The Multi-Threaded List Continues to Grow

When reading opinions on multi-core processors, one common message that some have is that there is no real use for the regular consumer to own one. That might have been true a few years ago, but that statement isn’t entirely true anymore. Developers are continually upgrading their applications to better support multi-threaded operations, and other developers are finally making the code-changes required to take advantage of the huge CPUs.

Intel has sent along a fresh list of popular applications that take advantage of more than four threads, and some might not be that uncommon to you. Where gaming is concerned, some of the top titles on the market right now support Quad-Core processors, and I’m kind of impressed to see the list this large. It intrigues me enough to take a deeper look in the weeks to come. Call of Duty 4 is another one not mentioned… I can vouch for its multi-threadedness.

Other popular applications include encoders of all stripes. We are not talking just about professional applications, but consumer titles like ProShow Gold, TMPGEnc Xpress, Cyberlink Power Director, Sonic Easy Media Creator and more. For those Office buffs, you’ll also be pleased to know that your spreadsheets will calculate much faster on a Quad-Core. No quick refills of coffee for you!

This is by no means a definitive list, but it’s a good look at some of the most popular multi-threaded applications out there.

Gaming
• THQ Relic Company of Heroes
• Sierra World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
• EA Flagship Hellgate: London
• Crytek Crysis (Windows XP only)
• Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed
• Ubisoft Far Cry 2
• Capcom Lost Planet Colonies
• Kingsoft Mission Against Terror
• Midway/Epic Unreal Tournament 3

Mainstream Content Creation
• Sonic Easy Media Creator 10
• Cyberlink Power Director 6 Plus
• ProShow Gold 3.2
• TMPEGEnc XPress 4.4
• Avid Pinnacle Studio 12
• Corel DVD Movie Factory 7
• Cyberlink Power Producer 5
• Cyberlink Power Director 7
• Corel Video Studio X2

Professional Content Creation
• Adobe Photoshop CS3
• Adobe After Effects CS4
• DivX Codec v6.8
• Autodesk 3d Studio Max
• POV-Ray 3.7 Beta 23
• Maxon Cinema v11
• Main Concept Reference Encoder and Decoder v. 1.5
• 3ivx MPEG 4
• Sobey Edit Max 7
• Newtek Lightwave v9.5
• Sony Vegas v8.0b
• Cineform Prospect HD
• Thompson Canopus EDIUS Pro 5

Office Productivity
• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Abbyy FineReader v9.0

Interior Design
• Yuan Fang InteriCAD6000