intel is the best
by Pranav, bangalore, on Mar 22, 2006 06:59 PM, Report abuse Reply
Intel is worst. intel duo core is very worst. because i tested. It is working a normal processor. dont thing blind. go benckmark system for performence test. Benchmark softwares will deside which is worst ok........ AMD is always best. Iam using AMD family since 7 years. I am feeling very better for AMD. becasue Iam a 3D graphics animator. Iam using Maya & 3D Max. ok..........
by Prasad, Hyderabad, on Jul 19, 2007 10:37 AM, Report abuse
In general and then specifically let me know which one of the following processors is best then others AMD, Intel centrino duo or Intel 2 dual core.
by Kalla Anshuman, Jodhpur, on Apr 27, 2007 08:56 PM, Report abuse Reply
Hai I want to buy a processor . want to buy a PC for 3D Designing application like Inventor, Pro-E etc. can anyone help me to decide between Intel & AMD processor.
by salman, Hyderabad, on Apr 13, 2007 08:33 PM, Report abuse Reply
hi i would like to know whic is the best processor in market compared to price n perfomance intel dual core ,amd64bit 3000 or x2
by rajith, blore, on Jul 26, 2006 11:44 AM, Report abuse Reply
by santosh, Mumbai, on Aug 12, 2006 01:39 PM, Report abuse
we all know that in a processor there are millions of transistors. On that basis, in AMD processor, transistors are placed with very little gaps between them as a result AMD processors produce more heat than that of intel.
by RAHUL, KOLKATA, on Jul 20, 2006 12:51 PM, Report abuse Reply
I would like to know compatible motherboard for AMD 64 3800+ and also would like to know whether I can go for the DDR2 RAM or DDR RAM
by Mahaveer, Bangalore, on Jul 17, 2006 06:20 PM, Report abuse Reply
hai everyone i have been using amd athlon xp for past 3 years i am absolutely satisfied by its performance. i can any new application or software or game on it without worrying abt the specification(as in intel where u have to check for the processor like p3 or p4). and he i need not sell my pc to upgrade it for more than 2 years from now unlike petium where u need to go on with upgrading ur pc
by VAK, HYDERABAD, on Jul 02, 2006 09:36 AM, Report abuse Reply
i want basic hint for which motherboard is supporting to which processor
by jitendra, banglore, on Jun 23, 2006 07:01 PM, Report abuse Reply
I want to buy a PC for 3D Designing application like Inventor, Pro-E etc. can anyone help me to decide between Intel & AMD processor.
by sanjay, thane, on Jun 21, 2006 11:22 AM, Report abuse Reply
whats the price for Intel P D 805 + Intel Motherboard with 1000 Mhz FSB + 1 GB RAM
by sriram, palakkad, on Jun 16, 2006 01:22 PM, Report abuse Reply
by melvin, mumbai, on Jun 15, 2006 06:09 PM, Report abuse Reply
Hi, iam a Computer Fancist. Can u pls tell me where i can get the latest computer parts price on the Web?
by TOMINDYA, Bangalore, on Jun 09, 2006 03:22 PM, Report abuse Reply
what are the prices of intel d pls tell me
by vijay kumar, delhi, on May 15, 2006 03:42 PM, Report abuse Reply
Intel P D 2.66 Ghz 805 Dualcore Processor -Price : Rs. 5750/- Intel P D 2.8 Ghz 820 Dualcore Processor -Price : Rs. 11550/- Intel P D 3.0 Ghz 830 Dualcore Processor -Price : Rs. 15750/-
by mukand, Bangalore, on May 31, 2006 02:11 AM, Report abuse
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core Processor -Price : Rs. 17500/- AMD ATHLON 64 X2 4200+ Dual Core Processor -Price : Rs. 19000/-
by mukand, Bangalore, on May 31, 2006 02:20 AM, Report abuse
by Rahul Duggal, Gurgaon, on Jul 19, 2005 08:46 PM, Report abuse Reply
AMD Vs INTEL.. well ill cut all ur flames here n tell u one thing which all of yall know.. but no one is typing.. i guess everyone in this forum who has ever used a pc has owned a intel .. and it is the TRUSTED brand and the indian customer always buys things based on trust.. like MARUTI for ex.. we all know there r better cars out there.. but when we trust something we just BUY it.. lol.. im using a amd system right now and trust me id never go back to a intel.. coz when u compare the bang for the buck... thats AMD . lol plus i could never live without gaming :D
by ZOHEB, MUMBAI, on Jul 26, 2005 03:47 PM, Report abuse
by RAHUL, bangalore, on Mar 22, 2006 07:04 PM, Report abuse
Well ! there goes the moral of the story again. AMD IS FAR BETTER THAN INTEL. But still one wonders is why INTEL penetrates better in the market compared to AMD. Maybe its high time AMD's International marketing team and strategiests redo their homework so as to strongly support and promote their ON THE HIGHER EDGE products.
