What Is a Dual Core Processor?

If you’re computer shopping you’ve probably heard your fill about computer parts and peripherals. These days you hear a ton of talk about dual core processors.

Dual-core refers to a CPU that includes two complete cores for each physical processor. This setup combines two processors and their caches onto a single integrated circuit — that little silicon chip that acts as the brain for the computer. Basically, dual core processor simply means that a CPU has two processors sitting side-by-side on the same chip setup.

Keeping The Lingo Straight

Don’t get “dual core processor” confused with dual processor or multi core processors. Each of these is a different animal altogether.

Dual processor (also called DP) CPU systems have two separate physical computer processors inside the same computer body or “chassis”. In a dual processor system, both processors are normally located on the same motherboard although it is not uncommon to find two processors on two separate boards.

In a dual-core configuration, a CPU has an integrated circuit that contains two complete computer processors. Most of the time the two identical processors are built in such a way that they sit side-by-side on the chip together. In this setup each processor has its own built in pathway connecting it to the CPU’s front-side bus.

Multi-core is the most similar to dual core technology — multi-core is like an expanded dual core setup that allows for multiple processors.

Upsides of Dual Core Technology

Dual Core Processor

If you’re looking to boost your computer’s multitasking abilities, a dual core processor setup is the way to go.

Dual-core processors mean there are two complete execution systems in a CPU instead of just one. Each execution system comes with its own interface with the CPU. This means each computing core has its own cache so the computer’s operating system has a plethora of resources with which to handle multiple tasks at one time. Dual core processor technology provides an amount of speed in multitasking that even the most amateur computer user will notice.

Threading

To understand how dual core processors work we need to wrap our heads around the concept of “threading”.

A thread is really just a stream of data that runs through any processor on a given CPU system. Each application you run generates its own thread or even multiple threads depending on how that program works. With single core processor technology, multitasking is slow because a single processor can only handle a single thread at a time. Sure, the system moves back and forth between threads to make it seem like the programs are running concurrently, but really the CPU is struggling to keep up.

The big benefit of having multiple processors is that the CPU system can negotiate more than one thread at a time rather than compensate and work with individual threads. In a dual core processor setup, each of the two processors can work with a separate stream of data. If you’re running a system that uses a lot of programs at once, you will benefit hugely from multithreading. Web servers in particular have benefited from dual core processor setups, as they must run several applications concurrently and without interruption.

Hyperthreading

Intel has come up with something that industry types call Hyperthreading. Hyperthreading is not the same as multithreading, but is its own technology that is embedded by Intel into a single core processor that makes the CPU seem like it is running multiple processors. All Hyperthreading really is is a system that speeds up the rate at which CPUs can switch between multiple threads, which boosts the multitasking speed for low-level applications usually used by personal computers. Hyperthreading isn’t really effective for large applications or large numbers of concurrent applications, but will certainly speed up a home computer’s capabilities.

What is TLP?

Thread-level parallelism, or TLP, is part of the computer’s operating system or part of an application that allows for the running of multiple threads simultaneously. In order for your dual or multi-core processor system to be truly effective you need to run applications and an OS that supports TLP technology.

TLP means you can run parts of programs that are meant to be executed independently of other parts. If you aren’t running programs that are TLP supported, you’re not really seeing an optimized dual core processor setup.

Still, even without TLP-enabled apps, users that switch to a dual core processor will see some benefit if they at least switch to an operating system that supports TLP. If you run Microsoft Windows XP on a dual core processor system, you’re running an OS that is TLP capable. In this setup you can run your ubiquitous web browser along with any background applications like virus scanners or security programs all the while streaming a movie or album from the Internet without a hitch in your operation. The dual core processor system will handle all those threads of various programs running all at the same time and you’ll see a big increase in the system’s performance.

Clock Speeds

It is true that the higher the “clock” speed of your computer the faster the processor will be. Dual core processors make the process of speeding up the clock quite complicated. Since your dual core processors were designed to fit in the exact same space as standard single core processors, the clock speeds are not going to be the same.

Most dual core processors will run at lower clock speeds compared to single core processors. Most people seem to believe that a dual core processor with each processor running at 1GHz should equal a single processor running at 2GBz. This simply isn’t true — computer applications are just not designed to take advantage of multiple processors at this point. Until the software catches up with the hardware, unthreaded applications will always run faster on a single processor than a dual core setup. Strange but true.

People who use multiple applications will see the most benefit from multithreading, though some people will be happy with single core processors or hyperthreading. Most computer users don’t really need the power of dual core or multi-core processors, at least until the industry catches up to the technology.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 8:47 am and is filed under Computers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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