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

[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.

>-----Original Message-----
>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
>.
>

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

"Chris Lanier" > wrote in message
...
> 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]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups

"Chris Lanier" > wrote in message
...
> 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.
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >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
> >.
> >

[D.Currie]

"Chris Lanier" > wrote in message
...
> 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.

The benchmarks I ran would prove you wrong.

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.
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >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
> >.
> >