Nowadays you get to hear a lot of 'Single Core', 'Dual Core', 'Quad Core' going on in your friends circles. Most of you already have an idea of such kind of processing power in Laptops. But lo! you are now hearing such terms in the context of smartphones and tablets.
You might actually think it's a no-brainer that 'Quad Core' is better than 'Dual Core' which is in turn better than 'Single Core' and yes, you are right too. But are you right on all occasions??? Should you just make your purchase on the basis of terms like these?? To answer these questions, you need to read the information given below a little intently :P
A few years ago, people realized that, integrating components resting inside a general purpose personal computer which are sitting in an isolated fashion will be beneficial for various purposes like Space saving, Throughput increment, and Efficiency increment. So, they started manufacturing something called as a 'System on Chip'. A 'System on Chip' is an integrated circuit that integrates all the components of a computer or other electronic system on a single chip. This means that on a single chip, you'll have the following components
- Microprocessor or CPU (also called popularly as 'Core')
- Memory Blocks (ROM | Read Only Memory, RAM | Random Access Memory)
- External interfaces such as USB, Ethernet
- Voltage Regulators
- GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
What you also need to understand is that while the 'Chip' that contains the above listed components is manufactured by one company, this company might source the above listed components from other manufacturers. Currently in the market, the following are the companies that manufacture the 'Chip'.
- Nvidia is the company that manufactures the 'TEGRA' Chip
- Samsung is the company that manufactures the 'EXYNOS' and 'HUMMINGBIRD' chips
- Texas Instruments is the company that manufactures the 'OMAP' chip
- Qualcomm is the company that manufactures the 'SNAPDRAGON' chip
If you could jog your memory a little, you can recollect that the famous 'Samsung Galaxy S' used Samsung's 'Hummingbird' chip. The 'Hummingbird' (Codename for Exynos 3110) chip contained a single core 1 Ghz processor. The first phone with the 'Android' operating system, the 'Google Nexus One' used Qualcomm's 'Snapdragon' chip that contained a single core 1 Ghz processor.
As stated above, in the initial days of manufacturing, there was only a single microprocessor (single core) coupled with other components (give in the first list above) resting on a chip. Each and every microprocessor runs at a particular clock-speed or frequency. Most of the manufacturers (given in the second list above) were looking for a company which could supply them with the 'Microprocessor' or 'Core' component of the chip. 'ARM' had stepped up to the task and has since become famous as most of the companies which manufacture 'System on Chips' source the microprocessor component from ARM. ARM manufactures microprocessors and markets them under the brand name of 'Cortex'.
Manufacturers soon began to realize that having a Single Core limited the power of the device in which the 'System on Chip' was being used. They soon came to a conclusion that having multiple cores on a single chip will enable them to increase the power of the smartphone multiple times. The rationale was pretty simple. Suppose, you are asked to make two calculations and then add the result of the calculation, you make the first calculation and then make the second calculation and then add the result of the two calculations. At any point of time, you are doing just one task. But, if the task is divided among two people, while the first person is making the first calculation, the second person will simultaneously make the second calculation and then result can be arrived at by any of the individuals. So, they started thinking of 'Dual Core' and 'Quad Core' processors on a single chip.
I guess this is enough for today. More information on 'Dual Core' and 'Quad Core' incoming. Stay tuned!!!
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