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[zagibu]

...for AMD announced an architecture capable of running a single thread on multiple cpu cores: http://gizmodo.com/5620423/amd-announces-8+core-bulldozer-cpu

[Mistercheif]

...for AMD announced an architecture capable of running a single thread on multiple cpu cores: http://gizmodo.com/5620423/amd-announces-8+core-bulldozer-cpu

Finally!  A core that is perfect for Dwarf Fortress and SupCom.  The future has arrived!

[claer_runway]

*angelic chorus*

 

[Beeskee]

NICE! And according to the article, the AM3+ MBs will work with the older CPUs, so you can get a new MB and a cheaper CPU until the bulldozers drop in price.   Guess it was a good thing that I waited to upgrade.

[MaximumZero]

Ooooooh. This is interesting news. I should tell my boss ASAP.

[Tellemurius]

[Ampersand]

What needs to be understood before people get carried away is that a program is only as fast as it's slowest calculation. As has been stated several times in the past, a faster path-finding algorithm would do far, far more to reduce Dwarf Fortress Lag than a marginal increase in processing speed. You could have 12-20 fps at 80 dwarfs, upgrade to the latest cpu, and get 12-20 fps at 90 dwarfs.

Even when we've managed to create the perfect, light speed, quantum entanglement driven CPUs, we'll still be getting 12-20 fps at 80 dwarfs because by then Dwarf Fortress will include molecular interaction and keep track of protein folding in every cell in the Dwarven body.

[Mel_Vixen]

Actually there is a pathing algorithm for quantum computers. So one quantum core could do the pathing and the other(s) the protein folding ;P

[macdonellba]

...for AMD announced an architecture capable of running a single thread on multiple cpu cores: http://gizmodo.com/5620423/amd-announces-8+core-bulldozer-cpu

The mapping is actually one software thread of execution to each one integer core (ie. no magical one thread to multiple cores mapping); the novel design feature is that several integer cores share what would normally be redundant circuitry to cut down on power usage, increase cache coherency in some situations (ex. a VM allocated two physical cores could be allocated two sharing an L1 cache), etc.

[claer_runway]

its not just DF. I'm willing to bet that my first core is significantly more worn out than my second, just because hardly any programs multithread.

and I get like 50-60 fps at 100 dwarves.

[Sir Finkus]

its not just DF. I'm willing to bet that my first core is significantly more worn out than my second, just because hardly any programs multithread.

and I get like 50-60 fps at 100 dwarves.

Any decent os will try and distribute the work evenly on your cores so I wouldn't worry about it.

[zagibu]

...for AMD announced an architecture capable of running a single thread on multiple cpu cores: http://gizmodo.com/5620423/amd-announces-8+core-bulldozer-cpu

The mapping is actually one software thread of execution to each one integer core (ie. no magical one thread to multiple cores mapping); the novel design feature is that several integer cores share what would normally be redundant circuitry to cut down on power usage, increase cache coherency in some situations (ex. a VM allocated two physical cores could be allocated two sharing an L1 cache), etc.

You are right, my statement was a bit misleading. Actually, the thread is still running on one core only, but this core can use all of the shared resources. So it's not really 6x the performance, more like 150% or something. Still a step in the right direction.

[Thief^]

...for AMD announced an architecture capable of running a single thread on multiple cpu cores: http://gizmodo.com/5620423/amd-announces-8+core-bulldozer-cpu

The mapping is actually one software thread of execution to each one integer core (ie. no magical one thread to multiple cores mapping); the novel design feature is that several integer cores share what would normally be redundant circuitry to cut down on power usage, increase cache coherency in some situations (ex. a VM allocated two physical cores could be allocated two sharing an L1 cache), etc.

You are right, my statement was a bit misleading. Actually, the thread is still running on one core only, but this core can use all of the shared resources. So it's not really 6x the performance, more like 150% or something. Still a step in the right direction.

Nah, you actually get nothing like that. Basically, each module is part-way between a full dual-core and a hyperthreaded single-core, in that there are some shared cpu resources (hyperthreading style) and some duplicated resources (dual-core style). AMD thinks that this gets a good balance between die space usage and two-thread performance, allowing them to get nearly the performance of a true 8-core cpu in a smaller die space. The only thing that could even remotely improve performance of a single-threaded application is the dual-FPU, and it would have to be a really floating-point-heavy application for that to make a difference.

I'm not expecting DF to benefit from this CPU at all.

[Beeskee]

I'm willing to bet DF will run better on it than it does on my single core 2.4 Ghz processor.

[MaDeR Levap]

I'm willing to bet DF will run better on it than it does on my single core 2.4 Ghz processor.

You will have better performance of DF on any two-core CPU by just virtue of offloading your antivirus and other background processes to second core.

And yeah, this will not help single-threaded programs. Original poster did not understand what article said. This technology is about better sharing of resources between cores, not doing miracles like "single thread on two cpu".

Toady must face it eventually, if not in Chapter II, then in III: single-threaded programs are things of past. Of course, considering not only Toady's refuse to consider multi-threading (good decision for DF, bad in overall), but what works, better algorithms would help more. I feel pathfinding is sufficiently optimised for now, and more important is improving other things, like tracking zilion stones, gazilion splatterings of some very disguisting mix of liquids etc.