by Nipun Trivedi, Vadodara, on Jul 20, 2005 11:55 AM, Report abuse Reply
Damn! you have a lot of forsight sir. i think they listened to you. ;) Cause in the month of september .. for the first time in history ... amd had a larger pie of the market share ..AMD captured 52 percent share of the retail desktop market!!!
by Saud Hakim, Vadodara, on Nov 20, 2005 07:22 PM, Report abuse
WHO said so. i have bench marked both of them AMD is only fit for gaming NOT for apllications
by Pranav, bangalore, on Mar 22, 2006 07:02 PM, Report abuse
Pls suggest the better compatible boards for both the CPus
by Santosh, Mumbai, on Feb 23, 2006 07:58 AM, Report abuse Reply
i feel so much y i bought a intel processor
by kumar, chennai, on Dec 05, 2005 06:30 PM, Report abuse Reply
whats the price of the amd please tell me
by alder, goa, on Nov 30, 2005 10:05 PM, Report abuse Reply
iam planning to buy a PC but not able to decided which processor to take either INTEL penitum D or AMD athlon X2 .
by raj, bangalore, on Nov 25, 2005 06:21 PM, Report abuse Reply
hypertransport is clearly pushing AMD ahead of intel,and when AMD processors starts supporting Dual channel DDR-2 the total bandwidth will be much higher then current 7.2GBps.This should put AMD way ahead of intel.also current benchmarks show AMD core consumes 100 watts V/s intel 130 watts which means more heat in intel and increasing CPU clock further will only bring more heat related issues for intel.I think intel should invest in developing something similar to hypertransport.
by sachin, goa, on Jul 21, 2005 10:53 PM, Report abuse Reply
Yes AMD leads over intel when it comes to power consumption but u know what , intel is planning to roll out the dual core processor called intel monticeno which will consume 100 W of power compared to 130 of itanium
by A R, hyd, on Jul 24, 2005 12:06 PM, Report abuse
Hey Intel is allready out with something like that.It has launched the new processor codenamed cedar built on 65nm process.Its much more stable and consumes a lot less power than the 90nm ones.Yeah but it still can't match up to athlon 64 x2.
by Haxxor, vashi, on Oct 11, 2005 11:14 AM, Report abuse
Imagine the AMD 65nm processors... i think Intel is going to be scared.
by Anonymous, Bahia, on Nov 23, 2005 08:10 PM, Report abuse
AMD Vs INTEL.. well ill cut all ur flames here n tell u one thing which all of yall know.. but no one is typing.. i guess everyone in this forum who has ever used a pc has owned a intel .. and it is the TRUSTED brand and the indian customer always buys things based on trust.. like MARUTI for ex.. we all know there r better cars out there.. but when we trust something we just BUY it.. lol.. im using a amd system right now and trust me id never go back to a intel.. coz when u compare the bang for the buck... thats AMD . lol plus i could never live without gaming :D
by ZOHEB, MUMBAI, on Jul 26, 2005 03:49 PM, Report abuse Reply
sell ur maruthi and buy a hyundai..... sell ur intel and buy an amd...... WAKE UP!!!!
by Dham, Bangalore, on Oct 20, 2005 08:13 PM, Report abuse
U know Iam AMD fan..I ordered for new AMD 939 socket based pc.It was unavailable.(1-9-2005). I had waited 19 days for the arrival.(AMD athlon939 3000+ and GIGABYTE GA-K8A480) Later. i took Intel P4 630 (Intel P4 3.0 Ghz,2MB L2 Cache and ASUS P5GL-MX) if u want features go for an Intel Based pc.but if u want performance go for an AMD pc.
by Arun Jose, Thrissur, on Sep 24, 2005 11:06 PM, Report abuse Reply
hi i have a question for you, in the asus site the p5gl-mx shows that it works with 1M L2 cache and doesn't say nothing about 2M CPUs, the combination you mention is exactly what i want to buy p5gl + 630 cpu 2m L2 will that work fine?
by daniel, montreal, on Oct 07, 2005 08:37 PM, Report abuse
What do u mean by more features in intel? amd is way ahead of the game man......
