CPU question?

Question

why were dual processors made and was it because single processors peaked out in terms of speed and performance?

Answer 1

I recall reading an article that stated this; basically, the limits have been approached with regards to the die sizes used to make the silicon wafers containing the millions of transistors for the CPUs.

It's obvious when you go cyber shopping or head down to the nearest CompUSA place for CPUs. The clock speeds haven't really gone anywhere for the past few years. Compare that to the rapid gains the original Pentium had up until the PIII. Like Gordon Moore predicted, the chip speeds were at least doubling every 18 months. Obviously, that's not the case anymore.

I think the dual core chips are cool, but the facts are in the numbers. There's defintely a bottleneck for Intel and AMD to contend with; otherwise, we should have 7GHz CPUs on the market right now. Also, if it were easy for the big boys to ramp up the clock speeds as they had with their earlier chips it wouldn't be unwordly to see two 7GHz cores on one PGA. The thing is, chips like that don't exist.

Answer 2

Today's demanding high-end software requires the need for dual processors. Although the single processors will do as well, why not use a dual processor since its more efficient.

Then again, if someone created it, someone may as well put it to use.

An example is the xbox 360 which use dual processors, without that, the processing time required might be sluggish.

Answer 3

the first answer has been the most accurate thus far...dual core processors are almost useless unless your running software that takes advantage of it...most software the common home office user comes across wont see much difference in a dual core and single core. the answer to your question is really complex but in a word "no" they didnt make dual core CPUS because single processors peaked, they arent moving forward as incrementaly as before, but its mostly attributed to the heat dissipation from smaller proccessor gates.

So the answer is no. they made dual Core Processors and Xeon technology for Servers that were facing peak loads that needed an affordable solution to continue doing business... then once they realized single core/cpu technology would overshadow it in a year they decided to market it as something completely differerent to recoup R&D costs.

Answer 4

Because there is just so much you can put on a single microchip. As you go smaller and smaller, transistors become just crystals of a few atoms. Here you begin having large imprecisions and may fall into quantum effects.

Moore's Law states that the number of transistors in a processor doubles every 24 months. Thus, to continue trends. You would need to add more cores to your circuit.

Answer 5

Single processors didn't peak out but it is cheaper to get two slower chips than to get one fast chip.

Answer 6

Its like traffic. 2 lanes are better than one. Traffic flows faster.
Single cpus process 1 thread at a time, duals 2.

Answer 7

When cpu's get over a certain speed they get too hot. By using more than one more power is possible without the heat.