[sdiy] SPICE and Processors

[John Loffink]

Support for multi-core processors for a single application is dependent 
on the application's multi-threaded capabilities. As this feature is 
often not advertised, the simplest means to find out is to run the 
application at heavy load on a system and view the performance on the 
Windows Task Manager, called up by CTRL-ALT-DEL and clicking the 
performance tab. For multicore processors you will see a CPU usage 
history for each core. In a single threaded program only one CPU will 
show a change in usage when run. Some multithreaded applications may be 
optimized for dual cores, so a quad core is not necessarily an advantage 
for all multithreaded applications.

I have Proteus also and seem to recall seeing only 2 core usage. 
Currently I can't seem to locate any of the simulations that pushed my 
system to the limit.

John Loffink
The Microtonal Synthesis Web Site
http://www.microtonal-synthesis.com
The Wavemakers Synthesizer Web Site
http://www.wavemakers-synth.com



George Hearn wrote:
> I’ve been doing a lot of analogue spice recently and in particular feeding
> audio into the simulation and generating .wav files from probes.  The
> simulations are incredibly accurate but with a major drawback.. they take
> ages.  10s of audio simulation might take 5 minutes!  
>        So here’s the question, would a multi-core processor speed things
> up?  Is a Core 2 Quad 2.8GHz going to run simulations faster than a Core 2
> Duo 3.0GHz or is it clock rate which counts?  Do SPICE simulator engines
> make use of multi-cores?  I use Proteus for simulation.  Thanks, George
>
>
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