Difference between core and processor

Question

What is the difference between a core and a processor?

I\'ve already looked for it on Google, but I\'m just having multi-core and multi-processor definition, but it

Answer 1

Let's clarify first what is a CPU and what is a core, a central processing unit CPU, can have multiple core units, those cores are a processor by itself, capable of execute a program but it is self contained on the same chip.

In the past one CPU was distributed among quite a few chips, but as Moore's Law progressed they made to have a complete CPU inside one chip (die), since the 90's the manufacturer's started to fit more cores in the same die, so that's the concept of Multi-core.

In these days is possible to have hundreds of cores on the same CPU (chip or die) GPUs, Intel Xeon. Other technique developed in the 90's was simultaneous multi-threading, basically they found that was possible to have another thread in the same single core CPU, since most of the resources were duplicated already like ALU, multiple registers.

So basically a CPU can have multiple cores each of them capable to run one thread or more at the same time, we may expect to have more cores in the future, but with more difficulty to be able to program efficiently.