On Sat, 11 Oct 2003, Matthew Tedder wrote:
> If the sum of the two CPUs are equal to that of the single CPU, then a
> single CPU is generally better.....isn't it? Because one will from time
> to time lock various parts of the kernel, when the other wants in.
> Hence, it'll slow down where a single CPU would do them in serial but
> that clock speed would not be hampered along the way.
> On the hand, one could arge that switching between tasks for
> multiprocess work is expensive of CPU time and, in that case, two CPUs
> would reduce this expense and make things faster.
> I am pretty sure the kernel locking is a far bigger issue....but of
> course, this is going to depend more or less on the software you're
> running. Some kernels processes must lock and others do not. Some
> software is built on strongly linear processes....others are not.
Mathew,
task switching is quite fast in modern processors / OSes, the real
value of a multiprocessor sustem lies innthe fact, that the system will
not lock up or even signifantly slow down when one of the processors is
very busy - be it with a demanding or runaway process. Multiuser systems
can be run on single processor systems, but this is not healthy nor safe.
julius
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