by Dham, Bangalore, on Oct 20, 2005 08:12 PM, Report abuse
Brand New Toshiba Satellite Laptop: Centrino 1.6 GHZ. 512 MB RAM, 40 GB Hardisk, CDRW+DVD Combo, 15.0" TFT, Bluetooth, WiFi ready, XP Home Edition with License, 1 Year International Warranty. JUST: 50,000 INR. Email: gaurav1980@yahoo.com
by Gaurav, Dubai, on Oct 13, 2005 03:43 AM, Report abuse Reply
did intel launch a 64 bit processor.and whats the the cost of it.
by krishna, hyderabd, on Sep 12, 2005 02:41 PM, Report abuse Reply
But I must say, (I think) AMD X2 will not rock, as it will be knocked out by CELL processors (when launched).
by Ayan Debnath, Kolkata, on Jul 20, 2005 07:39 PM, Report abuse Reply
You are thinking way into the future. Then we can speculate that EPIC processors will be the norm by that time knocking out Cell, or maybe photonics or maybe even quantum computing will come by then. I think the immediate future is all we can try to predict.
by Anonymous, Cochin, on Jul 21, 2005 10:53 PM, Report abuse
Thats crap. Cell is gonna be launched in Q3 2006 along with the mighty PS3. I dont think quantum computing is gonna rise up in a year... do you? Besides, this processor is so powerful that it is being considered for use by the US military for SONAR, RADAR and things like that.
by Anonymous, Cochin, on Aug 21, 2005 12:05 PM, Report abuse
And you think Intel or AMD would keep quiet? They've been the business for decades.
by Tarun Raju, Hyderabad, on Sep 08, 2005 01:39 PM, Report abuse
by suyashjain, mumbai, on Sep 02, 2005 07:00 PM, Report abuse Reply
Hungry for more info on multi-cpu's
by sonam, Faridabad, on Aug 15, 2005 12:12 PM, Report abuse Reply
Information interesting, I need some more info about these processors and architectures.
by Sudhamshu Chand, Ananthapur, on Jul 30, 2005 09:58 PM, Report abuse Reply
Very Good But Dont Know how it works
by Anvesh Verma, Jabalpur, on Jul 26, 2005 05:01 PM, Report abuse Reply
for AMD's upgradibility is so beautiful. if someone buy 939 socket mobo then he can go for Sampron, then AMD64, then AMD-FX, then AMD X2... like a marathon run. But for intel, "never think of 'upgradation', always buy 'new' ".
by Ayan Debnath, Kolkata, on Jul 20, 2005 07:29 PM, Report abuse Reply
OK, how many people do you know who actually do that? Why would a person get an FX or an X2 on an old motherboard? If somebody can afford an FX, he would surely get a newer better mobo at the time of purchase.
by Jack, KCE, on Jul 21, 2005 10:52 PM, Report abuse
There is a reason why INTEL rules more market share over AMD. As our own Varun revealed it in one of his editorial. Their ability to provide complete platform solution. AMD does not manufacture their own mainboard, and that's one area AMD lags behind. Even today there are no MoBos that FULLY taps AMD processor's power. in case of AMD, there are okay boards, good boards and fine boards... if you see the INTEL scenario, they create their own boards for others to understand and follow, and then you see amazing boards bombing market for Intel processors.
by Alien, z13-c, on Jul 20, 2005 01:27 PM, Report abuse Reply
Uh, in case you didnt read my comment on that article. let me remind you again, that those are the very reasons Intel loses out in the enthusiasts market and is also low in performance where the chipset is concerned. Do you have any idea of what the NForce 4 chipset carries, and why Intel has opened up to Nvidia for designing chipsets for Intel ... the Nforce 5 will be used for Intel processors aswell?? DO SOME RESEARCH before making tall claims and comments.
by MaxAxe, Noida, on Jul 20, 2005 02:14 PM, Report abuse
Alien, we pity thy lack of sane (and easily available) knowledge. Grow up and smell weed kido
by ralph, Mumbai, on Jul 20, 2005 02:32 PM, Report abuse
I pity your lack of sane knowledge. How much market share do you think the 'enthusiasts' make up? 0.01%? Why would Intel worry about a measly 0.01% of the consumers when they know they have 90%+ on their side? The modern world is all about economics. And money. And Intel rules in this regard, enthusiasts or not. You sound like those people who say art films are better than commercial films. Well, hey may be, but the Khans and the Johars and the Chopras make more money than the art filmmakers, and I don't think they are complaining about it.
