Simviation Forums

My new computer si there, Installed xp pro and all drivers, but...
It seems XP does only use one core. :-/
An MSI tool showed me that, when Core1 is working about 50%, then Core2 only works about 0,30%. :-/ :-/
What do I need to do? Is this an error that should not be or did I forget something?
I installed the following drivers, nothing more:
-Motherboard dirvers (MSI K9N Neo-F V3)
-AMD drivers (BE-2400)
-Graphic card drivers (MSI 8600GT active cooled variant)
-LAN dirvers, sound drivers.

XP is designed for single core systems. You'll need Vista to make the most of a multiple core

XP is designed for single core systems. You'll need Vista to make the most of a multiple core

I also wanted to buy vista but they didn't have it in their shop so I have to wait, but I wnated to test if the computer works,
so I just used XP.  :-/ :-/

Don't worry, my best friend put XP on his dual core laptop recently and was playing Harry Potter (can't remember which one) and rang me to ask what was wrong with it as the voices kept overlapping and desynchronising with the image

...I always thought "Dual Core" meant an unusual type of Apple containing two middle bits?... ...

...but, obviously, I was wrong... ...!

...arse...!

Paul...Feeling a bit "Fruity"!....(Steve Jobs likes Apples!).... 8-)...!

OK, lets learn something about OS's and software

XP works and uses 1, 2, 4, 8, etc, etc, etc cores as long as you have SP2 installed

The SOFTWARE must use the cores. The OS will ALLOW the use just fine.

Vista is the same way. If you run Vista and the software being used is not multithread you will not see multiple core use

The installed software must be WRITTEN for multiple core use. The XP and Vista operating system BOTH allow 256 cores be polled. Vista just handles the multiple calls better (and to tell you the truth, thats a crock too) and changed how memory management works.

If you want to see both cores in use and verify this, download ORTHOS (stress prime 2004) which is a dual core benchmark/stress test. It will show you in the Task manager both cores are being polled.

Ok, I'll try that prog, which allows me to view both cores in task man but can I assign tasks to the second core with it?

Ok, I'll try that prog, which allows me to view both cores in task man but can I assign tasks to the second core with it?

Windows Task Manager

CTRL-ALT-DEL (on XP pro) and click the PERFORMANCE tab. XP Home will bring up a shutdown box and you must select the task manager button from that first

Assigning tasks is done by clicking the PROCESSES tab, find the application (it must be running) in the list and right click it, select SET AFFINITY
(Affinity means which core is allowed to execute for this application)

Once you reboot or close the application you set affinity on, the affinity defaults back to all cores available.

There are programs that boot with windows which allow the system to remember all affinity settings.

Thank you.  ;)

Orthos is used to make the cores show you they are working in Windows.. its just a stress test not a access software. It loads down CPU0 and CPU1 and you can see it in the task manager. Its used to check the system for stability under high loads and to check if temps are giid under a load.

The Windows task manager will show you the core 'use' display under the PERFORMANCE tab and allow you to make affinity changes under the PROCESSES tab

The reason I posted to use ORTHOS is so you could see WindowsXP will allow the use of all cores just fine and long as the SOFTWARE such as a game or other application is written to use CPU multithreads

Ah okay.thanks!  ;)