That is right. Since AMD uses NUMA, the memory bus gets really complicated to tie all the cores to the memory. The whole chip has been reworked from the ground up. Since Intel uses a shared memory bus, they can easily tack on cores to the bus. Intel's first generation Quad-core chips are basically two Core 2 Duos on the same die with the bus connected before going to the socket.
The easiest way to think of it is token ring vs. Ethernet. In token ring network you can add a computer by tapping into the bus and add another connecter. With Ethernet you have to make another wire run and if you run out of ports on the switch, you need to add another switch or upgrade it. Each type of memory architecture has its pros and cons. In fact I didn't realize how similar they are to the analogy until just now. :| Robert > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Evan McNabb > Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 4:40 PM > To: BYU Unix Users Group > Subject: Re: [uug] Ubuntu and upgrading to a dual-core processor > > On Sat Dec 15 08:02:40 PM, Michael L Torrie wrote: > > Dave Smith wrote: > > > Has anyone run Linux on a quad-core machine yet? Experiences to share? > > > > Yes. It works fine. Linux thinks it has 4 processors. Note that none > > of the current crop of quadcore chips are really quad core. They are > > dual core where each core shows up as two instances (parallel pipelines > > and such). > > From what I understand, that's true for Intel quad-cores, but not for > AMDs. They are true quad-core procs. > > -Evan > > /********************************************************************\ > Evan McNabb: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > http://evan.mcnabbs.org > GnuPG Fingerprint: 53B5 EDCA 5543 A27A E0E1 2B2F 6776 8F9C 6A35 6EA5 > \********************************************************************/ -------------------- BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ The opinions expressed in this message are the responsibility of their author. They are not endorsed by BYU, the BYU CS Department or BYU-UUG. ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
