Jump to content

So what's that special thing I gotta do...


Bokishi

Recommended Posts

From what I've read, you stand to get maybe 25% or so better performance with today's software, which usually isn't written with multi-threading code. You do get better performance while running several applications, each being a separate thread, but until software is written to support multi-threading within an application, you won't get much for your money. When multiple threads are present, the operating system can assign them to different processors in a multi-processor environment, thus improving overall performance.

 

It isn't too hard to implement. Music can run in a thread, the sound effects mixer can run in a thread, server and client code can be separate threads, networking can be a thread, input device handling can be a thread, file system management can be a thread, and so on. It requires more advanced programming, and probably compilers, but it'll become standard now that multi-processor systems are becoming more and more popular. Any developer who doesn't code for multi-threading will be yesterday's news.

 

Valve is setting a good example that other game developers would be wise to follow. The Source engine is already well-written and nicely optimized, yet the creators are going the extra mile to support modern hardware. If all goes well in 2007, I'll be playing HL2:Episode 2 on a quad-core AMD system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...