Question

if you want performance, is it better top go with more full sized cores, or separate processors(if do-able) i mean like a 8 core i7, or 2 4 core i7s?!

Answer 1

Well, what application(s) are being run? Think about that a bit and you should see some differences between both ways you are saying you want to get more cores.

Answer 2

i mean to ask: if you use multiple processors of multiple cores, will the performance double, or would it slightly increase? i read something similar in an old book, i am asking to see if this rule is still true, or if there is a way to overcome this?

Answer 3

or multiple core*

Answer 4

There are advantages to both. A single processor has less physical distance, so thigns that are shared are shared more quickly. On the other hand, multiple processors means more dedication of hardware due to duplication.

Answer 5

No. your cpu wont even use 4 unless you are running a program that is capable of running all of them.

Answer 6

what about the tegra k1? i am sure no program is capable of running 192 cores!!

Answer 7

ok then, how would a 3.2gh mobile processor be slower than a 3.2gh laptop/desktop processor? isnt it the speed that matters?! or is there something to do with amount of transistors?

Answer 8

The performance of a processor is dependent on many things.

How many transistors are there?
How are the transistors arranged physically in relation to each other?
Size of the transistors?
What operations can those transistors perform? (You can do everything with just basic on/off, but some constructs do floating point math better than others.)
What speed is the processor running at?
How often does the processor have to slow down to interact with the system?
And related to the last one, what type(s) of cache memory and speed(s) of cache memory does the CPU have access to?

I doubt that is a full list, but those are some I know off the top of my head.

Answer 9

interesting, so what i am asking for is why dont we just use mobile processors in laptops to increase performance?! i mean cant a couple of qualcom 805s be enough to run a laptop? for example 4 of them, with a small fan, would not generate any heat, and i would think that would make a quiet fast machine?!