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I am trying to compare how an i7 dual core 2.7Ghz would perform vs. an i7 quad core 2.0Ghz in a multitasking environment. The quad core scores at around 9000 while the dual comes in at around 7500 (for Geekbench). At the same time, Geekbench explicity specifies that the tests show the full performance potential of all the cores. However, in real world, everyday use, almost none of the application I would be running are multi-threaded (Ruby runtime, Java IDE, Windows VM on mac, app server).

This machine would server as a web development machine. Which cpu would be most "snappy" in terms of response time in this use case?

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  • Really?!?!?! Ruby runtime, Java IDE, Windows VM, and app servers are not multi-threaded? Commented Nov 11, 2011 at 21:21
  • Ruby certainly not. Java, depends on the implementation. Commented Nov 11, 2011 at 22:05
  • The Java runtime spawns multiple threads even if you have just a main function let alone an entire IDE... I'm not familiar with Ruby runtime, but I would bet it has multiple threads too. However, even if they're all single-threaded, you would still benefit from multiple cores if you run each app on its own core. Commented Nov 11, 2011 at 22:34
  • Lirik, thanks for the answer. You are probably right. However, let me inquire further. While each process can run on its own core, most apps are idle (or use almost no cpu cycles) when they are not being actively used (ie. in the background), or? Commented Nov 12, 2011 at 0:32
  • @Jason, yes, I think it's typical for a development machine to sit idle, waiting to the programmer to write some more code :) Commented Nov 12, 2011 at 13:31

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Results of a benchmark have any practical meaning only if the benchmark very closely approximates your typical workload.

You should consider whether your typical development environment regularly calls for parallelism. For example, if I develop a C/C++/Java app it's common that a header file (or Java source) change to cause several other files to be recompiled and a few binaries to be relinked - that's a highly parallel workload and many-core CPU may prove advantageous.

On the other hand, if I'm changing a few Python or Javascript sources, I doubt I will create any parallel workload when I try to execute and test the changes.

However, these are theoretical considerations.

I don't think the speed of the machine is a bottleneck in any development effort. The human is.

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The trick in my case is the figure out if a lower clocked quad (2.0Ghz) will out-perform a higher clocked dual (2.7Ghz). Not easy, unfortuantely. I will mostly be programming in dynamically typed languages, so no compiling is needed.
Also, my concern was mostly how multitasking would be affected not how a single app would be affected.

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