Dual-Core or Double Hype? - What Dual-Core Will Do
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To show off what Intel’s chips will be capable of in games, Naked Sky Entertainment brought a tech demo called Robohordes to IDF. The developers paid special attention to the physics of the game when designing it. The physics engine automatically stretches into four separate threads (the capacity of a dual-core system with Intel’s Hyperthreading) and run the engine at twice the rate of a single-core counterpart. The result is that the game becomes ultrarealistic, with things moving how you would expect because the expansive programming has space to stretch out. This may sound great, but the game is only a few months into development. Don’t expect it or anything similar for a while.
Now, if you are running two separate non-SMP programs on an OS that is aware of multiple processors, such as an updated Windows XP, it can run one program on each thread. If one program is putting a huge load on one processor and the other is barely using, it can’t balance this yet. Still, this is where companies are hyping dual-core technology, multitasking. Since the processor clocks are lower, programs will not perform as well when only a few are used, but the dual-cores will shine for people who always have four or so resource hogs running at once.
The question is how many people really run that many demanding programs? Programs that people use commonly don’t require the kind of resources that justify such technology. Granted the future is hard to predict, as programs add more features, software inflates with bloated junk that runs in your system tray, and Windows Longhorn will claim larger amounts of processing power. Still, the need for this is years off. Let’s take a look at how much programs demand now. As minimum system requirements:
- Microsoft Windows XP requires 233 MHz (recommends 300MHz)
- Microsoft Office XP requires a 133MHz
- Flash player demands 600MHz
- AIM just needs anything Pentium class
- Nero and Easy Media Creator both require 500MHz
- Firefox needs 233MHz (recommends 500MHz)
- Norton Antivirus asks for 300MHz
Sure, the minimum requirements may run the programs slowly or without certain features, but the point is that not one of those programs even came close to using 1GHz. These programs might be less demanding than specialty software like Photoshop and games like Doom 3, but these are really common programs that are most helpful when they multitask with each other and other software. Most common users don't use anything besides these programs (or don't use anything else enough to demand new hardware).
Next: So Who Needs It? >>
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