Does Win7x64 Home Premium support dual physical CPU's (Xeon 3.4) with HT - only see two graphs in CPU monitor.

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Does Win7x64 Home Premium support dual physical CPU's (Xeon 3.4) with HT - only see two graphs in CPU monitor.

Anonymous

I have a Dell Precision 670 workstation with dual Xeon 3.4 GHz CPUs each with Hyperthreading. I have installed Windows 7 x64 Home premium and now can only see two CPUs/cores in the system monitors backed up by the regsitry output. Does this mean that Dual physical processors or hyperthreading is not supported by Home premium. I didn't see this referred to in any of the official literature that I read (and I thought that all flavours supported two physical CPUs). Can you clarify whether it is Dual CPU support or lack of HT support for my processors (I think they are Prescotts from memory).

Here is the output of a registry query, it seems only to list the two physical CPUs and not the HT virtual cores.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]

C:\Users\Sandy>reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralP

rocessor\ /s

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor\0

Component Information REG_BINARY 00000000000000000000000000000000

Identifier REG_SZ Intel64 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 1

Configuration Data REG_FULL_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF000000

0000000000

ProcessorNameString REG_SZ Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.40GHz

VendorIdentifier REG_SZ GenuineIntel

FeatureSet REG_DWORD 0x21193ffe

~MHz REG_DWORD 0xd3f

Update Signature REG_BINARY 0000000017000000

Update Status REG_DWORD 0x6

Previous Update Signature REG_BINARY 0000000017000000

Platform ID REG_DWORD 0x1

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor\1

Component Information REG_BINARY 00000000000000000100000000000100

Identifier REG_SZ Intel64 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 1

Configuration Data REG_FULL_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF000000

0000000000

ProcessorNameString REG_SZ Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.40GHz

VendorIdentifier REG_SZ GenuineIntel

FeatureSet REG_DWORD 0x21193ffe

~MHz REG_DWORD 0xd3f

Update Signature REG_BINARY 0000000017000000

Update Status REG_DWORD 0x6

Previous Update Signature REG_BINARY 0000000017000000

Platform ID REG_DWORD 0x1

C:\Users\Sandy>

UPDATE:-

I have confirmed (by turning things on and off in the bios) that in Task Manager, msinfo and CUP-z I am just seeing 1 physical processor with 2 Threads. BUT in Device Manager I do see all Processors & cores (4) and all report that they are working normally. So methinks there is some communication missing between the user end of things and what is seen in the Device Manager. I have tried the msconfig option to force 2 processsors but that made no difference.

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8 additional answers

Answer 1

Anonymous

You need Pro to see two physical CPU slots, dual or not.

Rating posts helps other usersMark L. Ferguson MS-MVP

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Answer 2

I got here from google and have the same problem: Only one socket of my dual opteron system is working. It would have only cost me $35 more at newegg to get the pro version of window 7. I just checked the anytime upgrade and micro$oft wants $89 additional for the same thing.

Lets see, I have only had this software for 4 days. Maybe I can return it to newegg, get a refund, and get the pro version for $35 more. Alternately, one of my kids just downloaded the $15 version of 7 ultimate thru texas a&m. He only has one cpu on his laptop. Maybe I can trade my home premium for his ultimate 7?

Answer 3

Joseph,

I agree with you about your October 26th blog regarding Windows 7 not supporting 2 physical processors. I had to upgrade 2 times with Vista to get 64 bit that supported 2 dual core processors. I didn't want that to happen again so I found a place where MS says that they support 2 processors and the retail guy assured me that it's been updated even though not a word, again, was mentioned on the box. There are so many computer savy people out there and MS still tries to sell their stuff with pretty pictures. One of the tech support guys at Windows told me that both processrs were working because it combined the two into one on my CPU usage widget. What were your results?

Thanks,

Holysam50

Answer 4

Your comment, "you need Pro (windows 7) to see two physical CPU slots, dual or not. After fumbling my way through this problem for several hours I'm confused by your words "to see". Someone at tech support told me that both of my dual core processors were working even though nothing I've seen on my computer verifies this. System info, task manager, and a third party application all say that I have one physical processor and two logical processors i.e. only half of my workstation seems to be working. I went through this same hassel with Vista in order to get 64 bit processing on my dual dual-core system having to do two upgrades. So what's the scoop? Are they working or do I have to upgrade again?

Thanks for your Time,

Holysam50

Answer 5

It would be nice if they posted this restriction on the comparison pages at microsoft.com as well as the box of the software. It is totally setup as a gotcha now fork out more cash deal.

Several sites have posted info the contrary that home premium would support 2 physical CPUs. No official looking information on the MS site. I installed Windows 7 on my mac and it only saw the one.. So I have to hunt down the issue was. Then fork out another $90 bucks for a upgrade.

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Does Win7x64 Home Premium support dual physical CPU's (Xeon 3.4) with HT - only see two graphs in CPU monitor.

8 additional answers