Laptops What is a co-processor?

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I've got an AMD Athlon X2 laptop, and among the list of drivers for XP, there is an AMD co-processor driver. I haven't installed it. But I don't get any warnings either. What is a co-processor? And do I have to install that driver? What difference would it make if I don't? :S

 

[Kumar]

you don't need to install any drivers for CPUs except for Cool 'n Quiet. The co-processor is actually a part of the CPU die and is meant to do mathematical caliculations just as a GPU does graphics.

no need to install any drivers...and if one is needed, XP will take care of it.

 

[sydras]

I don't know what it means in today's terms but back in the days of the AT processors (80286, 80386) there used to be independent co-processor chips to be installed on a mobo socket for additional floating point unit (FPU) mathematical computations for certain applications.

I recall in my early days that if you wanted to run CAD (an engineering design program) on say an 80386, one would require an 80387 co-processor chip installed. This was done away with the 80486 i.e. it had integrated FPU capability.

Maybe it has something to do with the dual cores of today.

 

[KingKrool]

Ok, so once upon a time it meant the floating point unit (which was called x87). But that has been integrated into the main processor for over a decade now (ever since the 486, but really with the Pentium).

NOW, coprocessor refers to AMD's torrenza technology. Since you don't have a server, you can ignore it.