Benefits Of a Dual Core Processor

Introduction

What is a dual core processor? A dual core processor is a single processing chip with two cores, and with each core owning its own memory cache, it basically is a single die with two separate processing houses. Sort of like a single car but with two engines. With each engine running each half the car. There are many benefits to a dual core processor, chief among among them being the ability to multi-task efficiently. Computers work by processing threads of information, when you have a dual core processor, the threads are split evenly and dealt with efficiently, sort of like how having two hands is more efficient then just having one when you're trying to type. Let's delve into the history of dual core processors to find out more about how they work.

History

The most famous and widely used dual core processor is the Intel Core 2 Duo, second to the Core 2 Duo is the AMD Athlon X2. Which was used in less expensive or less main stream laptops. The Core 2 Duo and most Dual Core Processors were released on 27 July 2006, a year in which main stream multitasking took off and most applications had multiple threading support. It was originally only a single core processor, but became a dual core processor a month later. The Dual Core processor revolutionized the computer industry, as desktops and laptops were finally unified under a single  processor form, instead the now defunct Pentium 4, Pentium D, and Pentium M processors. The Dual Core Processor was the processor of choice from then on, as the same games and application could be played on either desktops or laptops, and they all ran efficiently.

Features

The Dual Core Processor has a myriad of features, most of which are bents towards power efficiency. It features the clock speeds of 3.06 - 2.53 GHz, 2.8 - 2.53 GHz, 2.66 - 2.26 GHz, 2.6 - 2.5 GHz, and 2.4 - 2.1 GHz. The corresponding cache size are as follows; 6MB, 4MB and 3MB. Most laptops came with the 2.4 -2.1 GHz speed clocks. The thermal dissipation powers of all the following speeds are; 35W 25W 25W 35W. The maximum front end bus speeds for the higher end processors is 1066 MHz, while the remaining processors all have a front end bus speed of 800 MHz. Other features of the dual core processor are HD boosting, this feature supports HD videos and movies. Though it only plays 720p videos and not 1080p at full power. It also lacks the ability to support Bluray DVD's. Deep power down technology insures that every inch of processing power is fully utilized and rendered. This also insures that when the computer is asleep, no extra resources are being used. Intel 64 instruction set architecture is a feature that allows for simultaneous usage of the 64 bit architecture while also maintaining 32 bit compatibility. This applies mainly to updated 64 bit OS's (operating systems), such as Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and Windows 7-64 bit version.

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