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Dual-Core Processors Are Coming!
By Timothy Everingham, Member of TUGNET, California
teveringham@acm.org
www.tugnet.org

Both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are screaming, “Dual-Core Processors are Coming.” They say they are the future of microprocessors for computers. With both companies planning to introduce these processors in the next few months it is important to understand the significance of this development.

So what is a dual-core processor? Basically it is two microprocessors on the same integrated circuit or chip. Having more than one processor in a computer has been around for a long time. It is normal for servers to have them. Multiprocessor workstations (high end desktops) are used mostly for scientific, engineering and digital content creation for TV and movies. Dual-core is not Intel's hyperthreading that is on its Pentium 4s, which lets the operating system think it has two processors rather than one. In a dual-core processor there are two actual processors, each one having its own L1 & L2 caches.

Why are we going to dual-core processors? One of the main reasons is heat. The higher a processor's clock speed, the more heat it produces. The 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 did have heat problems. Of course what we have been doing is just put more than one processor on a motherboard to increase performance beyond what you can get with a single processor (The general rule has been that adding a second processor improves computer speed by 60% over a single processor of the same speed). However, to make this more cost effective, similar, use less space, and reduce power requirements putting two processors together on one chip is better. This is especially true in the desktop and notebook markets. As we move to high-definition TV resolution video on computers the need for the average computer to have very high processing speed will appear, leading to dual-core processor computers being dominant a few years from now. But can you upgrade your current system to a dual-core processor? If you have an AMD socket 939 motherboard you can upgrade to an AMD Athlon 64 dual-core processor with only a BIOS upgrade. The same is true for AMD Opteron socket 940 motherboards for Opteron dual-core processors. Intel said last fall that some Intel LGA 775 motherboards would be able to use their dual-core processors, called “Pentium D”, but they now say the first generation of them will have to use a modified LGA 775 socket. This of course means getting a new motherboard.

For an application program to take advantage of multiprocessor systems both the operating system and the particular application you are running have to have the ability to use more than one processor (multi-threaded program). If the operating system is able to take advantage of more than one processor, but the applications you are running are not; you may get different applications running on different processors, but each will only use one processor. Windows 98 & ME are designed for only one processor, so they can only use one processor even though there are two processors on one chip, real or virtual. Windows XP Home can use only one processor chip, but up to two processors on that chip. Windows XP Professional is designed to use up to 2 processor chips and up to 2 processors on each chip. Novell's SUSE Linux is already ready for dual core processors, and Red Hat Linux soon will be. Both are multithreaded and multiprocessor chip operating systems.

Most current multithreaded application programs are mid-high end scientific, engineering, CAD/CAM and digital content creation programs. This includes video editing and 2D and 3D animation and image creation/editing programs. However there are some home applications that already have this multi-treading capability, such as the Adobe Premiere Elements video-editing program. The first programs for the home user to go multithreading should be content creation/editing, multimedia, and games. There seems to be an expectation by Intel that the transition over to most programs being multithreaded will be three years from now. However, some software companies base the licensing fees of some or all of their programs by the number of processors using the program. The question then becomes will software companies start charging licensing fees per processor core on the current per processor chip? Right now it looks like the trend says no. Microsoft has already said for its programs that are licensed on a per processor basis it will continue doing so and not go to a per processor core basis. Also to consider in upgrading both Intel and AMD systems you may have software you have to activate that logs the system components. Upgrading processors and motherboards can cause these programs to say that this is now a new computer you are running the program on, which you are not authorized to do, and refuse to run. This could include your operating system. Check with your program's publisher/manufacturer to see what their policy on this is. Home and office use policies effectively have been known to be different.

So when will these marvelous dual-core processors appear? For Intel it will be the second quarter of 2005. For AMD it will be mid-2005 for the high level Opterons and second half of 2005 for the desktop Athlon 64s. As normal the price should originally be high, but then drop significantly over time.

We are moving this year to dual core processors. They will improve the speed of computers, and reduce the related heat and power requirement issues. They will be originally for those high-end power users, but over the next few years they could easily become the norm. They will be in a computer store near you later this year.

Timothy Everingham is CEO of Timothy Everingham Consulting in Azusa, California. He is also Chair of the Los Angeles Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH. He is also part-time press in the areas of high technology, computers, video, audio, and entertainment/media and has had articles published throughout the United States and Canada plus Australia, England, & Japan. Further information can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~teveringham

There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author.  The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.