Dual and Multiple Core CPUs

This week is Intel's Developer Forum and much has been made of their coming dual-core microprocessors. Desktop, server and mobile versions are all in the works and coming very soon. I've always had a soft spot for multiple cpus and have owned a few duallies. The new chips are going to take all the pain out of it for us users, leaving us with the benefits.

What does it all mean? Well, faster processing. Even though the cpus are running less rapidly than a single unit would be, there are two of them and they'll be executing the longer instructions sets permitted by 64 bit addressing (which means more gets done with each clock cycle). Add in fast internal bus speeds (data transfer speeds between various components of the computer) and faster reading and writing hard drives (Serial ATA) and you have the opportunity for a really large drop in the time it takes you to do things. Only some things, mind you. Adobe's Acrobat Reader isn't going to open much faster. But if you're running Acrobat itself and rendering a large PDF, that will jump, in comparison to what your desktop today does with it. Microsoft Office won't open faster. But those huge spreadsheets in Excel will accomplish their calculations much faster. Depending on all sorts of variables, boosts in processing speed will be between 30% and 70%. Even the lower end of that range is impressive. Many of us have bought entire new systems in the past to get that kind of speed increase. Those that realize boosts near the higher end will think they've died and gone to Heaven.

Cd ripping, video editing, CAD and similar high-intensity tasks will show the most benefit from the extra power. But even if you don't do such things, you can benefit. And if you're one of those folks who simply surfs the Internet, reads and sends email and similar lightweight chores, there will always be single cpu systems available at a bargain price.

We aren't going to see double the work being done when we put in a dual-core cpu. It doesn't work like that. "Housekeeping" chores take up some of the increased capability. Even with the increased housekeeping load and the lowered clock speeds, everyone will get the benefit. Just how much benefit will depend on what you do and how you do it. Oh, and how much RAM you cram into the box. (Some things never change.) With a dual-core cpu and Windows XP Professional, I would calculate that the practicable minimum of RAM is up to 1 GB. No less, if you want to rock. Memory is quite cheap and adding it will pay dividends forever, so don't skimp on it.

Linux already supports multiple processors in it's desktop renditions. Just choose an SMP (Symmetrical Multi-Processing) kernel at installation and go. Windows XP Professional has excellent support for two cpus now and I expect that to increase. Mac OS X already has support for dual cpus and it's sweepstakes odds they will encompass support for dual installations of dual-core processors. Things will get much better in this respect, though, as time goes on. Expect optimizations to all three operating systems to make better use - possibly much better use - of the increased resources without any kind of user intervention. Previously, the user had to set things up carefully to obtain optimal performance. Windows XP Professional pretty much put paid to that and Mac OS X took it to it's present height. It just works. Expect more of the same, with the OS even optimizing itself not only for the extra processor but for the jobs at hand.

Applications will change, too. Don't expect the trend to bloated applications to go away, though. There are just too many programmers who feel free to use whatever resources their code needs with no optimization at all and without regard to user experience. But the good apps, like Microsoft Office, Open Office and many more will be optimized for the new environment(s) and we as users will be able to notice. Such optimizations will really make a perceptable difference. As the revised applications become available, we will really reap the benefits of the new hardware. Trust me on this.

There will be new uses for the increased power at our beck and call, too. Think of being able to transparently search and catalog your entire LAN! Current desktop search utilities seem to take a lot of horsepower. I've only tried two, but they were slow in function and ground reasonably fast systems to a near halt. But as home networks grow (think of large collections of multi-media files as an example) some good way to list what you have on the LAN and keep track of locations of files will be increasingly necessary. In combination with a file server/storage utility device, this type of search will become mandatory for those who otherwise would have file systems large enough to make manual searching prohibitive in terms of time and energy consumed. Let the machine do it for you. Already, I know users with a Terrabyte (1024 Gigabytes!) of files. As one puts one's whole life on her/his computer, this need will only grow more acute. Being able to find and catalog what you have is important and will be more so as time and file sizes march on.

The dual-core cpus will be a boon for us all.

Jack