Jump to content

Does this mean I have 2 processors?


Recommended Posts

no it doesn't necessarily mean you have 2 x CPUs

it could be one of the Pentium 4s with "hyper threading" which shows up as 2 CPUs but is only one CPU, one core but they take advantage of the rise and fall of the CPU cycle or some crap.

if it's pentium D it's dual core, but not necessarily 2 different CPUs but that's better than a hyperthreading

they made hyper threading CPUs all the way up to 3.0Ghz if i remember correctly, so since yours is 2.8Ghz it could be hyper threading or Pentium D since Pentium Ds were first made in 2.8Ghz variants

best way to find out is with cpu-z as suggested above

to take advantage of dual CPU/dual core you need the professional variants of Windows eg. NT4.0, Windows 2000 professional or above, Windows XP Pro, dunno about vista

XP home, and windows 95/98/ME will not take advantage of dual core and dual CPU. seeing as it's showing up as 2 then you're already running a suitable OS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a story that I have for my dual core processor computer when I first got it.

When I got my present Dell XPS 210 dual core processor computer the above screen is what I had with Task Manager. But the disk drive that I had was giving me imminent warnings of failure and I called Dell about this. They sent me a replacement drive but whether it was failing or not is still a question.

When I installed the replacement drive and allowed the software system to install itself it did not recognize my dual core processor with the Task Manager. I went into the BIOS and it was calling it a multi-processor computer. I called Dell again. They could not believe that I knew enough about it to tell them something was wrong. I keep them on the phone about three hours talking with them working through various things until finally I went into my BIOS and told the system to set itself up for a single processor first then I rebooted twice to ensure that everything was working for a single core design processor. Then I went into the BIOS again and reset it to multi-processor and did the re-boot a couple of times and it re-set everything properly for a dual core computer.

Apparently the replacement drive installation failed at the Windows installation level to recognize the dual processor while the BIOS told me that I have two cores as it actually has.

A quad core would show four cores under that Task Manager window.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well...sorry if I mislead you, I didn't think they had dual-core Pentium 4's, and I do know they have dual CPU motherboards, so I just assumed that's what you had.

I used to work for Dell - their tech support is one of the most complained about services.
Isn't that true about everyone? The tech support is the "front line", so it will always be any tech companies main source of gripes.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't that true about everyone? The tech support is the "front line", so it will always be any tech companies main source of gripes.

possibly, but for dell asia pacific, they moved all the support to bangalore india and there were a lot of complaints about their english being ineligible

the malaysians in penang were a bit better but they only handled sales enquiries!

i don't know if it's still the case now, but IBM and HP still had native english speaking call centres

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yes, business/enterprise customers are a whole different story

but you're also paying more for lesser hardware, so it's to be expected

The laptop I bought for my gf off of small business was significantly cheaper than the same speced consumer version.

Also, I know from personal experience my Lenovo came with XP home, and supported both of my cores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The laptop I bought for my gf off of small business was significantly cheaper than the same speced consumer version.

o rly, sometimes there's overlap but generally business costs more because you're paying for service and "stability" as opposed to cutting edge features like fairy dust.

Also, I know from personal experience my Lenovo came with XP home, and supported both of my cores.

I think you're right there, dual cores are still counted as one CPU. so Home is ok, 2 physically separate CPU packages is not supported.

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.