Multi Core Processor Design

A multi-core processor is an integrated circuit (IC) to which or more processors have been attached for enhancing performance, reduced power consumption, and more efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks (see parallel processing). A dual core set up is comparable to have multiple, separate processors installed in the same computer, but because the processors are actually plugged in to the same socket, the connection between them is faster. Ideally, a dual core processor is very one time as powerful as a single core processor. In practice, performance gains are said to be about fifty percent: a dual core processor is likely to be about one-and-a-half times as powerful as a single core processor.

Multi-core processing is a growing industry trend as single core processors quickly reach the physical limits of feasible complexity and speed. Companies that have produced or are working on multi-core products include AMD, ARM, Broadcom, Intel, and VIA. Both AMD and Intel have announced that they will market dual core processors by 2005.