Definition

Seeing the technical difficulties in cranking higher clock speed out of the present single core
processors, dual core architecture has started to establish itself as the answer to the development
of future processors. With the release of AMD dual core opteron and Intel Pentium !treme
edition "#$, the month of April %$$& officiall' marks the beginning of dual core endeavors for
both companies.
(he transition from a single core to dual core architecture was triggered b' a couple of factors.
According to Moore)s *aw, the number of transistors +comple!it', on a microprocessor doubles
appro!imatel' ever' -" months. (he latest % M. Prescott core possesses more than -/$ million
transistors0 breaking the %$$ million mark is 1ust a matter of time. (ransistor count is one of the
reasons that drive the industr' toward the dual core architecture. Instead of using the available
astronomicall' high transistor counts to design a new, more comple! single core processor that
would offer higher performance than the present offerings, chip makers have decided to put these
transistors to use in producing two identical 'et independent cores and combining them in to a
single package.
(o them, this is actuall' a far better use of the available transistors, and in return should give the
consumers more value for their mone'. .esides, with the single core)s thermal envelope being
pushed to its limit and severe current leakage issues that have hit the silicon manufacturing
industr' ever since the transition to 2$ nm chip fabrication, it)s e!tremel' difficult for chip
makers +particular' Intel, to s3uee4e more clock speed out of the present single core design.
Pushing for higher clock speeds is not a feasible option at present because of transistor current
leakage. And adding more features into the core will increase the comple!it' of the design and
make it harder to manage. (hese are the factors that have made the dual core option the more
viable alternative in making full use of the amount of transistors available.
What is a dual core processor?
A dual core processor is a 5P6 with two separate cores on the same die, each with its own cache.
It)s the e3uivalent of getting two microprocessors in one. In a single7core or traditional processor
the 5P6 is fed strings of instructions it must order, e!ecute, then selectivel' store in its cache for
3uick retrieval. When data outside the cache is re3uired, it is retrieved through the s'stem bus
from random access memor' +8AM, or from storage devices. Accessing these slows down
performance to the ma!imum speed the bus, 8AM or storage device will allow, which is far
slower than the speed of the 5P6. (he situation is compounded when multi7tasking. In this case
the processor must switch back and forth between two or more sets of data streams and
programs. 5P6 resources are depleted and performance suffers.
In a dual core processor each core handles incoming data strings simultaneousl' to improve
efficienc'. 9ust as two heads are better than one, so are two hands. :ow when one is e!ecuting
the other can be accessing the s'stem bus or e!ecuting its own code. Adding to this favorable
scenario, both AMD and Intel)s dual7core flagships are /#7bit.
(o utili4e a dual core processor, the operating s'stem must be able to recogni4e multi7threading
and the software must have simultaneous multi7threadi$ng technolog' +SM(, written into its
code. SM( enables parallel multi7threading wherein the cores are served multi7threaded
instructions in parallel. Without SM( the software will onl' recogni4e one core. Adobe
Photoshop is an e!ample of SM(7aware software. SM( is also used with multi7processor
s'stems common to servers.
An attractive value of dual core processors is that the' do not re3uire a new motherboard, but can
be used in e!isting boards that feature the correct socket. ;or the average user the difference in
performance will be most noticeable in multi7tasking until more software is SM( aware. Servers
running multiple dual core processors will see an appreciable increase in performance.