Download - Dr. Gheith Abandah, Chair Computer Engineering Department The University of Jordan 20/4/20091
Multicore Trend Current Performance Improvement The Parallel Programming Challenge The Future
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Modern processor chips contain processing cores and levels of memory caches.
A multicore processor is an integrated circuit (IC) that has two or more processors for◦ enhanced performance,◦ reduced power consumption,◦ and more efficient simultaneous processing of
multiple tasks.
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Company Processor Year CoresIBM Power 4 2001 2
Power 5 2003 2
Power 6 2008 2
Cell 2006 9
Sun UltraSPARC T2 2007 8
Intel Core 2 Duo 2006 2
Itanium 2 Duo 2006 2
Core 2 Quad 2007 4
AMD Athlon 2005 2
Opteron Quad 2006 4
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Multicore Trend Current Performance Improvement The Parallel Programming Challenge The Future
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Multicore Trend Current Performance Improvement The Parallel Programming Challenge The Future
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All modern computers are parallel computers, often with 2 or more processors.
Most user applications are serial applications that use one processor.
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If one core is going to do all your work, why would you buy new processors with more cores?
Processor manufacturing companies are:◦ Promoting parallel programming by providing
tools and training.◦ Supporting research for innovative ways to
utilize the multiple cores.
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Parallel programming is harder than normal programming because it involves:◦ Additional techniques◦ Problem partitioning◦ Synchronization◦ Access control◦ …
90% of programmers don’t do parallel programming.
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Multicore Trend Current Performance Improvement The Parallel Programming Challenge The Future
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Research on better semiconductor materials to build smaller, faster, and cooler transistors.
Fine power management. Keep tweaking the cores for more
performance optimizations. Multiple cores are here to stay. More and larger caches. Compilers that generate parallel threads
automatically.
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