Nvidia Says More CPU Cores are Better (and Why)

The more cores the merrier rule also applies to smartphones and other mobile devices.

Today's smartphones have chips inside that can produce output that surpasses that of a Nintendo Wii – which is very impressive for something that fits inside your pocket. But those right now are single-core, and as any computer enthusiast now knows from their desktops and laptops, more cores tend to make for a better computing experience.

The top-end chips inside tablets and smartphones next year will be dual-core, and Nvidia has published a whitepaper on why it will be a great thing not only in terms of performance, but also power consumption.

Essentially, having two cores splitting the work puts less strain on each individual core as compared to having a single core shoulder the entire load. This not only allows for greater performance potential but also a generally lower power draw – provided that both cores aren't under a greater load.

Check out some of Nvidia's charts below for a better idea, and then the full white paper for more details.