Which is better: Dual Processor or Dual Core?

[dartzorichalcos]

I wonder what is better or faster, for example, a 2GHz Dual Processor G5 or 2GHz Dual Core G5? I wonder if having two processors is better than having dual core. Sorry for such a newb question but it's something that puzzled me. I believe I didn't see any benchmarks for this.

 

[72930]

Most games are single threaded and so won't take advantage of dual cores

 

[spyderracer393]

I wonder what is better or faster, for example, a 2GHz Dual Processor G5 or 2GHz Dual Core G5? I wonder if having two processors is better than having dual core. Sorry for such a newb question but it's something that puzzled me. I believe I didn't see any benchmarks for this.

If you want to buy one, get the Dual-Core, as it has a better airport/bluetooth antenna, better location of power supply (top instead of bottom), and it is newer. not to mention, the dual-core probably has 8 RAM slots, while the dual processor probably has only 4.

EDIT: oh yeah, and the Dual-Core has PCIe, while the Dual-Processor has regular PCI, and AGP graphics.

 

[mikehokie]

The PPC is no where near as good as an Intel either so just get the dual core.

 

[dartzorichalcos]

I am not going to buy one, I am just asking. Thanks for the info guys.

 

[Schroedinger]

It's all about the architecture. As I assume you know nothing, no offense it's just always the safest assumption, I'll explain in plain terms.

The bottleneck in systems with multiple cpus/cores is always the bandwidth between the different parts of the computer. If you have two cores on the same chip, you can usually have info move between the cores quicker than if you have two chips, but the amount of data that can be sent to the chip from the rest of the system is not as high as if you had two chips (each with its own full bandwidth).

So, it all depends on what you're doing. If you're running a program that uses multiple cores and would like them to talk to each other, multicore is better. If you're running multiple apps that don't interact, then multichip may be better.

From what I understand, the advantages of the modern multicore chips is that they are trying to increase the total bandwidth to the chip so you get the best of both world.

Hope that helped.

 

[dartzorichalcos]

It's all about the architecture. As I assume you know nothing, no offense it's just always the safest assumption, I'll explain in plain terms.

The bottleneck in systems with multiple cpus/cores is always the bandwidth between the different parts of the computer. If you have two cores on the same chip, you can usually have info move between the cores quicker than if you have two chips, but the amount of data that can be sent to the chip from the rest of the system is not as high as if you had two chips (each with its own full bandwidth).

So, it all depends on what you're doing. If you're running a program that uses multiple cores and would like them to talk to each other, multicore is better. If you're running multiple apps that don't interact, then multichip may be better.

From what I understand, the advantages of the modern multicore chips is that they are trying to increase the total bandwidth to the chip so you get the best of both world.

Hope that helped.

That pretty much explained everything. Thanks.

 

[scottlinux]

In real world benchmarks for the Powermac the dual core just slightly edged out the dual cpu. But they are close. You can find PC benchmarks on this topic all over google, too.

 

[kwong2006]

BTW, on my school's Intel iMacs, we have a choice to shut down one of the cores of the computer, but on my SR MBP, I don't have that option. How do I get it (not that I necessarily need it, but I am just curious)

 

[EvilDoc]

BTW, on my school's Intel iMacs, we have a choice to shut down one of the cores of the computer, but on my SR MBP, I don't have that option. How do I get it (not that I necessarily need it, but I am just curious)

Where is that option ive never seen that?

 

[zap2]

BTW, on my school's Intel iMacs, we have a choice to shut down one of the cores of the computer, but on my SR MBP, I don't have that option. How do I get it (not that I necessarily need it, but I am just curious)

Oh...I forget how exactly...I google searched and you need to use the utility in developer tools

 

[product26]

the real answer is...

dual, dual core processors... best of both worlds

 

[spyderracer393]

Oh...I forget how exactly...I google searched and you need to use the utility in developer tools

CHUD Tools from the Apple Dev. Tools...(specifically, the Processor pref pane that it installs)