Eight Core CPUs May Not Lead to Performance Gains
Various tech news outlets are running stories related to Intel’s planned launch of eight-core chips later this year, and there are questions about precisely how much performance will be gained with these CPUs under current operating systems. Some in the industry are expressing the view that today’s consumer-level Windows and Linux-based operating systems simply aren’t designed to really take advantage of anything beyond quad-core chips.
Speaking as a software developer myself, I recognize the fact that multicore programming is hard, and I think the idea that most developers are still designing for single cores is probably pretty close to the truth. Most current development methodologies still focus on accomplishing tasks in a serial fashion, using threading and forking to run what are essentially multiple copies of the same job simultaneously. In many cases, this isn’t the most efficient approach, but developers suffer from a lack of easily accessible tools to make the job of parrallel programming easier.
There’s a good discussion over at Slashdot.org on the matter, which references a recent InfoWorld article on the subject. I’d love to hear some feedback from other developers on the issue.
