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multicore processor

Multicore processors are a further development of dual-core processors and operate with several central processing units(CPU) on one chip. Multicore technology is due to the constantly increasing integration density, where more and more transistors require less and less silicon area. It is also a matter of computing power and power dissipation.

Generally, to increase computing power, the clock frequency is increased. When the clock frequency is doubled, the computing power doubles, but at the same time, the power consumption increases by four times. However, the doubling of the computing power can also be achieved with a second processor, in which case the power consumption only doubles.

With multicore, several complete processor cores are implemented on one chip and ensure higher processing performance, higher data throughput and more efficient utilization of the available transistors. Further additional performance increases are achieved by improving and extending the processor architecture. Since production can be relatively inexpensive, corresponding multicore chips can be equipped with many additional functions. Heat development also plays a significant role, as the computing power to power consumption( MIPS/W) is better for multicore processors than for simple processors. The difference between multi-core processors and multiprocessor systems is that the latter work with many processors that are connected via a communication network.

Core i7 central processing unit (CPU) from Intel, photo: techpowerup.com.

Core i7 central processing unit (CPU) from Intel, photo: techpowerup.com.

Multi-core processors come with 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 16 and more processor cores. They are known as dualcore, triplecore, quadcore, hexacore, octacore, etc. Examples of multi-core processors are the quad-core Q6600 and Q6700 processors from Intel. The most important features include the clock rate of 2.4 GHz with which each core processor is clocked, the front side bus with a clock rate of 1066 MHz and the extended instruction structure for processing graphics and video data. The execution units work with 128-bit wide registers, which allows them to execute complete instructions in one clock cycle and thus double the processing speed.

The development of multi-core processors is rapid and if we look at the last development cycles, we can see that the number of processors in multi-core processors doubles every 18 months.

Informations:
Englisch: multicore processor
Updated at: 14.03.2020
#Words: 343
Links: central processing unit (CPU), chip, integration density, silicon (Si), area
Translations: DE
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