Whats going on with the #CPU and #Processors fields in various SPEC benchmarks?
In the interest of providing full disclosure information, SPEC’s Open Systems Group has adapted the #CPU field to contain additional information for systems using multi-core and multi-threaded microprocessors. In this new format the #CPUs field identifies: # cores, # chips, # cores/chip [(CPU configuration details)] where: • The term “core” is used to identify the core set of architectural, computational processing elements that provide the functionality of a CPU. • The term “chip” identifies the actual microprocessor, the physical package containing one or more “cores”. • If applicable, a comment may be appended to identify any additional CPU configuration details such as enabling or disabling on-chip threading or the number of on-chip threads present. The intent of using these new terms is to recognize that the terms “CPU” and “processor” have become overloaded terms as microprocessor architectures have evolved. A simple integer value may no longer provide sufficient or consistent ac
