octocore

Octocore is a term used in computing to describe a processor, system-on-chip (SoC), or device that contains eight processing cores. The designation is largely marketing-oriented and does not correspond to a formal standard. An octocore may be implemented as eight identical cores (homogeneous) or as a heterogeneous arrangement that combines different core types for performance and efficiency.

Eight cores enable greater parallelism for multi-threaded workloads, but real gains depend on software, memory bandwidth, and the efficiency of the interconnect between cores. High-performance cores may be paired with efficiency cores in a mixed design, a concept found in modern heterogeneous architectures.

Power and thermals increase with core count, so design tradeoffs include clock speed, caching, and dynamic voltage and frequency scaling. In practice, octocore devices span mobile devices, embedded systems, and some server configurations, with marketing terms varying by vendor.

Because octocore is not a formal specification, performance is best assessed using total system benchmarks and application-level metrics rather than core count alone. Related concepts include multi-core CPUs, octa-core terminology, big.LITTLE architectures, and symmetric multiprocessing.