Sander Sassen. Herdware Analysis 27th Jan 2005

Both AMD and Intel decided to pull another trick out of their hats now that the clockspeed game has hit a snag. Neither AMD nor Intel seem to be able to push processor clockspeeds much further without significant investments that probably don’t make it worthwhile to go that route.

With the cancellation of the 4GHz Pentium 4 and the Athlon 64 being the reigning champ in all but a few specific benchmarks the question now is who will be first out of the gate with a dual core CPU. But does it really matter? Would a dual core CPU running at 3GHz make much of an impact, equal 6GHz as the marketing departments will undoubtedly pitch it? Well, I doubt it, as there’s a few things that need to be firmly in place before anyone can reap the benefits of dual core CPUs, much like 64-bit computing AMD has been touting for the past three years.

In essence it comes down to the simple fact that most applications that we use today are not multithreaded, hence they can’t make efficient use of a dual core CPU, so the second core will simply be sitting there doing nothing most of the time, with the first core handling all of the load. You’d think that with Intel’s HyperThreading being a feature on Pentium 4 processors for quite a few years now more applications would’ve matured to take advantage of dual core processing. Unfortunately only a few applications are multithreaded and these applications aren’t the ones you’ll likely see installed, or used by, an average user. So you won’t see a speedup when running applications you use today, but rather you’re looking to upgrade in order to make efficient use of dual core CPUs, how convenient. At least the software developers will be happy as they’re able to sell a whole slew of new ‘dual core compatible’ applications again.

These applications however aren’t available today, even with the large established base of Pentium 4 HyperThreading processors, so it is very likely that when you buy a dual core CPU system you can’t make efficient use of it until the software developers catch up. Much like AMD’s 64-bit instructions on the Athlon-64 it isn’t until Microsoft gets their foot out of their ass and finally introduces the long overdue 64-bit version of Windows before we can make use of these. Expect a similar situation with dual core CPUs, but once all of these things come together, multithreading and 64-bit computing on both Intel and AMD platforms we should see some healthy improvements again. Will dual core CPUs and 64-bit computing finally rid us from the tedious processor clockspeed bumps we’ve seen over the past few years, let’s hope so. Just don’t start saving just yet, we’re still waiting for that 64-bit OS Microsoft promised us remember.

Food for thought

Comment to this article
There are a few discrepancies to this:

1) While dual core processors will not be completely promising until software is multithreaded to take advantage of this within one application, they will be functional right out of the box.
Like Hyperthreading, you can use Windows 2k and XP to designate what software has which quanta available to it, and it will be threaded accordingly.
This will allow you to divide processing resources among applications, which is typically known as load balancing... a method that dual and quad processor solutions have had for years.

2) Dual core solutions are only recieving leverage from one side- processor manufacturers.
Extended 64bit(remember, they're not pure, full 64bit archs) architectures and instruction sets have support from processor manufacturers and software developers alike.
While we might see the two technologies take off together, they aren't going to be sister systems for another year. They won't fully walk hand in hand until Longhorn is released, which has full native support for both 64bit extensions and dual core processors.

For anyone looking to upgrade, I ask you to heed my advice:
Unlike the Extended 64bit architecture AMD's Athlon has been sitting on for three years, dual core technologies will be available for use out of the box.
However, if you're not using specific software or trying to load balance two CPU intensive tasks(such as, playing a game while burning a DVD), it won't be in your best interest to upgrade right away.

I definitely agree with Sander in saying that everyone shouldn't get their hopes up.

Regards

Though im new to all this WCG software, i have the unique prospective of running a p4 and a 64 literaly side by side. When i first started up the 64 on the grid it went through the process like butter! like 40 mins for the first batch. next to it is my p4 and it runs the same as it does now and it seems a normal pace... the intresting part of this is that after a few batches the 64 sort of "Normalized" to the same pace (a bit higher mostlikely) as the p4. Now i dont know maby thats something the grid does where it sends bigger batches to the faster ones to get more work done or something.

All in all 64 Does work great in all this.

Assuming both your P4 and the AThlon 64 have been running about the same amount of time which has more points accumilated. To look at it a different way divide the total points from each device by the total runtime for each device in minutes this will indicate the total points returned per minute. It will be interesting see what it says now verses what it will it might say in a month or so, since I think the size of the work units tend to verage out over time. Where is our teams statistician - Dtype are you in here anywhere or was that Stares - help!!

Intel to Ship Multithreaded Pentium

Extreme Edition processor due out this year, to be capable of running four "threads" at the same time.Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Intel plans to release a version of its Pentium desktop processor this year that can run up to four software tasks at the same time. Called the Pentium processor Extreme Edition, the chip will include two processor cores, each of which will support Intel's Hyper-Threading technology, making it ideal for users who are running games or digital audio and video on their PCs.

Intel plans to ship the processor in combination with a new chip set called the Intel 955X Express, said company spokesperson Shannon Love. The chip set, which is code-named Glenwood, will include DDR-2 (Double Data Rate 2) memory, the PCI-Express interconnect, and support for Intel's High Definition Audio technology.
A dual-core Pentium without the Hyper-Threading technology is expected in the same time frame, Love said. Code-named Smithfield, this processor will be available in two separate chip sets, called the 945G Express and the 945P Express.

Naming Strategy
Interestingly, Intel appears to have changed branding strategy with this first of its dual-core chips. Instead of including a number after the name Pentium, as the company has done since the advent of the Pentium II in 1997, the multithreaded processor will simply be called Pentium processor Extreme Edition.

Intel decided that including a number after the Pentium brand name would have been too unwieldy, Love said. She said there were other reasons behind the missing digit as well, but declined to explain them, and declined to say if the Smithfield processor would follow a similar convention.
One industry analyst said he expects Intel to change naming conventions with its dual-core processors. "They've changed their branding strategy with every major architecture change in the past," said Dean McCarron, principal analyst with Mercury Research in Cave Creek, Arizona. "It would be reasonable to expect that dual-core gets some brand flavor of its own."

Intel is now using so many terms to modify the names of its processors that it may make sense to drop the numeral altogether, which McCarron called the "least descriptive" part of an Intel processor name. But he cautioned against attributing too much significance to the Pentium processor Extreme Edition nomenclature. "With it now showing up on the label of one really low-volume specialty product, I guess I wouldn't read too much into that."

Initial versions of the dual-core Pentiums have now been manufactured, and Intel expects to deliver both products, along with their respective chipsets, by the end of June, Love said.

Background
Intel's decision to add a Hyper-Threading Pentium processor to its road map comes four months after the company shelved plans to deliver a 4-GHz single-core Pentium processor, which had been expected in early 2005. At the time, the chip maker explained the decision by saying it planned to instead focus on other priorities, like delivering multicore capabilities to its upcoming processors.

Though Intel's first dual-core chips are only starting to emerge, they will dominate the company's product line by 2006. Dual-core chips will account for more than 80 percent of the server chips and 70 percent of the Pentium desktop and mobile processors sold by the chip maker next year, Intel predicts.

Intel is expected to ship a 64-bit version of its single-core Pentium, called the 6XX, within the next two months. After that, however, the company has no other publicly announced single-core chips on the Pentium road map, Love said.