Systems and methods for optimizing distributed computing systems are disclosed, such as for processing raw data from data sources (e.g., structured, semi-structured, key-value paired, etc.) in applications of big data. A process for utilizing multiple processing cores for data processing can include receiving raw input data and a first portion of digested input data from a data source client through an input/output bus at a first processor core, receiving, from the first processor core, the raw input data and first portion of digested input data by a second processor core, digesting the received raw input data by the second processor core to create a second portion of digested input data, receiving the second portion of digested input data by the first processor core, and writing, by the first processor core, the first portion of digested input data and the second portion of digested input data to a storage medium.