Multi Processors, Their Memory Organizations and Implementations by Intel & AMD

Multi-core processors represent a major evolution in computing technology and are becoming very popular today. Multi-core processors will eventually become the pervasive computing model because they offer performance and productivity benefits beyond the capabilities of today's single-core processors. This paper initially looks at the motivation and the advantages offered by multiprocessors over uni processors. The authors then look at the multiprocessors' memory organizations, cache coherence and its implementations by today's leading chip manufacturers Intel and AMD and how they deal with these problems.