Multicore Processors

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Martin
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Bill Martin

My (mis?)understanding of multicore processors is that the software sees
them the same as a multiprocessor board. Is this true?

I ask because I thought that only XP Pro could handle multiprocessor boards,
not XP Home. Yet I see people selling multicore processors with XP Home.

Can someone tell me how this all fits together? If I get a multicore
processor with XP Home is it fully functional? I assume that a dual core
processor will not run 2x the speed of a single core, but will it run 50%
faster with "typical" office loading? (i.e. not games)

Thanks.

Bill
 
Multicore CPUs and Multiprocessor motherboards are different things
altogether. 2 Multicore CPUs on a multiprocessor board will be seen as 4
CPUs and only by XP Pro. 1 multicore CPU on a single processor board will
be seen as 2 CPUs by both XP Home and XP Pro.
 
XP Home will see it as 2 processors, the same as XP Pro. XP Home
supports 1 processor and XP Pro supports 2 processors but Multicore
processors are treated as a single processors for licensing purposes.
With XP Pro supporting 2 processors, with 2 multicore processors you
would have 4 processors, about as much as anyone would ever need in a
home machine! And indeed, 2 processors don't make the pc twice as fast,
you have it about right that the machine would be about 50% faster. To
get a 100% increase you would need 4 processors!

John
 
Bill said:
My (mis?)understanding of multicore processors is that the software
sees them the same as a multiprocessor board. Is this true?
Click to expand...


Yes, but it can tell the different between it and two separate processors.

I ask because I thought that only XP Pro could handle multiprocessor
boards, not XP Home.
Click to expand...


Yes, but see above.

Yet I see people selling multicore processors
with XP Home.
Click to expand...


Yes, they work with XP Home.

Can someone tell me how this all fits together? If I get a multicore
processor with XP Home is it fully functional?

Yes.


I assume that a dual
core processor will not run 2x the speed of a single core,

Correct.


but will
it run 50% faster with "typical" office loading? (i.e. not games)
Click to expand...


I have no statistics to quote, but what speedup you get will vary greatly
depending on what specific apps you run--I don't know that there is any
"typical." My guess is that you will seldom, if ever, see as much as a 50%
speed increase.
 
Thanks to all of you. If I understand correctly, multi-core is identical to
multi-processor from the software view. However, for it's own licensing
reasons Microsoft chooses to distinguish between multi-core and
multi-processor under XP -- not that there's any inherent difference in the
software interface. True?

The situation I'm working with is a combination of normal browsers, e-mail,
etc., that run happily on a single processor plus an Excel program crunching
VBA in the background for hours on end that bogs down everything else.

Can one manually tell XP to run these processes on core A and that one on
core B, or will XP just put them where it sees fit?

Bill
------------------------
 
My (mis?)understanding of multicore processors is that the software sees
them the same as a multiprocessor board. Is this true?

I ask because I thought that only XP Pro could handle multiprocessor boards,
not XP Home. Yet I see people selling multicore processors with XP Home.

Can someone tell me how this all fits together? If I get a multicore
processor with XP Home is it fully functional? I assume that a dual core
processor will not run 2x the speed of a single core, but will it run 50%
faster with "typical" office loading? (i.e. not games)
Click to expand...

A multi-core CPU comes in two flavors, with and without HyperThreading.
That means that a single HT enabled multi-Core CPU would be seen as 4
CPU's in the performance graph. A single non-HT enabled multi-Core CPU
would be seen as 2 CPU's in the performance graph.
 
A multi-core CPU comes in two flavors, with and without HyperThreading.
That means that a single HT enabled multi-Core CPU would be seen as 4
CPU's in the performance graph. A single non-HT enabled multi-Core CPU
would be seen as 2 CPU's in the performance graph.
Click to expand...
 
You are right, there is nothing different from an interface standpoint.

If you want to tell a certain app to use a certain processor, just got to
the handy dandy task manager and right click the process and choose "set
affinity". It is self explanatory from there.

Can't discern what process to choose?
Right click the program on the applications tab and click on "go to
process".

But, generally speaking, the load balancing that the OS does is usually
quite sufficient.
--
Manny Borges
MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
MCT, Certified Cheese Master

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who do understand binary
and those who don't.
 
Thanks Manny...

Bill
---------------------
Manny Borges said:
You are right, there is nothing different from an interface standpoint.

If you want to tell a certain app to use a certain processor, just got to
the handy dandy task manager and right click the process and choose "set
affinity". It is self explanatory from there.

Can't discern what process to choose?
Right click the program on the applications tab and click on "go to
process".

But, generally speaking, the load balancing that the OS does is usually
quite sufficient.
--
Manny Borges
MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
MCT, Certified Cheese Master

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who do understand binary
and those who don't.
Click to expand...
 
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