AMD / Intel CPU Cores Confusion!

[Gridcore]

Hello! This is my first time on this forum and I watch linustechtips youtube videos a lot  very useful and great information!

 

Ok so why I am confused about AMD / Intel Cores!

 

So recently I purchased a AMD-FX 4300 CPU with has "4" cores in it as the advertisement / spec description & the whole of the internet says it has "4" cores

 

So i installed the OS and everything was setup, I open task manager and it says "Cores: 2 / Logical Processes 4"

 

im like what? only 2 cores? but its called a quad-core meaning 4 cores right?

 

So i jump on my i3 laptop and open task manager it has a intel i3 5005U CPU and i open task manager.

 

task manager says  "Cores: 2 / Logical Processes 4"

 

so my desktop and my laptop has the same amount of cores + logical processes?

 

so why question is..

 

why is the AMD advertised as a quad-core when it only has dual-cores + 2 logical cores (intel named this hyperthreading)

 

but the i3 advertised as a dual-core + hyperthreading?

[iRileyx]

"In FX, two cores share what's known as the front-end of the processor - fetch and decode stages - and, further, both use a single floating-point unit. This means that two-thread performance isn't quite as impressive as for a chip using two distinctly separate cores, though AMD has boosted the front-end throughput by making the chip a 'four-wide' design. There's give and take here, clearly."

 

To put it simply, 2 cores will share one module and other internal parts, which makes windows read it as 2 cores with 4 "logical" threads, but it is a 4 core cpu.

[Thermosman]

heres a video that explains it

 

[Princess Luna]

Cores are not the same as threads, threads are roughly speaking the lines of data to the core so it can process the said data.

 

Hyper-Threading and SMT allows 2 threads so 2 lines of data to feed a core.

[Gridcore]

12 hours ago, RKRiley said:

"In FX, two cores share what's known as the front-end of the processor - fetch and decode stages - and, further, both use a single floating-point unit. This means that two-thread performance isn't quite as impressive as for a chip using two distinctly separate cores, though AMD has boosted the front-end throughput by making the chip a 'four-wide' design. There's give and take here, clearly."

 

To put it simply, 2 cores will share one module which makes windows read it as 2 cores with 4 "logical" threads, but it is a 4 core cpu.

Thanks for the fast response!

 

12 hours ago, Thermosman said:

heres a video that explains it

Thanks! will take a look now

 

12 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

Cores are not the same as threads, threads are roughly speaking the lines of data to the core so it can process the said data.

 

Hyper-Threading and SMT allows 2 threads so 2 lines of data to feed a core.

It would have been so much easier if AMD just advertised what their "cores" actually were e.g. what task manager says

 

just like intel does 

[iRileyx]

Just now, Gridcore said:

It would have been so much easier if AMD just advertised what their "cores" actually were e.g. what task manager says

 

just like intel does 

They are advertising what their cores actually are, because it is a quad core.

 

It's just because of the way that Windows reads it, it shows it as a dual core, it's more an error on Windows side than AMD's.

[Princess Luna]

Just now, Gridcore said:

It would have been so much easier if AMD just advertised what their "cores" actually were e.g. what task manager says

 

just like intel does 

For what is worth it FX line up is pretty much outdated now, the new Ryzen line up explains your cores and threads pretty straight forwards like Intel does now.

[Gridcore]

12 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

For what is worth it FX line up is pretty much outdated now, the new Ryzen line up explains your cores and threads pretty straight forwards like Intel does now.

Hope to get my hands on the new technology in the future

 

12 hours ago, RKRiley said:

They are advertising what their cores actually are, because it is a quad core.

 

It's just because of the way that Windows reads it, it shows it as a dual core, it's more an error on Windows side than AMD's.

oh dear thats a problem then, i shouldn't listen to task manager then when im using a AMD cpu

 

your setup is great  i have 2 desktops and 2 laptops ha still working my way around the site to get it on my profile

[iRileyx]

1 minute ago, Gridcore said:

oh dear thats a problem then, i shouldn't listen to task manager then when im using a AMD cpu

 

your setup is great  i have 2 desktops and 2 laptops ha still working my way around the site to get it on my profile

https://linustechtips.com/main/settings/signature/ if you want to add them to your signature.

[NelizMastr]

1 minute ago, Gridcore said:

Hope to get my hands on the new technology in the future

I'd hope so, as that i3-5005U is half as fast with half the clock AND cores

[erikr_c]

4 minutes ago, Gridcore said:

It would have been so much easier if AMD just advertised what their "cores" actually were e.g. what task manager says

 

just like intel does 

 

The following statement is based on information presented in the video that @Thermosman posted:

     It seems AMD 'bet' that Microsoft and other software developers would create programs optimized to their design and if that had been done their physical cores would have potentially been more beneficial than the hyper-threaded approach Intel took. That said, it was foolish for AMD to think that these companies would optimize their software for AMD processors when Intel processors have held a majority market share for many years. I'm glad to see that as @Princess Cadence pointed out the newer AMD Ryzen processors have opted for an approach that is more in line with the way current software is written to use cores/threads. Hopefully AMD can continue their recent development strides, I know I am looking forward to see what they come out with in the next few years. I purchased a Ryzen 1700 because of their commitment to keep the AM4 socket for a couple generations, this will make upgrading the MB and CPU separately an option which will be more affordable than needing to replace both at once (though there will be benefits to do so). Intel will most likely change their socket type at least twice during the same time period.