Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Duo Quad, and Labview 8.2

[AustinMcElroy]

Hey guys and girls,

I had a quick question concerning Labview 8.2 and multi-core computers.  In Labview 8.0, there was a way to tweak the thread configuration using the Threadconfig.vi.  I cannot seem to find this VI in 8.2.  The question is, does 8.2 use optimum thread configuration for multi-core computers and would there be any benefit in going with a Core 2 Duo Quad over a Core 2 Duo?  Is there any way to tweak the threading in 8.2?  The application is going to be signal processing, mainly FFTs.

Thanks,
Austin

[Riconquistiamola]

Hi Austin,

I checked out the C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.2\vi.lib\Utility\sysinfo.llb for LabVIEW 8.2 and found the threadconfig.vi you mentioned. Using the threadconfig.vi you can define the number of threads launched for each execution system. You'll notice one of the choices for number of threads to launch is "n processors".

I should note that you will rarely need to change these settings since LabVIEW should handle things well by default. LabVIEW 8.2 should work with the OS to determine the best location to run any particular thread. By default, each execution system should be configured to have as many threads as CPUs.

To answer your question, 8.2 doesn't naturally do anything more than allow Windows to optimize thread configuration once the application is running. The threadconfig.vi should give you a bit more control, though.

Michael K. | Applications Engineer | National Instruments