WinXp 64 Supports Dual core

[Sworkhard]

I was at microsoft.com when I came across this

Multiprocessing
Windows XP 64–Bit Edition is designed to support multiprocessing capabilities for maximum performance and scalability, supporting up to two symmetric 64-bit processors.

Here the link
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/evaluation/top5.asp

If this is true in the home edition of winxp 64 then Amd might not have any trouble introducing dual core Athlon 64's.

Edit: This might have been posted before but I don't think so.

 

[epicstruggle]

i wonder who will have dual cores first intel or amd.
epic

 

[mczak]

I was at microsoft.com when I came across this

Multiprocessing
Windows XP 64–Bit Edition is designed to support multiprocessing capabilities for maximum performance and scalability, supporting up to two symmetric 64-bit processors.

Here the link
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/evaluation/top5.asp

If this is true in the home edition of winxp 64 then Amd might not have any trouble introducing dual core Athlon 64's.

This quote seems to refer to the Itanic version of Win XP. I don't think there is a "Home" version available of Win XP 64 for Itanics (it's not exactly a home cpu...).
Though I'm not sure that Win XP for x86_64 (or whatever it's called) will be available as a home version, I would guess not. If not then it surely will support 2 cpus too, just like the "normal" WXP Professional does.
Anyway, dual core (x86) cpus still won't be here for quite some time.

 

[Sworkhard]

This quote seems to refer to the Itanic version of Win XP. I don't think there is a "Home" version available of Win XP 64 for Itanics (it's not exactly a home cpu...).
Though I'm not sure that Win XP for x86_64 (or whatever it's called) will be available as a home version, I would guess not. If not then it surely will support 2 cpus too, just like the "normal" WXP Professional does.
Anyway, dual core (x86) cpus still won't be here for quite some time.

The page that i got to this from was that same page that had the windows AMD 64 beta on it so it must refer to x86_64 version of windows. That it what i presumed anyhow.
BTW does winxp pro support more than two cpu's or only one.

 

[pcchen]

WinXP pro supports two CPU.

 

[PiNkY]

This seems to refer to standard smp, not dual core as two cpus/die.

 

[flf]

Yes, Workstation and Server support 2 processors, and If I remember correctly, Enterprise does 4 (or maybe that was 2K enterprise... maybe 2K3 is 4 for Server Standard) and Datacenter is 8+ processors.

I am pretty sure that it really doesn't matter where those processors are. For example, Hyperthreading emulates two processors in one core, and all 2K, XP, and 2K3 versions are completely happy with "two cores on one chip" as it were.

Essentially, this really isn't news, as it's been a feature of the NT family since it's birth.

 

[Tim]

This seems to refer to standard smp, not dual core as two cpus/die.

From a OS standpoint it does not matter if the cores are on one die or two.

 

[Guden Oden]

This seems to refer to standard smp, not dual core as two cpus/die.

From a OS standpoint it does not matter if the cores are on one die or two.

...Unless the OS manually detects the CPU model and treats it differently on purpose, like WinXP Home does with the P4 northwood with hyperthreading - which from the OS side looks like two physically separate CPUs.

 

[rainz]

I was at microsoft.com when I came across this

Multiprocessing
Windows XP 64–Bit Edition is designed to support multiprocessing capabilities for maximum performance and scalability, supporting up to two symmetric 64-bit processors.

Here the link
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/evaluation/top5.asp

If this is true in the home edition of winxp 64 then Amd might not have any trouble introducing dual core Athlon 64's.

Edit: This might have been posted before but I don't think so.

I hope so. the next generation of Athlon 64 ( 1st Q 2005 ) will be dual core and the future Intel 64 too.

RainZ

 

[mczak]

If this is true in the home edition of winxp 64 then Amd might not have any trouble introducing dual core Athlon 64's.

Edit: This might have been posted before but I don't think so.

I hope so. the next generation of Athlon 64 ( 1st Q 2005 ) will be dual core and the future Intel 64 too.

No. Ruiz said "next year", I doubt we will see it 1st quarter. And that's only for Opteron's - you surely don't want to run XP Home on these boxes? And by the time some "normal" Athlon 64 or intel x86_64 chip will get released Longhorn will already be old...

 

[Sxotty]

So yeah I was wondering how does the hyperthreading thing work if XP home doesn't do two cores?

 

[mczak]

So yeah I was wondering how does the hyperthreading thing work if XP home doesn't do two cores?

Well, Windows XP home not supporting two cpus is a completely artificial restriction - thus it simply allows "2 cpus" when the cpus in question are 2 logical cpus from only 1 "real" HT-enabled P4.
There is no way MS could have done the same trick with W98SE .

(and btw HT-enabled cpus DO require some special attention by the OS, at least in multi-cpu environments. The scheduler needs to know the cpus are not "real", because otherwise it would distribute the load wrong - if there are 2 tasks distributed among 4 logical cpus (2 HT Xeons), then it could assign these 2 tasks to the same physical cpu if it didn't know that some of the cpus share all their execution units. Would still run of course, but performance would not be optimal.)