AMD Quad Cores, Oh My

Lullabye_Muse writes "From engadget we learn that AMD has plans for putting 4 cores on one die by the time Apple has fully gone to Intel processors. Full story here. They say they could eventually have up to 32 cores with scalable technology, but most programs haven't even got the ability to hyperthread, so do we really need the extra cores?"

Do we really need the extra cores?

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be new here.

Do we need the extra cores?

[DarkSkiez]

Of cores we do!

I guess Intel is DOOMED

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that Intel is running with Apple, Intel must be Doomed (tm).

more cores, more heat

[howman]

4 cores on one chip... I guess they will have to call it the earth simulator as the temprature of the chip will be reaching that of the earths core.
At least it will open up innovative new designs like built in coffee pot as well as new uses for old technology, like making pizza pops in your old cd burner.

Re:Do we really need the extra cores?

[BlogPope]

Yes. One core for my program, 31 for the Spyware/Adware/Open Proxy.

Quad cores == quad compile speed

[strredwolf]

Anything to go faster for Gentoo's sake, the better! Anything to make compiles go fast!

Re:Short Answer

[Anonymous Coward]

You're clearly two characters too long. Even shorter answer: 1.

We need more power!

[Lokni]

1.21 Jigawatts!

Re:Yes, we need quad cores

[BlogPope]

Don't forget Gator, HotBar, and iFrame!

Language Barrier

[Lemurmania]

Need? What is this "need" you speak of? I'm having a very hard time understanding the post's question. If only the poster would use words I can comprehend, such as "want," "desire," "lust" and "pointless splurge."

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

What's on your CPUs?

[Animats]

• CPU 0: Windows Update
• CPU 1: Virus scanner
• CPU 2: Client for P2P network decompressing "Star Wars 7 - The Revenge of Jar-Jar"
• CPU 3: Useful work.

In other news

[eclectro]

AMD semiconductor manufacturer petitioneed the NRC for a rule change to allow small home use nuclear reactors, saying in the application "consumers will need it".

Also, they announced the acquisition of the frigidaire refrigeration company for an undisclosed amount, saying that "our product lines have a mutual synergy".

Re:Do we really need the extra cores?

[BlogPope]

640 processes ought to be enough for Anybody!

Re:Do we really need the extra cores?

[AndroidCat]

I'm sure we need at least 20 cores. Let's see... 9 cores for the mortal men, 7 for the dwarves, 3 for elven lords, and one core to rule them all and in the DRM bind them.

Re:Short Answer

[bob whoops]

You're clearly 15 bits too long.

Re:Do we really need the extra cores?

[MyLongNickName]

He must cry himself to sleep every night.... on a pillow stuff with Franklins.

I'd hate to be him.

Think Fast

[Doc Ruby]

The logic that says the scarcity of hyperthreading programs means that multicore dies don't benefit from lots of cores is wrong. Once in the hyperthreading game, more cores is better. So few hyperthreading programs might mean less reason for multicores, but once there is a reason, the more cores the better. It's like saying that most people don't drive, so there's no need for really fast cars. That kind of fuzzy illogic is completely common in the media. On Slashdot, where we'd like to think we can think, it's really irritating.

Re:Don't count the processes

[Pharmboy]

So spywear authors should write better code so their programs don't tie up the processor? :)

My guess is that most current spywear is not multithreaded due to universiality and size contraints, but as you state, we can soon look forward to better quality, bug free, multithreaded spyware soon.

Perhaps Microsoft should hire some of these guys. Anyone who can write code that allows hundreds of instances of a program run without swamping the processor is a better programmer than the current crop that is designing Office, for example.

Re:"No one will ever need more than 512 cores."

[KillShill]

i think you mean to say "no one will ever need more than 640 thousand cores"

Re:Must be a parallel universe you live in

[SilentOne]

Dual mice buttons?

Re:Must be a parallel universe you live in

[fr0dicus]

When he said nice he didn't mean nice(1).