Vista & Dual Processors

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Guest

Hello, I recently installed Vista and I found that since installing I have
only been running at half of my total processing power because Vista won't
use the second processor that is on my mother board.

Does anyone know a way that I can get Vista to recognize and use both
processors?

I am using Vista Home Basic and both of the processors are AMD K8
Processors. Each processor is 1.8GHz for a total of 3.6GHz
 
Upgrade to a version that supports two physical CPUs. Vista Home Basic and
Premium support one physical CPU (unlimited cores) just as XP Home did.
Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise support two physical CPUs
(unlimited cores) just as XP Pro did.
 
My PC: HpM7750N Processor, Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+
is 64 bit, bought last Tuesday and I assumed that the OS would be V.H.P. 64
bit
and was sorry to find that it was not. From what you are saying, I need 64
bit Ultimate to make proper use of the power of this new computer?
 
Will said:
My PC: HpM7750N Processor, Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+
is 64 bit, bought last Tuesday and I assumed that the OS would be V.H.P. 64
bit
and was sorry to find that it was not. From what you are saying, I need 64
bit Ultimate to make proper use of the power of this new computer?
Click to expand...
No. Only for 64bit addressing. Unless you want to use more than 4GB of
RAM, you don't need 64 bit.
 
I do want 64 bit & if what Kerry says is true, I need Ultimate to use the two
processors (Processor, Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+). Is this
correct? Do I go to the place I bought it and simply get Ultimate Dvd(s) that
will upgrade/install everything? will nVidia, Realtek High Def Audio etc., be
compatible?
Do I use or give them my "Upgrade your Windows Experience" DVD that came
with purchase? Lotsa questions, appreciate answers.
 
Will said:
I do want 64 bit & if what Kerry says is true, I need Ultimate to use the
two
processors (Processor, Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+). Is
this
correct? Do I go to the place I bought it and simply get Ultimate Dvd(s)
that
will upgrade/install everything? will nVidia, Realtek High Def Audio etc.,
be
compatible?
Do I use or give them my "Upgrade your Windows Experience" DVD that came
with purchase? Lotsa questions, appreciate answers.
Click to expand...


You have one physical processor with two cores. Any 64 or 32 bit edition of
Vista will work and recognize both cores. You would have to contact the
manufacturer of your computer to see what their policy is on upgrading to 64
bit Vista. With the retail versions the 64 bit media is included with some
editions or available at a nominal cost from Microsoft. OEM versions are
supported by the manufacturer so you have to contact then to see what their
policy is.
 
All Vista versions support dual core processors as dual core.

But only Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate support multiple
*physical* CPU's.
 
Will said:
I do want 64 bit & if what Kerry says is true, I need Ultimate to use the two
processors (Processor, Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+).
Click to expand...

BUT YOU DONT HAVE TWO PROCESSORS. You have one processor with two
cores. Not the same thing.

You don't want 64bit. It's a driver availability nightmare.
Is this
correct? Do I go to the place I bought it and simply get Ultimate Dvd(s) that
will upgrade/install everything? will nVidia, Realtek High Def Audio etc., be
compatible?
Click to expand...
Do I use or give them my "Upgrade your Windows Experience" DVD that came
with purchase? Lotsa questions, appreciate answers.
Click to expand...
Fire up Windows Anytime Upgrade and do it that way. You can purchase an
Ultimate Upgrade online. It downloads a small app which you run then
insert your Windows Vista installation DVD (Doesn't matter which one -
all versions are on it) and run setup whilst keeping the Anytime
upgrade downloaded app open.
 
The X2 processors are supported by all versions. They are dual core, but
on a single package. If there are more than one PHYSICAL processor, then
you would need Ultimate.

And 64Bit does have some driver issues, but it isn't too bad depending
on your hardware. You can ask around and check the manufacturers
websites to see if it is supported yet. All of my hardware was, and it
runs like a dream.
 
Conor said:
You don't want 64bit. It's a driver availability nightmare.
Click to expand...

x64 is not necessarily a driver availability nightmare. I have my
system set up to dual boot x32 and x64, simply because I decided to play
with x64 to see how "bad" it really is. So far all of my hardware is
working, with the one exception of a cheap Promise ATA 133 card. My
Konica-Minolta printer works, epson scanner, HP external dvd writer, 3
external hard drives.....Not a nightmare at all..... Are you running
x64 or just repeating what you may have heard?
 
