Programs & the # of cores they use

Discussion in 'Mac Pro' started by leftPCbehind209, Aug 25, 2010.

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  1. leftPCbehind209, Aug 25, 2010

    leftPCbehind209 macrumors member

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    #1
    As the debate continues re: which is better 6 vs 8 vs 12, I've read many times that more cores are better if your program utilizes the extra cores...

    Is there a list that shows the # of cores typical Mac programs utilize?

    1) If not, does anyone know how many Final Cut Studio 3, Photoshop, iMovie, mpeg streamclip, roxio titanium use?

    2) Theoretically, if I'm done editing a movie in iMovie and am exporting via Quicktime (and iMovie only uses 1? core), does it mean that I should be able to render in Final Cut Pro (suppose it uses 4 cores?) at the same time, without performance loss

    3) Extending #2 further, if I use Photoshop and some other programs concurrently too, and they are using an additional 4-6 cores, is that where the benefit of the 12 core comes into play?
     
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  2. Hellhammer, Aug 25, 2010

    Hellhammer Moderator

    Hellhammer

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    #2
    Final Cut is single core, only the compressor is multithreaded AFAIK. Some things in Photoshop can take advantage of the extra cores but I would say the frequency is still the most important. iMovie is single-threaded from what I've read.

    IMO the 6-core is the best deal due insane clock speed with decent amount of cores.
     
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  3. 300D, Aug 25, 2010

    300D macrumors 65816

    300D

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    #3
    In OSX, all programs are multithreaded. The question is; to what extent?
     
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  4. Transporteur, Aug 25, 2010

    Transporteur macrumors 68030

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    #4
    Just because applications are separated into various threads, doesn't mean that they can utilise the threads provided by the hardware.
     
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  5. Ryan P, Aug 25, 2010

    Ryan P macrumors regular

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    #5
    It is very complicated. Even in C4D, which is normally the poster-child for multi core, I've ran into some scenarios where you are stuck with it processing through things with just 1 core.
     
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  6. highdefw, Aug 25, 2010

    highdefw macrumors 6502

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    #6
    If you're a vfx/3d artist and know a little scripting, you could use compressor to render several instances of programs like Maya, Nuke, Shake, etc... Every core would be maxed out :)
     
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  7. macz1, Aug 25, 2010

    macz1 macrumors 6502

    macz1

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    #7
    There is no rule for Photoshop. While many artistic filters are single-threaded, there are some using up to four cores, while only few max out all 8 cores I have. Some examples:
    Gaussian blur: 6-8 cores, but smart blur: 1
    Shadow/Highlights: 4
    Smart sharpen: 3-7, unsharp mask: 2
    Hue/Saturation: 4
    Lens Correction: 1

    More core help sometimes, fast cores help all the time.
     
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