MATLAB: In parallel processing, are multiple workers used for anything else than parfor loops

Question

When using the parallel computing toolbox, are parfor loops required for parallel processing? I plan to use parfor loops, but the most expensive part of my program is SVD, which is performed during each iteration of a loop. Will MATLAB break up the SVD into multiple workers?

Answer 1

Using SVD under a parfor will likely slow the performance of SVD. SVD is inherently multithreaded and make use of multiply cores calling it as it is. Here are a list of function that are inherently multithreaded:

http://www.mathworks.com/support/solutions/en/data/1-4PG4AN/

To comment further on how we could speed up your code, we may need to see more of what you have within the parfor loop.