Can Intel Core 2 support 8 cores?

[Uri]

In Chessbase, it's written that Shredder used 8 x 3.16Ghz Intel Core 2. But how is it possible if Intel Core 2 supports only up to 4 cores?

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4935

[hgm]

How do you mean, 'supports only 4 cores'? I thought that for any Intel CPU since the Pentium you can cram as many CPU's on board as you want. Apple has been selling a workstation with 8 Core-2 cores for more than a year.

[Uri]

How do you mean, 'supports only 4 cores'? I thought that for any Intel CPU since the Pentium you can cram as many CPU's on board as you want. Apple has been selling a workstation with 8 Core-2 cores for more than a year.

But do you know how?

[M ANSARI]

It is a dual socket motherboard that can use 2 Xeon Quadcore cpu's. So 2 x 4 = 8 cores ... simple math.

[Uri]

It is a dual socket motherboard that can use 2 Xeon Quadcore cpu's. So 2 x 4 = 8 cores ... simple math.

Thanks a lot for the reply Ansari.

Do you also know what was the setup of the 40-core Rybka?

[bob]

In Chessbase, it's written that Shredder used 8 x 3.16Ghz Intel Core 2. But how is it possible if Intel Core 2 supports only up to 4 cores?

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4935

You could do a dual quad, or a quad dual-core, or even a single-cores.

[M ANSARI]

It is a dual socket motherboard that can use 2 Xeon Quadcore cpu's. So 2 x 4 = 8 cores ... simple math.

Thanks a lot for the reply Ansari.

Do you also know what was the setup of the 40-core Rybka?

It was 5 dual socket motherboards connected by 1GB ethernet with each motherboard using 2 x Xeon CPU's with 8GB RAM running anywhere from 3Ghz to 4.2 Ghz. This gives 40 cores with a minimum speed of 3 Ghz. I think the number of cores can be a little misleading since it seems that the system used was a "passive" cluster. This means that one Master motherboard was running with the other motherboards acting as slaves. I am not exactly sure what the setup was but I do know that it was done in a way where it would play at least as strong as an 8 core Skulltrail 4.2 Ghz. I am sure this first version of cluster Rybka will be dramatically improved as more aggressive settings are made ... as it is the 40 cores are probably not being used very efficiently.