Performance analysis of multi-threaded multi-core CPUs

Abstract

Processors are constantly changing and becoming more advanced. They incorporate new concepts and ideas into the architecture with each evolution. One such concept is multi-threading. It aims at increasing the processors performance by reducing its idle time. It is the ability of the processor to execute multiple threads simultaneously on different cores present inside. Multi-threading concepts have also been incorporated in embedded systems which employ either a single-core or multi-core architecture. The aim of this study is to evaluate how effectively multi-threading improves processor utilization on multiple cores by taking both single and dual core processors and evaluating the performance of each by comparing the number of instructions executed per second. The results of this study give an edge to multi-threading in a single-core processor when compared to a dual-core processor when performance aspects are considered. Our analysis helps us to design the processor architecture in such a way that we utilize both the concepts of multi-threading and multi-core architecture to achieve maximum performance. The results of Simultaneous Multi-threading (SMT) performance improvement is encouraging when compared with dual-core processors.