Would More Cores Benefit Me?

919han153

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I currently own a i5 3750k for my main PC. Its a great computer, and the processor does everything I have needed it to. I overclocked it to 4.5ghz with the fans I use on 5v, and it runs very quiet. I choose the i5 ivy bridge based on how it came out in benchmarks, and how it scored for FPS (while a dedicated GPU was running) amongst general advice that Intel was the way to go.

However recently I've switched what I have been doing on my PC, from a gamer who relied just on a GPU, I only used to have a couple of processes running at one time, to now having many processes running at one time, and CPU usage is often 80-100% (used by the programs I run, ~5-20% per process). As soon as it hits 100%, the programs often slowdown, and reduce the productivity that they had before 100% usage, starting to lag, etc.

The question I have now is, I want to be able to run more processes, but don't want to run into 100% CPU usage, where the programs I run then are forced to slowdown. I will always keep my Intel PC as my main PC, however would a cheaper, AMD 8-core CPU benefit me?

To just remind you what I need this CPU purely for, is not video encoding, 4k gaming, or being the best in overall points while testing an SSD. Its for running many processes that currently, my Intel 4-core CPU can't handle. With a 8-core CPU, will the CPU usage be reduced per program, to a point which I could run many more programs compared to my 4-core Intel CPU?

To give a small insight in what these programs are, they mostly consist of java applications/javascripts that loop constantly, 24/7.
 
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if anything i'd try an i7-3770k, no new mobo needed, just swap the chip out. the hyperthreading is similar but different to amd's 8 cores, which are 8 cores with 4 shared units, so not true 8 core. I think that they would be similar but an easier upgrade for the i7.
 

919han153

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Doesn't answer my question, sorry.

I do not want to know 'this is what cpu you should buy' or 'its easier to do this'
 

paitjsu sadff

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the answer to your question is YES, defenetly an 8 thread capable CPU wheter its intel i7 or amd 8 core will defenetly allow you to do a lot more things at once without having the processes slowing down, if that was the question in the beginning...

 
OK, i'll make it simple for you.

You can buy and amd system and have a painful upgrade or you can buy an intel chip and have a simple upgrade. They will perform about the same and have the same chance of solving your problem (apart from the attitude problem), so take the easy route. Will it solve all of your problems, no idea, you've not really stated what you problem is very well.

Intel has stronger individual cores, and have effectively 8 of them, amd has weaker cores and effectively 8 of them, early 8 core AMDs were weaker than intel, they've been tweaked a bit.

the only real upgrade is to spend a lot more money and go for hex core intel with HT.

If you don't understand that answer or can't understand the choices you have, then try stating the question clearly.
 
The 8-core AMD will indeed be better at multitasking than either the i5 or i7. It sounds like you're running a bunch of smaller processes, right? Not like 3 or 4 large processes? While the 8-core AMD does in fact share cache, it is 8 physical cores. The slightly decreased cache amount would be offset by having twice the physical cores, which is really what you want in extreme multitasking (this is why server CPUs not only have multithreading, but have an insane number of cores)
 


the question is poorly phrased or hidden, and he can't be bothered to interpret to reach an answer.
 

919han153

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I know what hyper threading is, and I had already watched that video fyi. I'm not sold by the concept, its still 4-cores.
 

paitjsu sadff

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i think it's very clear if you take the time to read, he wants to know if the CPU usage will decrease on an 8 thread capable CPU and if he will be able to run more processes at once without having the processes slowing down struggling for ressources...and the answer to all those questions is plain simple, YES...

Now you guys decided to turn this into intel vs amd...i get that he already has a motherboard that would fit a core i7 thus making it a better choice in his case but i think that's not what he wanted to know...

 

chugot9218

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It's really going to depend on the programs you are running, I would guess you wouldn't see much overall performance difference as they are likely not coded for parallel processing unless you wrote them specifically for that or they are fairly new. You might even see a slow down, if it can only work with 1 core and the core in the AMD chip is slower than in the Intel, you will see a performance hit that way.
 

919han153

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Please don't start trolling. Your not saying anything useful/constructive to the question that I originally posted, if you are here to start quoting others and making the illusion that I didn't post a topic due to the fact that I'm considering spending a lot of money on PC components and want advice from this forum, you have no place to post your petite comments.
 

919han153

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Thanks for your feedback, I have also considered running the processes within virtual machine, which I feel would take advantage of multiple cores, where as you say, the actual java programs have likely not been designed for.
 


Thank you lol I don't think they took the time to read his post. I did, and knew exactly what he was asking.

And yes, the answer is yes, and thank you for not making this an Intel vs AMD issue lol. More physical cores is better than logical cores for extreme multitasking.Even considering AMD's lower single-thread performance, a doubling of physical cores is always better than implementing hyperthreading on those cores. An 8-core CPU can do 8 things simultaneously, whereas a quad-core hyperthreaded can still only do 4 things simultaneously.
 
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HAH! That is one of the best comparisons I have seen yet lol I might have to use that in the future!
 

paitjsu sadff

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There are still 8 logical cores on these chips operating independently from each other and sharing ressources in pair of cores, like level 3 cache...their is still 8 separate computing units on them, so they are real 8 physical cores CPU's...somewhat crippled yes, but still 8 logical computing units

 

vmN

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No, they share much more than L3 cache.

They share the entire front-end (bp, fetch and decoder (SR added extra decoders)).
They front-end is to weak to feed both cores on full load.

They also share the SIMD, which in some scenarios can be a huge deal-breaker.



What do they define as a core? Some ALU cluster with a bad scheduling scheme?

I doubt you can call them 100% real. I would rather call it a 4 module, it wont bring up confusing for anyone.
 

paitjsu sadff

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1 simple question: How many logical computing units are on these CPU's?
Now i know that the way they work is not optimal and it's a good thing otherwise these chips would outperform anything on the market today and would cost over 1000$...