Cores and Threads Question.

[Schrobes]

Can anyone explain in Layman's terms what they do exactly. I am assuming it is all on the programming side of exactly what they do but any information would be great.

Example: I see 8 cores and 16 threads.

Thank You.

[A&A]

Cores = Workers who can do math.
Threads = The number of tasks workers can handle at once.

[Ontrix_Kitsune]

Originally posted by Schrobes:

Can anyone explain in Layman's terms what they do exactly. I am assuming it is all on the programming side of exactly what they do but any information would be great.

Example: I see 8 cores and 16 threads.

Thank You.

Your processor has 8 physical cores. Modern processors add extra "fake cores" that can speed up apps and operations that require multiple cores to function (like video editing, compiling code, DirectX-12 games, etc). When you are using apps (or games) that can make use of all the cores and threads in your system the extra "fake cores" (threads) can improve performance when apps use the extra threads. It's not quite as fast as having more physical cores but it's faster than not having it.

With Intel these fake cores (threads) are called Hyperthreading. With AMD it's called SMT or Semetric Multi-Threading (SMT).

[_I_]

think of a core a calculator at an accountants desk
and thread the 2 workers

the 2 workers can do work as long as the calculator is not busy
they take turns using it

its worse than 2 cores that would have all their own parts and cache banks
but slightly better than a single core by itself