 A single chip package that fits in a socket.

Each processor chip integrated with a no. of

transistors.

 ≥1 core (not much point in <1 core…)

◦ Cores can have functional units, cache, etc.
associated with them
◦ Cores can be fast or slow

 Shared resources
◦ More cache
◦ Other integration: memory controllers, high-
speed serial links, etc.
"The number of transistors and
resistors on a chip doubles every
18 months." By Intel co-founder
Gordon Moore regarding the
pace of semiconductor
technology. He made this famous
comment in 1965 when there
were approximately 60 devices
on a chip. Proving Moore's law to
be rather accurate, four decades
later, Intel placed 1.7 billion
transistors on its Itanium chip.
 A multi-core CPU (or chip-level multiprocessor, CMP)
combines two or more independent cores into a
single package composed of a single integrated
circuit (IC), called a die, or more dies packaged
together.

 A multi-core microprocessor implements

multiprocessing in a single physical package. Multi-
core architecture has a single processor package
that contains two or more processor "execution
cores," or computational engines, and delivers—
with appropriate software—fully parallel execution
of multiple software threads.
 Cores in a multi-core device may share a single
coherent cache at the highest on-device cache level
(e.g. L2 for the Intel Core 2) or may have separate
caches (e.g. current AMD dual-core processors). The
processors also share the same interconnect to the
rest of the system.

 The operating system (OS) perceives each of its

execution cores as a discrete processor, with all the
associated execution resources.

 Each "core" independently implements

optimizations such as superscalar execution,
pipelining, and multithreading
 A dual-core processor contains two cores and a quad-
core processor contains four cores. Dual-core
processors are the first step in the transition to multi-
core computing.

 Intel is already conducting research on architectures

that could hold dozens or even hundreds of processors
on a single die

 By enabling energy-efficient performance and more-

efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks,
multi-core processors promise to improve user
experiences in both home and business environments.

 Multi-Core is the future of computing

 Single-core processor

 Multi –Core processor

 Functional units
Superscalar is known territory. Diminishing returns
for adding more functional blocks. Single-threaded
architectural performance is pegged

 Data paths
Increasing bandwidth between functional units in a
core makes a difference. Such as comprehensive
64-bit design.
 Pipeline
Deeper pipeline buys frequency at expense of
increased cache miss penalty and lower instructions
per clock. Shallow pipeline gives better instructions
per clock at the expense of frequency scaling. Max.
frequency per core requires deeper pipelines

 Cache
Cache size buys performance at expense of die size.
Deep pipeline cache miss penalties are reduced by
larger caches.
 Increased computing Capabilities
Multi-core processors allow to complete today's
computing tasks more efficiently and will enable
entirely new computing experiences, and the
benefits apply to server and client platforms, as well
as the home and enterprise environments. Multi-
core capability can enhance user experiences in
multitasking environments, namely, where a number
of foreground applications run concurrently with a
number of background applications such as virus
protection and security, wireless, management,
compression, encryption and synchronization.
 Higher Performance
First with multiprocessor platforms and then with
Hyper-Threading Technology¹ (HT Technology),
which was introduced by Intel in 2002 and enables
processors to execute tasks in parallel by weaving
together multiple "threads" in a single-core
processor. But whereas HT Technology is limited to a
single core using existing execution resources more
efficiently to better enable threading, multi-core
capability provides two or more complete sets of
execution resources to increase overall compute
throughput.
 The digital home & Business
With ever-growing numbers of networked PC and
consumer electronics devices, will increasingly
depend on the multitasking capabilities of multi-core
processors to handle the demands of orchestrating
the different networked TVs, stereos, cameras, and
other devices and appliances in the household.
Multi-core is also taking gaming to a whole new
level, and will also make multiparty gaming
ubiquitous. Tomorrow's computers will be powerful
enough to run multiparty gaming and collaboration
on their own.
 Quality software development
Leading software vendors and corporate
developers to enable multithreaded code that can
take full advantage of the increased capabilities of
multi-core processors. As a result, we've established
extensive multithreading tools, education resources,
and experience-based technical expertise that have
helped drive thread-optimization across a wide
range of applications
 Adjustments to the existing software
In addition to operating system (OS) support,
adjustments to existing software are required to
maximize utilization of the computing resources
provided by multi-core processors. Also, the ability
of multi-core processors to increase application
performance depends on the use of multiple threads
within applications. For example, most current video
games will run faster on a 3 GHz single-core
processor than on a 2GHz dual-core processor (of
the same core architecture)
 Thermal management
Integration of a multi-core chip drives production
yields down and they are more difficult to manage
thermally than lower-density single-chip designs.
From an architectural point of view, ultimately,
single CPU designs may make better use of the
silicon surface area than multiprocessing cores, so a
development commitment to this architecture may
carry the risk of obsolescence.
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