What is better two cores or two processors. What does the number of processor cores affect? Multi-core processor. What is a processor core and multi-core

The number of laptop processor nuclei affects demand. Many buyers pay close attention to this characteristic, guided by the principle "The more nuclei is the faster and more productive laptop." But this formula is not always valid.

According to experts of the online store "Foxtrot", a powerful lot nuclear processor Reveals all the potential only when working with heavy 3D games and resource-intensive engineering / design programs. In other cases, the user does not feel a significant increase in speed, since the processor only works in the calex.

Productivity of 4-nuclear processors

The most productive is considered a laptop for games equipped with a 4 core processor. But among the 4-nuclear processors there is its own competition: some models of the CPU cope with their tasks much faster than others.

The difference in performance is explained not only by the number of cores, but also by other characteristics of the processor - clock frequency, technical process, the number of streams, the volume of cache memory and the frequency of the system tire.

Visual differences between processors with the same number of nuclei are demonstrated using special tests (benchmarks), the results of which are represented in the form of points. Maximum amount Points are gaining processors Intel Core I7 and Core i5. The processors of the AMD family are twice as fewer points.

The superiority of Intel products is partly due to the use of Hyper-Threading branded technology, which conventionally divides each physical core into two virtual. As a result, a 4-nuclear laptop that has a 4/8 architecture processor, parallel to 8 data streams, which has a positive effect at its speed.

Tip: when choosing game laptop give preference to models with core processors I7 or I5 supporting Hyper-Threading technology.

When 4 kernels are not needed

The number of processor core affects the cost of the laptop. Is it worth overpaying for the huge CPU potential if this power is not in demand?

The 4-core processor will function in the random if:

  • the user works S. simple applications and games that are not "sharpened" under a parallel calculation;
  • the laptop is used to perform simple tasks - work with office applications, Surfing on the Internet, communication in social networks.

Laptop with a 2-core processor Intel or AMD has several advantages over a more powerful laptop:

  • longer autonomy due to modest power consumption;
  • lower laptop cost;
  • work with 4 threads ( intel models Core with Hyper-Threading technology).

By the way: the performance of the laptop depends not only on the processor. A significant role is given to the video card and random access memory (Volume of at least 4 GB).

Hello everyone means talk today about the nuclei, but rather about their quantity. It's not so easy here as it may seem at first glance. It means that if you answer this way, then of course 8 nuclei is better than 4, here I think it is easy to understand why, well, more cores are more power.

But what's the matter. The 8th nuclear processor from AMD is cheaper than 4-rep nuclear from Intel. And Intel, to the socket 2011-3 there are no eight-core processors at all! Or is there? Well, it seems to be no! There are four-core, which support Hyper-Threading stream technology, so in Windows they are seen as eight-year. That is, you see, not so simple. Another important point is that the processor with the 8 cores from AMD loses in terms of the performance of the Intel processor with 4 nuclei. That is, you see, the nuclei are different to say so. Although I think that everyone already knows that Intel's processes are more optimized and more productive than AMD, there is no doubt.

So in general to think what is better? It is still important to understand better for what. Let's first figure it out with the processes, Intel has three main models, it is i3 (2 cores / 4 streams), I5 (4 kernels), i7 (4 cores / 8 streams). For games, you can take I7, this is quite enough for modern games, but also for future, it seems to me. I5 also quietly suitable, there are 4 kernels in it, it will pull all modern games. Yes, and I3 pulls many games on medium, or even on high, unless of course the video card does not pick up.

I can not give a certain answer that it is better than 8 cores or 4. If you choose among Intel, and if it is meant the nucleus, and not flow, then of course it is better than 8 cores. But see which there is a joke yet. In general, many nuclei is good, but what else is interesting. For example, you took i7 and play the game, everything is fine. But if you took I5, dispersed it, the result would be the same as if you used I7! And there would be a stock for future games. 4 kernels with high frequency, such as 4.6 GHz, cope a little better with one resource-intensive task, well, that is, the game than I7 for example, with a frequency of 3.8 GHz. All the same I5 is cheaper than I7

High frequency and number of nuclei This is not exactly the same thing. For example, for an office computer, you can take i5, everything will be fine. And you can take for example Pentium G3258, dispersed it up to 4.6 GHz, well, or a little less, and too, everything will be fine, although there are two kernels. Many cores allow you to perform several tasks at the same time. High frequency allows you to perform one task, but as quickly as possible. It is so roughly speaking, of course you can start a few programs ..

