Cores and Threads

[dustin-02]

I am just now starting to get into PC Gaming and Building and I need to know will a CPU with a clockspeed of 4GHz, 4 core with 8 threads run the same as a CPU with a clockspeed of 4GHz with 8 cores and 8 threads? On paper I feel like they will run about the same but like I said i´m just now getting into it so I would like some verification. Thanks

 

[jay32267]

I believe 8 cores with 8 threads is faster.

Here's why I think this.

When two threads are running on the same core....they have to share the resources of the core....with one thread and one core....the thread has the whole core to work with.

 

[Snipergod87]

Also can depend on processor, a 4790k with 4/8 is faster than an AMD FX processor @ 4ghz with "8/8"

 

[gamerk316]

A few things to keep in mind:

1: Processor speed is not comparable across different CPU architectures. At a simplified level, "Clock Speed" measures the tick rate of the processor, and IPC (Instructions Per Clock) measures how much work a CPU does per tick. Multiplying the two gets you an approximation of how much work a single core can execute. Problem being, IPC can't be directly measured, only estimated (EG: For many generations, Intel was about 20% faster then AMD at the same clock).

2: As for Cores/Threads, a Core can run multiple threads in some CPU architectures via a technique named Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT). In theory, this can double performance. In practice, some CPU resources are shared between the "physical" and "logical" CPU core which limit performance gains. On Intel CPUs, they use a very small form of SMT that they call Hyperthreading which gives ~20% the performance of an additional CPU core. As a result, an 8/8 CPU would be expected to be faster then a 4/8 CPU if all other things are equal.

3: Not all software can take advantage of additional CPU cores. As a result, you will not see linear performance gains as you add additional CPU cores. For most tasks, adding more CPU cores helps by allowing more applications to run at the same time without reducing performance, rather then making a single task execute faster.

 

[dustin-02]

I believe 8 cores with 8 threads is faster.

Here's why I think this.

When two threads are running on the same core....they have to share the resources of the core....with one thread and one core....the thread has the whole core to work with.

 

[dustin-02]

Thank you, my friend had explained it as 4c/8t is better for gaming because it allows each core to work harder and faster, but more cores allow you to do more at once but I am just needing this for gaming so I need fps and like I said I´m very new to this so some of it I am not understanding quite yet, I know that the GHz is how fast it is and a core splits up the data to run it faster and the thread will do the same but a bit more fine-tuned, however, they were not exactly the most reliable sources is this the right concept.