Why quad core

Best of Techopedia weekly. News and Special Offers occasional. Quad-Core Processor. Techopedia Explains Quad-Core Processor. Each of the four cores can execute and process instructions independently of the other cores. Techopedia Explains Quad-Core Processor A quad-core processor is a multiprocessor architecture that is designed to provide faster processing power. Intel and AMD are popular vendors of quad-core processor technologies. Share this Term. Pentium 4 Dual Processor. Tech moves fast!

More on this later. The clock speed of each core also is a crucial factor in speed, as is the architecture. A newer dual core CPU with a higher clock speed will often outperform an older quad core CPU with a lower clock speed. More cores also lead to higher power consumption by the processor.

When the processor is switched on, it supplies power to all the cores, not just one at a time. Chip makers have been trying to reduce power consumption and make processors more energy efficient.

But as a general rule of thumb, a quad core processor will draw more power from your laptop and thus make it run out of battery faster.

More factors than the core affect the heat generated by a processor. But again, as a general rule, more cores leads to more heat. Due to this additional heat, manufacturers need to add better heat sinks or other cooling solutions. More cores isn't always a higher price. Like we said earlier, clock speed, architecture versions, and other considerations come into play. Here's the dirty little secret that chip manufacturers don't want you to know.

It's not about how many cores you are running, it's about what software you are running on them. Programs have to be specifically developed to take advantage of multiple processors. Such "multi-threaded software" isn't as common as you might think.

Importantly, even if it's a multi-threaded program, it's also about what it is used for. For example, the Google Chrome web browser supports multiple processes, as does video editing software Adobe Premier Pro. Adobe Premier Pro instructs different cores to work on different aspects of your edit. Considering the many layers involved in video editing, this makes sense, as each core can work on a separate task.

Similarly, Google Chrome instructs different cores to work on different tabs. But herein lies the problem. Once you open a web page in a tab, it is usually static after that. There is no further processing work needed; the rest of the work is about storing the page in the RAM. Which means even though the core can be used for a background tab, there is no need for it. This Google Chrome example is an illustration of how even multi-threaded software might not give you much of a real-world performance boost.

For example — Four cores theoretically enables that video player to use its own core, while allowing a word processor or other program to utilize a different core. However these power-hogging apprehensions have largely been proved to be a myth, as part of new efficiency innovations.

As a result, quad core processors can actually consume less power during heavy usage. Due to excellent performance of Quad core processor, it is used in various different applications. For Example —. Here, we spread light on few con of quad core processor , like as —. Your email address will not be published.