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Urzu 7 · 2011-02-18, 21:22

I was under the impression that the Phenom II X4, with four cores and a clock speed of 3.2 GHz, had four cores operating at 3.2 GHz. Like four CPUs in one. But I heard someone say something about it that suggests things are different than that. Could someone tell me the nature of this CPU, what the 3.2 GHz means, and what exactly does it mean to have four cores. Is it really like four 3.2 GHz CPUs in one when four cores are being used? When one core is being used, does it run at 3.2 GHz?

Random32 · 2011-02-19, 00:23

1. A quad core CPU is like having four single core CPU's.

2. Every core runs at 3.2GHz. That means, every 3.2 billionths of a second, a core does something. If a single core is doing something, it is still doing it 3.2 billion times a second.

This should answer your questions, I'll try to explain CPU's to you in more detail if you want though.

Simon · 2011-02-19, 00:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Random32

Every core runs at 3.2GHz.

Does AMD have an equivalent to Intel's "Turbo Boost" (ack, marketese...) where cores can dynamically increase their clock speed when the rest of the chip is doing less work?

Urzu 7 · 2011-02-19, 01:57

Thanks Random. Some schmuck I talked to on tech support today said that it is 3.2 GHz combined for four cores on that CPU. Also, he didn't help me. Also, he was getting annoyed with me when all I did was ask like three questions, hoping he could help me (and again, he was of no help whatsoever). I don't like that man.

Simon: I hear that the Phenom II X6 CPUs have turbo boost. Someone correct me if I'm wrong (although I think someone told me that in this forum).

Irenicus · 2011-02-19, 02:41

They do, but it's considerably less effective than Intel's, and I think only a few AMD CPUs have it.

Random32 · 2011-02-19, 09:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon

Does AMD have an equivalent to Intel's "Turbo Boost" (ack, marketese...) where cores can dynamically increase their clock speed when the rest of the chip is doing less work?

Phenom II ###T chips have turbo. The current implementation is much less effective than Intel's, having only one Turbo mode which boosts by 500MHz when half the cores are active.
The Bulldozer based chips (at least the server ones) have a much better Turbo system. When all the cores are active, it seems to work like the PowerTune stuff from AMD's GPU's, boosting cores until hitting TDP. The cool thing about this is that since a chip is never normally truly 100% active (all transistors firing at once), even with all cores "fully" loaded, will be boosted by several hundred MHz under normal conditions.

2011-02-18, 21:22	Link #1
Urzu 7 Juanita/Kiteless Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: New England Age: 40	Question about AMD CPU I was under the impression that the Phenom II X4, with four cores and a clock speed of 3.2 GHz, had four cores operating at 3.2 GHz. Like four CPUs in one. But I heard someone say something about it that suggests things are different than that. Could someone tell me the nature of this CPU, what the 3.2 GHz means, and what exactly does it mean to have four cores. Is it really like four 3.2 GHz CPUs in one when four cores are being used? When one core is being used, does it run at 3.2 GHz? __________________

2011-02-19, 01:57	Link #4
Urzu 7 Juanita/Kiteless Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: New England Age: 40	Thanks Random. Some schmuck I talked to on tech support today said that it is 3.2 GHz combined for four cores on that CPU. Also, he didn't help me. Also, he was getting annoyed with me when all I did was ask like three questions, hoping he could help me (and again, he was of no help whatsoever). I don't like that man. Simon: I hear that the Phenom II X6 CPUs have turbo boost. Someone correct me if I'm wrong (although I think someone told me that in this forum). __________________

2011-02-19, 00:23	Link #2
Random32 Also a Lolicon Join Date: Apr 2010	1. A quad core CPU is like having four single core CPU's. 2. Every core runs at 3.2GHz. That means, every 3.2 billionths of a second, a core does something. If a single core is doing something, it is still doing it 3.2 billion times a second. This should answer your questions, I'll try to explain CPU's to you in more detail if you want though.

2011-02-19, 02:41	Link #5
Irenicus Le fou, c'est moi Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Las Vegas, NV, USA Age: 34	They do, but it's considerably less effective than Intel's, and I think only a few AMD CPUs have it.