SOC Notes 05 Multicore Processor
Classification of multicore processor
- Homogeneous multicore CPU
- Traditional multicore CPU (# Core 2 ~ 32) eg. Intel’s 4-core Skylake processor
- Many core CPU (# Core >32) eg. Intel’s Xeon Phi
- Heterogeneous CPU eg. many mobile processor, Intel’s
Remark
- The reson for distinguishing multicore and manycore is that: with core counts exceeding certain limits, e.g. 32, the architecture system fails to work well to provide high enough memory bandwidth and fast core to core communication.
- Heterogeneous CPU combines of big and small cores, use different cores on different workload, especially energy-efficient.
- Homogeneous CPU is easier to distribute the computing task. Heterogeneous system spends a lot of efforts to distribute the workload, eg. on which core to excute.
- Manycore CPU at present does not have great sucess as traditional homogenenous multicore or heterogeneous multi-core. Reason: manycore CPU’s intention is to give much more parallel, this function is greatly similar to GPU. So the market of manycore is greatly eaten by GPU.
Parallel Architecture
- Definitions
- Parallel architecture = traditional architecture (processors) + communication network
- Communication network: organizational structure to realize HW/SW interface efficiently
Shared Memorey
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