Dual Processor Info

Yes, the OS installs specific files that allow multiprocessor function. You will see these on boot-up, as well as other parts of the OS. When correctly installed, and dual CPU computer will show two CPU charts.

Do a little googling and you should turn up instructions on how to do it manually or maybe MS has a tool to do it. I last did it on NT4, so my info would be outdated.

Next time you install Windows on a computer that may need a multicpu upgrade later, install with the multprocessor switch enabled since it works fine if only one is present. The additional overhead of the mp kernel is negligible. Then the addition of a CPU is truly a drop-in.

Dave

I believe that you need a multiprocessor capable copy of the OS, and need to re-install the OS.

Secondly, according to an older article:

"Hyper-Threading is particularly beneficial when at least two applications are making heavy demands on the processor simultaneously. This can easily occur when you are archiving large amounts of data in the background, while working with your standard office applications in the foreground. Similarly, MPEG-4 encoding of a DVD film can be carried out, while at the same time e-mails can be edited with several browser windows open."

I found this to be the case. When running compute-intensive apps such as FEA separate from Pro-E, both apps worked 'slightly' better with HT on. But for normal operations, all of the apps were slower to begin with. And because I don't task the CPU's at 100% all of the time, I have shut of HT for now.

My mach> I have a Precision 650 with a 3.06 hyperthreading processor running WinXP.

It could be so simple as to check the 'one graph per cpu' option in the task manager options menu. With only 1 graph, if your cpu optimisation never goes over 50% it's fair to assume you're only using 1 cpu. You need XP Pro for 2 cpus - I have it and it works a treat, although in theory it doesn't speed Pro up, it means I can do other stuff at the same time without 1 application bogging down another.

Any time you do big hardware changes, it's not a bad idea to reinstall your os, as you get to update drivers, get rid of junk you don't use etc at the same time.

Hey hey hey.. Hello I m looking for a precision 610 motherboard... so if u want to sell it, i would buy ;-) Actually, i think u need to reinstall your system and patch it with last service pack from microsoft.... regards. Tat. tatinox@[re][move]caramail.com

And the correct answer is.......

Go into Device Manager, expand the Computer button, RMB on the Uniprocessor icon and select Update Driver. Install from a specific location, do a 'Don't Search' and then select the correct type Multiprocessor (ACPI, etc.) DO NOT CHANGE the processor type. If it was ACPI Uniprocessor, select ACPI Multiprocessor. If it was MPS, stay with MPS.

Click finish, and re-boot. You're done. And, man, what a difference.

Regards Peter Brown

Do you have to have a dual processor for this to work?

I had to ask.......

My understanding is this will work fine on single CPU computers as well, but I haven't tested it.

Dave

What is the difference between MPS and ACPI?