How exactly is a dual core different than multiple processors?
There are speed problems in inter-thread communication when the threads are spread cross-processor.
Apps like photoshop don't have a problem with this because many of the tasks are not particularly interactive and usually run to completion. To the extent games are not like this, multiple processors (and multi cores?) they will not be helped.
Anyone know about game-app architecture? I know a bit about windows and multi-processor interaction, all-be-it pretty dated (WinNT drivers for multi-processor machines - windows architecture hasn't changed much since then but the msoft tools/APIs may have).
Speaking of multiple cores, I did some work in the mid 80's with something called a "transputer", which had lots of processors (and you could add banks more) all tied together with what was essentially a store-and-forward network (so sidestepped the whole shared memory issue). Great little machine. Anyone else work on one? I think the FBI is still using one to scan for fingerprint matches (they were really, really good for parallel tasks). Wonder how many processors they have netted together now - I have a hazy recollection of there being an addressing limit of 65536... Oh - did some hypercube and "butterfly" work about then too - anyone else? As I remember the hypercube was an intel project, so maybe it'll get re-incarnated (and maybe that's what lead to hyper-threading, I dunno...).
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