by Anonymous, Cochin, on Jul 21, 2005 10:50 PM, Report abuse
hi all, as they both are not "open source hardware*" makers, we wont need to support these money grabbers. http://www.eedesign.com/ http://www.handasa-arabia.org/ http://www.opencores.org/ http://www.opencollector.org/
by praveen, cochin, on Jul 21, 2005 03:40 PM, Report abuse Reply
Await you test results of both the architectures.
by Chetan Vaidya, Mumbai, on Jul 21, 2005 09:04 AM, Report abuse Reply
AMD RULES. BUT PPL DONT EVEN KNOW WAT THEY BUY. PPL JUST ASK I WANT PENTIUM PC. IF U AKS THEM U WANT INTEL THEY SAY NO I WANT PENTIUM 4 PC HAHAHHA. DATS THE WAY IT IS. BUT IS IS FOR SURE PPL WHO R LITERATE BOUT PC STUFF HAV STARTED MOVIN TOWARDS AMD MACHINES.
by AIR, MANGALORE, on Jul 20, 2005 07:11 PM, Report abuse Reply
no doubt the athon 64 x2 rules.its great at gaming as well as offers good multitasking whereas the the pentium D has a severe performance blow when it comes to gaming
by godofwar, mumbai, on Jul 20, 2005 02:11 PM, Report abuse Reply
I Am impressed, Varun ji, wah wah, a true unbiased review, thats what I or any reader would expect from TechTree.
by MaxAxe, Noida, on Jul 20, 2005 01:49 PM, Report abuse Reply
AMD is not as popular as intel because of the indian market ... where a majority sell just some crap ( they really don't know anything about the product other than the name and that it can make up a computer) and also the people who buy this - saying "just get me a computer" and have no idea about the inner working and all that. Amd has the better developement team - without a question. Core DEC Alpha guts rule.
by Chris, Chennai, on Jul 20, 2005 12:05 PM, Report abuse Reply
Well, better late then never....so true for you TT. Many of the web-sites have done articles long ago (at the launch time).... good to see you do your own thing....or do you?? My take on Dual-Core...tho AMD X2 is very good with gaming...but Intel has a jackpot with much lower priced "D" Chips in the market.... AMD X2 system is simply too expensive at this point... and P-D overclocks as good as X2.... "+1 GHz" with good cooling :) so extra performance at almost half the price.
by Champion, Mumbai, on Jul 20, 2005 10:42 AM, Report abuse Reply
very good article....really impressive....keep up the good work!
by prashant, Mumbai, on Jul 20, 2005 10:35 AM, Report abuse Reply
Interesting, but still compare to AMD industry's faith is more on Intel ?
by Mehul Goda, Thane, on Jul 20, 2005 09:43 AM, Report abuse Reply
industry faith on Intel is due to the heritage Intel has..AMD only came into it's own with the Athlon,before it all of it's processors were cheap and lower performance alternatives to intel chips.Only now with the Opteron is AMD garnering the mission critical and business end users.
by Karthik Kumar, New Delhi, on Jul 20, 2005 10:33 AM, Report abuse
excellent review.. simple and easy to understand.. second part should be more interesting..
by Rajkumar, Coimbatore, on Jul 20, 2005 09:56 AM, Report abuse Reply
very interesting. waiting for a longer and better next part
by Aashish Ramdas, Bangalore, on Jul 20, 2005 09:52 AM, Report abuse Reply
Pretty good article. Waiting for the second part.
by Santosh, Mumbai, on Jul 20, 2005 09:03 AM, Report abuse Reply
".........less than half of that in an AMD Athlon 65 X2 systems......" athlon 65.......... correct that .
by rock, mumbai, on Jul 19, 2005 10:54 PM, Report abuse Reply
VIEW ALL LATEST
Hugo Boss Baby Steps Into The Mobile World
News > Consumer Electronics , December 02, 2008 1751 hrs IST
Another looker from the fashion brand in collaboration with Samsung ...
Rural India to Sustain Wireless Growth
News > Telecom , December 02, 2008 1728 hrs IST
Thanks to cheap mobile handsets and low tariff ...
Nokia N97: The Mobile Computer Arrives
News > Consumer Electronics , December 02, 2008 1703 hrs IST
Heavy on multimedia features ...
Beware! Trojan On The Prowl On Orkut
News > Internet , December 02, 2008 1530 hrs IST
Trojan hitchhiking on message in Portuguese ...
Facebook Connects to the Rest of the Web
News > Internet , December 02, 2008 1452 hrs IST
Enables more user control ...
Hai I want to buy a processor . which one is better whether the DUAL CORE or Hyperthreading.Please specify the Product number also. Plz Very urgent.
by Krishna kishore, Hyderabad, on Nov 13, 2006 01:21 PM, Report abuse Reply