For office programs, I do not see the point in several nuclei. Better two, but at high frequency. For modern games, it seems to me, it is best that 4 kernels at high frequency. For all sorts of photoshop, resource-intensive programs are certainly worth taking I7.

By the way, I'm not sure at all, but the Socket 2011-3 supports the processors of the family only i7, that is, the most productive.

There is still some point, so you can take I7 by 1155 socket, well, as an example. And you can take I5 to 1151 socket. In principle, so roughly speaking, it will immediately seem that I5 will be much weaker. Yes, everything is true, but not much, the fact is that 1155 socket is outdated, but 1151, this is a new and modern socket. Therefore, i5 on a socket 1151 will be somewhere close near I7 from 1155 socket. And if I5 is still dispersed, then there will be beauty at all. What am I so? Kernel nuclei, but choose not only the number of them but also look at so much to say the modern core, this is my advice to you

Well, guys, these are how things are, a little Malash porridge turned out, for I never answered that it is better than 4 cores or 8 cores. So I will write again that Intel (except the 2011-3 platform) has no processors with 8 cores, there is a maximum of 6 nuclei and that is an outdated Socket 1366. The second, this is what is the full 8-core AMD processors that lose their power 4-reh nuclear Intel. Well, the most important thing: for modern games it is better to take i5 and dispersed it (accelerated models go with the letter K), the socket at the same time advise 1151. If you need to work in powerful programs, then better i7, it will be to say so with meaning. If finance is not much, but I want to play, then take i3. All family Core I *, it is generally productive processors like a cool.

Found the unpleasant problem of the limit of the clock frequency. Having reached the threshold of 3 GHz, the developers were encountered with a significant increase in energy consumption and heat dissipation of their products. The 2004 technology level did not allow substantially to reduce the size of the transistors in a silicon crystal and the output from the current situation was an attempt to not increase frequencies, but to increase the number of operations performed in one beat. Given the experience of server platforms, where multiprocessor layout has already been tested, it was decided to combine two processors on one crystal.

Since then, a lot of time has passed, a CPU with two, three, four, six and even eight cores appeared widely access. But the main market share is still occupied by 2 and 4-nuclear models. Amend the situation is trying to AMD, but their architecture Bulldozer did not meet hope and budget eight cores are still not very popular in the world. Therefore, the questionwhat is better: 2 or 4-core processorstill remains relevant.

The difference between 2 and 4 core processor

At the hardware levelthe main difference between the 2-nuclear processor from 4-nuclear - Number of functional blocks. Each core is essentially a separate CPU, equipped with its computing nodes. 2 or 4 such CPUs are combined with each other internal speed and overall memory controller to interact with RAM. Other functional nodes can also be general: most of the modern CPU individual is the first (L1) and second (L2) level, blocks of integer computing and floating-point operations. Cache L3, characterized by a relatively large volume, one and is available to all nuclei. Separately, you can mark the already mentioned AMD FX (as well as the Athlon and APU APU CPU a): they are not only the cache memory and the controller, but also blocks of floating semicolons: each such module simultaneously belongs to two nuclei.

AMD Athlon quad-core processor circuit

From user point of viewthe difference between 2 and 4 core processor It is the number of tasks that the CPU can handle over one clock. With the same architecture, the theoretical difference will be 2 times for 2 and 4 cores or 4 times for 2 and 8 cores, respectively. Thus, with the simultaneous operation of several processes, the increase in the amount should entail the growth in the speed of the system. After all, instead of 2 operations, quad-core CPU in one point in time can be performed at once.

What caused the popularity of dual-core CPU

It would seem that if an increase in the number of cores entails an increase in performance, then on the background of models with four, six or eight cores in two-cores there are no chances. Nevertheless, the global leader in the CPU market, Intel, annually updates the range of its products and produces new models of everything with a pair of cores (Core i3, Celeron, Pentium). And this is against the background of what even in smartphones and tablets on such CPU users look with distrust or contempt. To understand why the most popular models are precisely processors with two cores, several main factors should be taken into account.

Intel Core i3 - most popular 2-core processors for home PC

Problem compatibility. While creating software Developers strive to make it so that it can function both on new computers and already existing CPU and GP models. Considering the range on the market, it is important to ensure that the game is working fine and on two nuclei, and on eight. Most of all existing home PCs are equipped with a dual-core processor, so the support of such computers is given the most attention.

