1. A method implemented by a network device having a symmetric multi-processing (SMP) architecture, the method to improve response time for processes implementing routing algorithms in a network, the method to manage core assignments for the processes during a network convergence process, the method comprising the steps of: determining a number of interrupts or system events processed by a subset of cores of a set of cores of a central processing unit; identifying a core within the subset of cores with a lowest number of interrupts or system events processed; and changing an affinity mask of at least one process implementing the routing algorithms during the network convergence to target the core within the subset of cores with a lowest number of interrupts or system events processed.