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Not All Cores Are Created Equal

joabj writes "Virginia Tech researchers have found that the performance of programs running on multicore processors can vary from server to server, and even from core to core. Factors such as which core handles interrupts, or which cache holds the needed data can change from run to run. Such resources tend to be allocated arbitrarily now. As a result, program execution times can vary up to 10 percent. The good news is that the VT researchers are working on a library that will recognize inefficient behavior and rearrange things in a more timely fashion." Here is the paper, Asymmetric Interactions in Symmetric Multicore Systems: Analysis, Enhancements and Evaluation (PDF).

2 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. make -j 3 by kevind23 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Works fine for me.

  2. Re:multicore dev is fun... much like prison rape! by Fallingcow · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    The N64 was killed?

    Best "party game" system of that generation, easily.

    4 controller capability out of the box, 007 Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Mario Kart, all the good wrestling games (hey, they were fun at the time...) etc.

    The PS1 was only good for racing games and RPGs, IMO. Oh, and Bushido Blade 1 and 2.

    Kind of like the Wii vs. 360/PS3. Any time we plug in a PS3 at a get-together, it's to ooh and ah over the graphics and maybe take turns playing the single player mode of a cool game (Need for Speed or something). When the Wii's plugged in it's so we can all play games together.

    Then again, no one I know likes console shooters, especially ones that don't do split-screen (and if they do, they better dumb it down like Goldeneye/Perfect Dark so it's fun rather than frustrating with the damn broken console controller--we all like PC shooters), so that may be why we don't get any multiplayer action out of those other consoles.

    / I see you are a fark.com user, too // Slashies right back at ya!