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worth going dual-core for developing apps with GCC / Xcode?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Hi there,
I'm planning to buy a cheap-and-cheerful Mac Mini, for porting my C++ Windows XP applications to Mac OS X. The question is whether to go single- or dual-core, noting that the dual-core model costs about £130 more.
Will build times benefit significantly from the second core? (I know the dual-core model also has a marginally faster clock speed, but that alone doesn't justify the extra £130 to me!)
I won't be running any other applications apart from Tiger's IDE. I'm solely interested in speeding up compilation, as build times are expected to be in the order of several minutes. If I'm looking at a 30%+ reduction in build times, I'll consider going dual core, but if the compiler isn't specifically designed to scale to multiple cores, I probably shan't bother.
My research so far in this matter has had mixed results. There's very little info on this subject on the internet, but I did find one guy who claimed his build times were vastly increased when he disabled one of the CPUs on his MacBook Pro. Curiously however, the Apple sales team (of all people!) suggested there was no point getting a dual core CPU if I was only running one application at a time. (A claim I'm taking with a pinch of salt -- surely it depends whether the build process is inherently multithreaded?)
I'd really like to know the definitive answer before I part with my cash, as one can't (easily) upgrade the CPU on the Mac Mini.
I'd also be interested to hear whether anyone has experience of compiling C++ on equivalent Macs with differing amounts of RAM. I'm debating whether it's worth getting more than 1 gig, given that there should be few, if any, applications running in the background. Again, the Apple sales team don't seem too clued up on this matter!
Thanks in advance.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: May 2003
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xcode/gcc can do parallel builds. I would think that having more than one core would increase your build times.
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I am now going to tell the computer what he can do with a life-times supply of chocolate.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2001
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I think you mean decrease, not increase.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Hehe, yes I did guess that's what he meant. 
Thanks for the advice KEL9000. I think I shall go for the dual-core CPU. 
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Tempe, AZ
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Build times are basically cut in half on my dual-core. I'm in love with it, as a full compile takes about 10 minutes on a single core.
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Geekspiff - generating spiffdiddlee software since before you began paying attention.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2006
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It sounds pretty definitive! I think somebody needs to mention it to the Apple salespeople though...
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Considering most users don't know what a compile is (or a core for that matter), I doubt it would be much of a selling point.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
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Originally Posted by GHarrop
It sounds pretty definitive! I think somebody needs to mention it to the Apple salespeople though...
Apple salespeople are kind of a mixed bag. I've talked to some who could go on about technical stuff for hours, and then others are like, "Yeah, it's got, like, several gigahertz. That's what they told me."
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Chuck
___
"Instead of either 'multi-talented' or 'multitalented' use 'bisexual'."
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