MULTICORE PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY- ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

Until recent times, we have worked with processors having a single computing/processing unit (CPU), also called a core. The clock frequency of the processor, which determines the speed of it, cannot be exceeded beyond a certain limit as with the increasing frequency, the power dissipation increases and therefore the amount of heating. So manufacturers came up with a new design of processors, called Multicore processors. A multicore processor has two or more independent computing/processing units (cores) on the same chip. Multiple cores have advantage that they run on lower frequency as compared to the single processing unit, which reduces the power dissipation or temperature. These multiple cores work together to increase the multitasking capability or performance of the system by operating on multiple instructions simultaneously in an efficient manner. This also means that with multithreaded applications, the amount of parallel computing or parallelism is increased. The applications or algorithms must be designed in such a way that their subroutines take full advantage of the multicore technology. Each core or computing unit has its own independent interface with the system bus.. But along with all these advantages, there are certain issues or challenges that must be addressed carefully when we add more cores. In this paper, we discuss about multicore processor technology. In addition to this, we also discuss various challenges faced such as power and temperature (thermal issue), interconnect issue etc. when more cores are added.