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Look what my parents sent me for my birthday! :D http://ur1.ca/a80j9
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:15:00 UTC from web-
@shadowdash454 that looks shiny and awesome! What is it? I know I've heard of the brand before
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:20:34 UTC from web-
@pony The motherboard is made Gugabyte the processor is made by AMD and the water cooler is made by Corsair
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:26:38 UTC from web-
@shadowdash454 right! the cooler brand was familiar! Of course I know AMD, but I really only know ASUS for motherboards.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:27:41 UTC from web-
@pony I had a ASUS motherboard but it stop working :/
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:29:31 UTC from web-
@shadowdash454 I think my old one is fried as well. xP I don't know whetehr to buy a new one or not
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:31:17 UTC from web -
@shadowdash454 I'm terribly out of date on processors. That one looks really nice though!
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:33:31 UTC from web-
@pony Yeah it's a AMD Six core :D
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:35:04 UTC from web-
@shadowdash454 woah.. explain that to me please! how in Luna's name are there 6-cores out now?!
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:36:37 UTC from web-
@pony There are also octacores.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:37:14 UTC from web -
@pony there are eight cores to lol well what do you want to know? lol
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:37:25 UTC from web-
@shadowdash454 @yodelerty xD oh my! so wait.. umm.. well, what I'm most curious about is the difference in speed between a single, dual, ... 6, 8, etc. What difference in performance is there?
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:39:41 UTC from web-
@pony Hardly any, unless you have software that can use all of them. Most only supports 4.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:40:19 UTC from web -
@pony Beats me. Presumable there is some noticeable difference between core number. Having more than 4 is usually pointless, though.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:40:51 UTC from web-
@yodelerty @eaglehooves ah interesting! yeah I've heard about that now that you mention it. the software matters greatly.. it'll be nice when all software is compatible
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:41:55 UTC from web-
@pony That'll be nice, but I'm still on dual. I'll need to throw down some money when the next leap in software finally releases.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:45:02 UTC from web -
@pony It's not a case of the software being "compatible". The software isn't "incompatible" with the processor, it just isn't programmed to take advantage of the additional cores. Which in many cases is just fine, not every task *can* be split into multiple threads. Rewriting existing software to use multiple threads also takes a long time and is very error-prone. But this isn't really a problem if you treat the main benefit as enabling better multitasking, because then it doesn't matter if a one piece of software uses just one thread as that just leaves room for other pieces of software to use the other cores.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:48:14 UTC from web
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@pony Multitasking performance is the primary benefit you see with more cores. I have six myself.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:43:07 UTC from web-
@toksyuryel ooh.. hmm. so what's an example of multitasking exactly? I mean computers are constantly running multiple processes..
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:44:14 UTC from web-
@pony On a single core, the programs are actually being very rapidly switched out. On multiple cores, the OS can (and does) actually have programs genuinely running at the exact same time.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:45:34 UTC from web -
@pony Well I'm always running my web browser and a chat client at the same time. That's an example of multitasking. Sometimes I'll also run a game or a music player too. Occasionally I'll be running all four of those at one time. That's multitasking.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:50:15 UTC from web-
@toksyuryel ooh! cool! so then the OS divides the processes?
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:55:07 UTC from web-
@pony The OS is responsible for that yeah
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:56:26 UTC from web-
@toksyuryel oh cool! so are most OSs only compatible with 4 then? or is there any limit?
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 20:58:23 UTC from web-
@pony Most OSes are fine with any number, but the more physical cores you have, the more the OS can split them up to increase efficiency (because multiple cores can run literally simultaneously, whereas extra programs beyond that number need to be rapidly switched between - so fast you can't tell the switching is happening, but it is).
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 21:01:19 UTC from web -
@pony I'm not aware of any OS with a hard limit, 4 or otherwise. Must be a Windows thing. Linux gives you the option of setting an arbitrary limit to conserve a small amount of memory, but it's just an option. And I don't know anything about other OSes.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 21:01:32 UTC from web-
@toksyuryel Windows doesn't have a process limit either. Except maybe Windows 7 Starter, but that has a ton of ridiculous restrictions with no basis other than "persuade people to buy the 'real' editions", anyway.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 21:02:54 UTC from web
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@pony What I've been told is that 4 is where the law of diminishing returns comes on. Windows can handle 8 (or more), but in a desktop, the gain from 4 to 8 isn't as big as 2 to 4 while costing more money.
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 21:03:40 UTC from web-
@eaglehooves There's no diminishing returns when it comes to multitasking ^_^
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 21:16:55 UTC from web-
@toksyuryel How much stuff do you run at once?!
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 21:19:20 UTC from web-
@eaglehooves A lot
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 21:22:38 UTC from web
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@eaglehooves @toksyuryel @bitshift oh interesting! #smartponies Thanks for sating my curiosity.. and sorry for the #latereply
Thursday, 13-Sep-12 21:55:51 UTC from web
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