Intel, AMD six-core chips mark an evolution.

Intel, AMD six-core chips mark an evolution for the desktop.

Desktop processor technology took a significant step forward this month with the unveiling of six-core processors by both Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Intel Corp., analysts say.

Intel on Wednesday took the wraps off its first six-core desktop chip, the Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, which it said can run at speeds of up to 3.33GHz. The chip is capable of running 12 threads - two per core -- simultaneously to boost performance, according to Intel.

Intel didn't disclose a release date for the chip, code-named Gulftown.

Intel rival AMD, which ships six-, eight- and 12-core server chips, is slated to ship its first six-core desktop processor, the Phenom II X6, later this year.

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Intel, AMD six-core chips mark an evolution for the desktop

Hi there.

Running many cores isn't always a great idea since the overhead of managing them becomes extremely large once the number of cores gets beyond a certain number -- you will get the overhead of the processor itself in having to manage the separate cores and of course the OS itself in software having to control the multi threading / processing bits and pieces.

On some older gear they were experimenting with a 32 core machine -- this actually ran SLOWER than an equivalent 8 core machine -- the reason was whilst internal calculations DID perform and execute faster around 35% of the OS was doing nothing except managing task interfaces and dispatch processing between the 32 cores.

You have to be very careful in stating a that a multi core CPU will be a lot faster than a single core one -- it can be but the gain is definitely NOT linear -- a 16 core CPU won't be 16 X faster than a single core one.

Cheers
jimbo