In defence of multi-core

So I can cancell the order for the 3-phase power line and 10KW PSU?

 

You can always get a SATA microwave or something...

Or use a SONY Bravia 50' as LCD monitoring screen...

 

A couple things to mention here, I've seen them mentioned in the previous pages, I just want to reiterate them and put them in one place.
Multiple cores are not new, and the topic that covers multithreaded programming is concurrency.

The problems are that, despite being given multiple opportunities to start looking at multitreaded programming for the masses, the industry has avoided the subject. Remember the dual core Celeron hack? There was a golden opportunity there. Much of the same discussion from that is being reiterated here. The difference is now we don't have too much of a choise.

There is simply too much to be said here, like where are the compilers to do all the tread work for me so I don't have to do it (the next evolution in optimising compilers)? What are the practical limits to thread level parallelism like instruction level parallelism before it?

In the end, the industry will learn to deal with it because it will be shoved down its throat. Not that I'm saying it'll taste bad, but it is like making fancy patries from scratch instead of simple premixed cookies. Both are tasty, one just takes a whole lot more work.

 

Yes! That's exactly it, the games industry is suddenly being asked to make baclava, where as it had previously only been required to bake the kind of pastries that come in a can.

Now if only we can get them to concentrate game play and story, rather than "realistic" graphics... not that this is likely to happen any time soon. . .

 

Again the point is that you don't need a multithreaded app to benefit from dual-core. You just need more than one app needing to do some work at the same time.

 

Wow fantastic article,

Kind of feel let down by Intel with the kentsfield, they sure let the brainys out on that one!