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WindowsXP Home and duo core

post #1 of 13
9/16/06 at 3:59am
Thread Starter 
I have a dell i6400 duo core and I ordered it with the bog standard version of windowsXP home, now officially XP home does not support two processors. So how does Dell get XP home and for that matter does other laptop manufactures get the system to work properly?
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post #2 of 13
9/16/06 at 5:13am
Windows XP Home supports one CPU. That CPU can have any number of cores. XP Pro supports two CPUs, and again those CPUs can have any number of cores.

Microsoft made sure that this would be possible, right back when Intel introduced HyperThreading (because that also acts like a dual-core CPU).

Essentially, XP Home will work perfectly well with a dual-core CPU - just not a system with two separate CPUs.
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post #3 of 13
9/17/06 at 7:11am
Thread Starter 
I dont buy that arguement, hyperthreading is not 2 discreet processors but a hardware way of using idle time in a processor (single core) to process other bits of data. dual core is two physical processors in a single package, whilst hyperthreading is two logical processors as seen by windows XP home duo core is two legitimate processors as presented to the os
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post #4 of 13
9/19/06 at 1:44pm
atx, as strange as it is.. hyperthreading shows up as 2 meters under xp's task manager..

anyways, yes, home supports multi core cpu's just fine. I also opted for the home version cause I didnt want the overhead crap from the media center edition loaded up.
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post #5 of 13
9/19/06 at 2:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by atxplus
I dont buy that arguement, hyperthreading is not 2 discreet processors but a hardware way of using idle time in a processor (single core) to process other bits of data. dual core is two physical processors in a single package, whilst hyperthreading is two logical processors as seen by windows XP home duo core is two legitimate processors as presented to the os
HyperThreading functions as one physical and one logical core on the processor. It's an efficient way of dividing up the workload better and logically handling multiple threads to improve multitasking. A dual core processor however has two physical cores. It's not two physical processors. The processor could have 32 cores and it would still only be one single processor and it would still work with XP Home.
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post #6 of 13
9/21/06 at 8:07am
Official Microsoft statement on http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/h...multicore.mspx

Q. What is a "processor"?

A. A physical processor is a single chip that houses a collection of one or more cores. A core is a collection of one or more processor threads and a set of shared execution resources. A processor thread is the architectural state within a processor that tracks execution of a software program thread/task.

Q. How does this licensing policy affect products such as Microsoft Windows XP Professional?

A. Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Windows XP Home are not affected by this policy as they are licensed per installation and not per processor. Windows XP Professional can support up to two processors regardless of the number of cores on the processor. Microsoft Windows XP Home supports one processor.
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post #7 of 13
9/21/06 at 11:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by atxplus
I dont buy that arguement, hyperthreading is not 2 discreet processors but a hardware way of using idle time in a processor (single core) to process other bits of data. dual core is two physical processors in a single package, whilst hyperthreading is two logical processors as seen by windows XP home duo core is two legitimate processors as presented to the os
True, but Microsoft don't mind whether the cores are physical or virtual. As the above post shows, XP Home can run one CPU with any number of cores.
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post #8 of 13
9/21/06 at 11:44am
burningrave101,

That depends on your definition of 2 processors. The cores are 2 separate CPU's and have separate logic and some common logic like an l2 cache. So in theory there are 2 processors in the same package with some shared logic. All in all it's 2 different cpu's.
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post #9 of 13
9/21/06 at 5:17pm
XP home supports dual core for both AMD and Intel.
I did a google search and found some comments from both AMD and Intel...

LIP
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post #10 of 13
9/21/06 at 7:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tattooz
burningrave101,

That depends on your definition of 2 processors. The cores are 2 separate CPU's and have separate logic and some common logic like an l2 cache. So in theory there are 2 processors in the same package with some shared logic. All in all it's 2 different cpu's.

Although multiple cores function as having multiple processors it is still from all technical standpoints a single processor that houses two cores. A dual core processor isn't the same as actually having two individual processors of the same speed because two physical single core processors are somewhat faster and consume more power.
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post #11 of 13
9/21/06 at 9:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by atxplus
I dont buy that arguement,


That doesn't make it any less true.
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post #12 of 13
9/23/06 at 11:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by burningrave101
two physical single core processors are somewhat faster

Says who?
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post #13 of 13
9/23/06 at 2:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffMD
Says who?
Says anyone who has tested and benchmarked a system with two processors against one with a single dual core processor of equivalent processor speed. There is a reason why a dual core processor is much less expensive then a multi processor system and why it consumes less power. A dual core processor is much faster then a single core processor in an SMP aware environment but two single processors are still faster then a single dual core processors. That's why dual core =/ two processors.
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