Response time

The response time of a particular program in an SMP system is dependent on several factors.

• The process-concurrency level of the program. If the program consistently has two or more dispatchable threads, its response time will probably improve in an SMP environment. If the program consists of a single thread, its response time will be, at best, comparable to that in a uniprocessor of the same speed.
• The amount of lock contention of other instances of the program or with other programs that use the same locks.
• The degree of processor affinity of the program. If each dispatch of the program is to a different processor that has none of the program's cache lines, the program may run more slowly than in a comparable uniprocessor.