The complexity of parallelization of tasks. To ensure the effective involvement of all cores, the calculations produced during the program of the program should be divided into equal streams. For example, a task that can optimally use all the kernels, having allocated one or two processes each of them - the simultaneous compression of several videos. With games - more difficult, since all operations performed in them are interconnected. Despite the fact that the main work performs graphic processor Video cards, information for the formation of a 3D picture prepares the CPU. It is so that each kernel has processed its portion of data, and then supplied its GP synchronously with others is quite difficult. The more simultaneous calculation streams need to be processed, the hardest implementation of the task.

Continuity of technology. Software developers use for their new projects already existing developments exposed to repeated upgrades. In some cases, it comes to the fact that such technologies are rooted in the past for 10-15 years. Development based on a draft decade ago, cardinal processing for perfect optimization is very reluctant, if not at all. As a result, there is an inability of software rational use of the PC hardware capabilities. S.T.A.L.K.E.R game game Call of Pripyat, published in 2009 (in the heyday of multi-core CPU) built on the 2001 engine, so it does not know how to load more than one core.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Only one 4-nuclear CPU is fully engaged.

The same situation with the popular online RPG World Of Tanks: the Big World engine on which it is based, was created in 2005, when multi-core CPUs were not yet perceived as the only possible way development.

World of Tanks also does not know how to distribute the load on the kernel uniformly

Financial difficulties. The consequence of this problem is the previous paragraph. If you create each application from scratch without using existing technologies, its implementation will cost the fabrical sums. For example, the cost of developing GTA V amounted to more than 200 million dollars. At the same time, some technologies still have not been created "from pure sheet", And borrowed from previous projects, as the game has written under 5 platforms at once (Sony PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and One, as well as PCs).

GTA V is optimized for multi-core and knows how to uniformly load the processor

All these nuances do not allow to fully use the potential of multi-core processors in practice. Interdependence of manufacturers hardware And software developers generates a closed circle.

Which processor is better: 2 or 4-nuclear

Obviously, with all the advantages, the potential of multi-core processors still remains unrealized to the end. Some tasks do not know how to evenly distribute the load and work in one stream, others do it with mediocre efficiency, and only a small share of fully interact with all nuclei. Therefore, the questionwhat better processor, 2 or 4 kernelsTo buy, requires a careful study of the current situation.

The market contains products of two manufacturers: Intel and AMD, characterized by the implementation features. Advanced Micro Devices traditionally make focus on multi-core, while Intel is reluctant to take such a step and increase the number of nuclei only if it does not lead to a decrease in specific performance in the calculation of the kernel (to avoid which is very difficult).

An increase in the number of cores reduces the final performance of each of them.

As a rule, the general theoretical and practical performance of the multi-core CPU is lower than that (built on the same microarchitecture, with the same technical processorrum) with one nucleus. It is caused by the fact that the kernels use common resources, and this does not most effect on speed. Thus, it is impossible to simply purchase a powerful four or sixyuclear processor with the calculation that it will definitely not be the weaker dual-core from the same series. In some situations, it will be noticeable. As an example, it is possible to launch old games on a computer with an octalized AMD FX processor: FPS at the same time lower than on a similar PC, but with quad-core CPU.

Do I need multi-core today

Does this mean that many nuclei do not need? Despite the fact that the conclusion seems natural - no. Easy everyday tasks (such as web surfing or work with several programs at the same time) react positively to an increase in the number of processor cores. For this reason, the manufacturers of smartphones make focus on the quantity, lowering to the background specific performance. Opera (and other browsers on chromium engine), Firefox run each open tab In the form of a separate process, respectively, the more nuclei, the faster the transition between tabs. File managers, office programs, Players are not resource-intensive. But with the need to frequently switch between them, the multi-core processor will increase the performance of the system.

Opera browser each tab assigns a separate process

Intel is aware of this, because Huperthreading technology, which allows the kernel to process the second stream by the forces of unused resources, appeared during Pentium 4. But it does not allow to fully compensate for the lack of performance.

In the Task Manager, a 2-core processor with HUPER Threading is displayed as 4-nuclear

The creators of the games, meanwhile, gradually catch up with the missed. The emergence of new generations of Sony Play Station and Microsoft Xbox consoles stimulated developers to pay more attention to multi-core. Both consoles are created on the basis of AMD eight-year chips, so now the programmers do not need to spend a lot of strength to optimize when porting the PC game. With the growing popularity of these consoles - with relief were able to sigh and those who were disappointed in the acquisition of AMD FX 8xxx. Multi-core rehabilitate the market positions, which can be verified by the example of reviews.