I am running 64bit and I have no driver issues. Everything works great
except for 1 thing. Adobe hasn't released a 64 bit version of the flash
player yet, so I am still using the 32bit version of IE. No need to dual
boot. Everything screams.. I usually have 2 users logged in at the same time
with Media Center running too.
 
Kerry,

Where does it state this on the retail packaging? Or even the OEM packaging?
I've purchased Home Premium, considering it to be able to use both CPUs I
have and it doesnt, so now I'm stuck with 1/2 of my CPU power, and would have
to spend another $160 to upgrade to Ultimate, when I could have just spent
$199 for the OEM Ultimate version from the beginning, if this were stated
anywhere for anyone to know...

But its not made clear at all. I had to dig into these posts to find out the
reason!
How is this fair?
 
Nobody has said that it is fair.
ChrisMc73 said:
Kerry,

Where does it state this on the retail packaging? Or even the OEM
packaging?
I've purchased Home Premium, considering it to be able to use both CPUs I
have and it doesnt, so now I'm stuck with 1/2 of my CPU power, and would
have
to spend another $160 to upgrade to Ultimate, when I could have just spent
$199 for the OEM Ultimate version from the beginning, if this were stated
anywhere for anyone to know...

But its not made clear at all. I had to dig into these posts to find out
the
reason!
How is this fair?
Click to expand...
 
Well then I'd like my money back so I can get the right product for the
system I have. Can point me to the exchange counter?
 
If true, unbelievable! I am running 2 IBM workstations, 1 w/ 2 dual XEON P4s@
2.8GHZ each & 2 GB of RDRAM w/ Vista Ultimate. Next to it, I have a dual
XEON P3 @1GHZ @2GB RDRAM w/ Vista Home "Premium". I, too, get only one
processor working on the dual Xeon P3; its speed & stability are seriously
compromised. XP Pro and even XP Home run DUAL processors no problem. So
MSFT does not have dual processors enabled in its "Premium" version? I have
spent the better part of an entire day tweaking everything only to discover
that despite buying TWO Vista O/S's, one of them is crippled for what in XP
Pro was a 'given'. This company is out-of-control. Can anyone else verify
if the posting of Kerry Brown is factually accurate? Thank you.
 
Thomas said:
If true, unbelievable! I am running 2 IBM workstations, 1 w/ 2 dual XEON P4s@
2.8GHZ each & 2 GB of RDRAM w/ Vista Ultimate. Next to it, I have a dual
XEON P3 @1GHZ @2GB RDRAM w/ Vista Home "Premium". I, too, get only one
processor working on the dual Xeon P3; its speed & stability are seriously
compromised. XP Pro and even XP Home run DUAL processors no problem. So
MSFT does not have dual processors enabled in its "Premium" version? I have
spent the better part of an entire day tweaking everything only to discover
that despite buying TWO Vista O/S's, one of them is crippled for what in XP
Pro was a 'given'. This company is out-of-control. Can anyone else verify
if the posting of Kerry Brown is factually accurate? Thank you.
Click to expand...


From: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=130


<snip>

Myth: Some versions of Windows Vista won't support dual-core CPUs or
64-bit processors.

Reality: Every Vista version supports dual-core processors, and every
version is available in a 64-bit native version as well.

Part of the confusion rests with the specifications for some fairly
exotic hardware. If you have a PC with multiple physical CPUs - that is,
two or more chips installed on the motherboard - you'll need Windows
Vista Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate to take advantage of both CPUs.
If you install Vista Home Basic or Home Premium, the OS will only
recognize one CPU. That's similar to the way Windows XP works today - if
have a dual-CPU machine, you need to install XP Professional to use both
CPUs
 
Thomas said:
If true, unbelievable! I am running 2 IBM workstations, 1 w/ 2 dual XEON
P4s@
2.8GHZ each & 2 GB of RDRAM w/ Vista Ultimate. Next to it, I have a dual
XEON P3 @1GHZ @2GB RDRAM w/ Vista Home "Premium". I, too, get only one
processor working on the dual Xeon P3; its speed & stability are seriously
compromised. XP Pro and even XP Home run DUAL processors no problem. So
MSFT does not have dual processors enabled in its "Premium" version? I
have
spent the better part of an entire day tweaking everything only to
discover
that despite buying TWO Vista O/S's, one of them is crippled for what in
XP
Pro was a 'given'. This company is out-of-control. Can anyone else
verify
if the posting of Kerry Brown is factually accurate? Thank you.
Click to expand...

XP Home does not support multiple, separate processors. It supports
multiple cores, on a single chip but not multiple processor chips. Same
with Vista Basic and Home Premium.
 
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