1.2.3

Multicore & Parallel Systems

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Multicore and Parallel Systems

CPU technology has moved on drastically and most now feature multiple cores. Some specialist computers use parallel processors instead.

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Multicore

  • Most computers (and smartphones) now use multicore systems.
  • Multicore systems are CPU chips that have multiple cores inside a single physical chip.
  • These multicore systems allow multitasking more easily as processing workload can be shared across the cores.
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Optimisation

  • Individual pieces of software also need to be optimised to take full advantage of multicore systems.
    • Google Chrome is considered to be optimised for multicore systems.
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Parallel

  • A parallel CPU is one that has lots of CPU cores (like a multicore CPU).
  • These cores all complete the same instructions on slightly different sets of data.
  • Parallel CPUs are made for processing large amounts of data very quickly.
    • A GPU is a type of parallel processor.

Jump to other topics

1Components of a Computer

2Software & Software Development

3Exchanging Data

4Data Types, Data Structures & Algorithms

5Legal, Moral, Cultural & Ethical Issues

6Elements of Computational Thinking

6.1Thinking Abstractly

6.2Thinking Ahead

6.3Thinking Procedurally

6.4Thinking Logically

6.5Thinking Concurrently

7Problem Solving & Programming

8Algorithms

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