pentium D830

[sbohdan]

just a question: how do I know if my pentium D830 runs in both dual core and mode and if hyper threading is enabled as well? (I did enable it in bios but the thing doesn't seem to be running better than the 3.2 prescott in my other rig :( )
do I need to install SP2, to have both cores working in windows? (I noticed that the windows drivers in system config are dated 2002, when dual cores were nonexistent)
never had to deal with a dual core before, so I have no experience in that field :?

[gvblake22]

I don't think the 830 supports Hyper Threading. With the Pentium D's (so far) hyper threading is only a feature they included with the EE (Extreme Edition) processors.

It should be utilizing both cores without any tweaks I believe. Do you have SP1 installed? SP2 is prettymuch just the security features and shouldn't have any effect on compatability with stuff. SP1 on the other hand is much more critical.

Hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and see if there are two processor utilization charts in there...

[sbohdan]

thanks blake :D

actually yes I have SP1 but I don't like the SP2, so if I don't have to I won't install it. and no - there is only 1 CPU chart in there :(
so it seems like my suspicion was right and only one is working. what should I do now?
BTW, I thought I read somewhere, that double cores have 2 phisical CPU's and each has hyper threading, making them 4 virtual ones :? :?:

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by sbohdan

thanks blake :D

actually yes I have SP1 but I don't like the SP2, so if I don't have to I won't install it.

Yeah, I'm the same way. I don't like SP2 either, so I refuse to install it. Never had any problems...

Originally Posted by sbohdan

and no - there is only 1 CPU chart in there :(
so it seems like my suspicion was right and only one is working. what should I do now?

HMMMMMMMM, that is really wierd, I don't think I've ever heard of this happening. But then again, I don't have as much experience with the Pentium D processors. Maybe Ranger can shed some light on the subject.
I know that there is some dual core patch for the AMD X2 processors that is supposed to iron out some bugs with the dual cores and WinXP, but I'm not sure if something like that exists for the Intel dual cores. Might be worth a check on the intel website...

Originally Posted by sbohdan

BTW, I thought I read somewhere, that double cores have 2 phisical CPU's and each has hyper threading, making them 4 virtual ones :? :?:

Yes, that is correct. Dual core processors like the Pentium D's offer two physical cores. Hyper Threading technology creates two logical or virtual cores from a single physical core. So your P4 has a single physical core but two logical cores due to HT. The P-D 830 has two physical cores but no HT, so it is just the plain two physical cores. The P-D EE processors have two physical cores with HT enabled, thus creating a "total" of four logical cores.

But I'm not an intel expert, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong :oops: :roll:

[sbohdan]

thanks blake for the info. anyone else knows what is the problem? or how to find out for sure how many CPU's are active in windows :?:

[Capper]

Theres noo HT on the Pentium D 8XX or 9XX processors, except the Extreme Editions.
As to seeing how many cores you have, and if they are working , just right click on the tassk bar and select "task manager", the "performance"....there should be two graphs under "CPU Usage History"

[sbohdan]

the problem is there is only one graph :? :shock:

[Capper]

screenshot?
It would be very strange for one core not to be working......and might be a problem with the motherboard

[Archilochus]

the problem is there is only one graph

Have you tried running 2 intense proggys at once to see if it shows up as 2 processes in task manager?

[gvblake22]

Try CPU-Z. There should be a little drop down list that will list Core 1 and Core 2 at the bottom of the first tab. See if it lists two cores in there.
Maybe post a screen shot with CPU-Z and Task Manager open so we can see what is going on. Also try what Archilochus suggested...