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An asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP or ASMP) system is a multiprocessor computer system where not all of the multiple interconnected central processing units (CPUs) are treated equally. For example, a system might allow (either at the hardware or operating system level) only one CPU to execute operating system code or might allow only one CPU to ...
Multiprocessing is the use of two or more central processing units (CPUs) within a single computer system. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor or the ability to allocate tasks between them.
Bigger systems were sometimes built with a central processor(s) and some number of I/O processors, a kind of asymmetric multiprocessing. [citation needed] Over the years, multitasking systems have been refined.
A multi-core processor implements multiprocessing in a single physical package. Designers may couple cores in a multi-core device tightly or loosely. For example, cores may or may not share caches, and they may implement message passing or shared-memory inter-core communication methods.
Non-uniform memory access (NUMA) is a computer memory design used in multiprocessing, where the memory access time depends on the memory location relative to the processor. Under NUMA, a processor can access its own local memory faster than non-local memory (memory local to another processor or memory shared between processors). [ 1 ]
Diagram of a symmetric multiprocessing system. Symmetric multiprocessing or shared-memory multiprocessing [1] (SMP) involves a multiprocessor computer hardware and software architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single, shared main memory, have full access to all input and output devices, and are controlled by a single operating system instance that treats all ...
Symmetric multiprocessing system. Systems operating under a single OS (operating system) with two or more homogeneous processors and with a centralized shared main memory. A symmetric multiprocessor system (SMP) is a system with a pool of homogeneous processors running under a single OS with a centralized, shared main memory.
Usually heterogeneity in the context of computing refers to different instruction-set architectures (ISA), where the main processor has one and other processors have another - usually a very different - architecture (maybe more than one), not just a different microarchitecture (floating point number processing is a special case of this - not usually referred to as heterogeneous).