In our progressive time, the number of nuclei plays a dominant role in choosing a computer. After all, it is due to the kernels located in the processor, the power of the computer is measured, its speed during data processing and issuing the result obtained. There are kernels in the processor crystal, and their number in this moment Can reach from one to four.

At that time "no longer time, when there were no four-core processors, and the two-cores were in the wonder, the speed of the computer's power was measured in the clock frequency. The processor processed only one stream of information, and as you understand, while the resulting processing result reached the user, took an inval amount of time. Now the multi-core processor, using specially designed improved programs, shares data processing into several separate, independent flows from each other, which significantly speeds up the resulting result and increases the powerful data of the computer. But it is important to know that if the application is not configured to work with multi-core, then the speed will be even lower than that of a single-core processor with a good clock frequency. So how how many nuclei in the computer?

The central processor is one of the most important parts of any computer, and determine how many nuclei in it is quite a satisfying task for a beginner computer genius, because your successful transformation into an experienced computer bison depends on it. So, define how many nuclei in your computer.

Reception number 1

  • A window opens from the left, find the "Device Manager" item.
  • In order to reveal a list of processors located in your computer, click on the arrow placed the left of the main points, including the Processors item.

  • Calculating how many processors are in the list, you can say with confidence how many nuclei in the processor, because each kernel will have even a repeating, but separate entry. In the sample presented to you, it can be seen that the cores are two.

This method is suitable for Windows operating systems, but on intel processorsHypertension (Hyper-Threading Technology), this method is likely to issue an erroneous designation, because in them one physical core can be divided into two streams independent one from one. As a result, a program that is good for one operating systemFor this, every independent flow for a separate kernel will consider, and you will result in an eight-core processor. Therefore, if your processor supports Hyper-Threading technology, refer to special utilities - Diagnostics.

Reception number 2.

Exist free programs For curious about the number of nuclei in the processor. So, the unpaid CPU-Z program, quite cope with the task you have. In order to use the program:

  • go to the official website cpuid.com.And download the archive with CPU-Z. It is better to use the version that you do not need to install on the computer, this version is the designation "No Installation".
  • Next, you should unpack the program and provoke its launch in the executable file.
  • In the main window of this program that opens, on the "CPU" tab, find the item "Cores". Here will be the exact number of the cores of your processor.

You can find out how many nuclei in the computer with the installed windows systemusing the task manager.

Reception number 3.

The actions of actions are:

  • Run the dispatcher using the right side of the mouse on the panel quickly launch, Usually located below.
  • A window will open, we are looking for the item "Run Task Manager"

  • At the very top of the Windows task manager, the "Speed" tab is located in it, with the help of chronological loading of the central memory and the number of cores is visible. After all, each window and denotes the kernel, showing its download.

Reception number 4.

And one more opportunity to calculate the computer cores, for this you need any documentation on the computer, with the full list of component parts. Get an entry about the processor. If the processor refers to AMD, then pay attention to the symbol X and standing next to the figure. If it costs x 2, then it means you got a processor with two nuclei, etc.

In Intel processors, the number of cores is prescribed by words. If there is Core 2 Duo, Dual, then the kernels are two if Quad is four.

Of course, you can count the kernel, going on motherboard Through the BIOS, but is it worth it when the described methods give a completely clear answer to the question you are interested in, and you can check whether you really told you in the store and count how many kernels in your computer independently.

P.S. Well, that's all, now we know how to find out how many nuclei in the computer, even four more ways, and what to use is already your decision 😉

In contact with

It would seem that the answer is obvious - of course, the four-nuclear processor will be better, because he has more cores, but there are situations when the numbers come out that two- and four-nuclear processors have almost the same power, and differ in each other, In essence, only the number of cores. How to choose the best option?

Nuclear problem

As always, it all depends on the goals for which you buy a computer, or the processor to it. The fact is that if you are on the computer, relatively speaking, listen to music, watch the movies, wander on the Internet and edit documents Word., then the difference in the number of kernels you are unlikely to notice - and two-nuclear processors, consider, cost cheaper. It is quite another thing if you play new games on your computer or work with new, "heavy" programs - then the difference will literally rush into the eyes, even if the processors are approximately the same in numbers, and you better take the four-nuclear option. Again, consider the factor that progress does not stand still - do you want to acquire what will be considered normal for a couple more years, or want to have a long-term perspective? In a word, for great needs, it is better to take the processor with four cores, but it is quite enough for users with more modest requests and two.