Windows XP Professional, Dual Processor w/ HT...

[Nigel]

I'm trying to figure out how Windows XP Professional will
deal with a dual processor computer where both processors
have Hyper-Threading turned on. Will Windows XP Pro be
able to utilize all 4 processors that it sees or will the
HT stuff just be wasted?

Thanks in advance for any information.

-Nigel

 

[Chris Lanier]

I dont think any motherbaords support dual p4's with HT.
HT does not really act like two processors itself. it's
really just a marketing gimmike. if any motherboard do
support it it would not look like 4 processors and u would
not get speeds anywhere close to what 4 processors would.
HT is just a new technolgy to make ppl spend alot of money
for a non-noticable preformance increase.

 

[Walter Clayton]

XP recognizes the difference between physical processors and HT/virtual
processors. You can in fact run a dual board with a pair of HT enabled P4s
and the system will fully use the processor resources.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

I dont think any motherbaords support dual p4's with HT.
HT does not really act like two processors itself. it's
really just a marketing gimmike. if any motherboard do
support it it would not look like 4 processors and u would
not get speeds anywhere close to what 4 processors would.
HT is just a new technolgy to make ppl spend alot of money
for a non-noticable preformance increase.

Chris,

Hyper threading is most definitely NOT a "marketing gimmick".
A processor with a HT core is able to execute additional instructions then
that of a standard CPU.
The process can provide significant advantages to an application and
supporting OS that can be threaded this way.
If you have a dual proc mother board with 2 HT CPUs installed it does
actually look to the OS like 4 virtual CPUs.
So you see 4 in device manager and other locations where CPU count is
important. However we are aware that they are HT CPUS and not real ones so
we do not shut down a CPU to bring a product back into alignment with the
CPU limit for the package - that is done on physical CPU count for a HT
aware operating system.

As regards OS Support for HT CPUs.
see
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/platform/proc/HT-Windows.mspx

Windows Server 2003 is HT aware as is Windows XP.

So you will see and operate on all 4 virtual CPUs on a dual HT processor
motherboard with Windows XP Professional
--
Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

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