How to: Configure the cost threshold for parallelism Option (SQL Server Management Studio)
Use the cost threshold for parallelism option to specify the threshold at which Microsoft SQL Server creates and runs parallel plans for queries. SQL Server creates and runs a parallel plan for a query only when the estimated cost to run a serial plan for the same query is higher than the value set in cost threshold for parallelism.
To configure the cost threshold for parallelism
In Object Explorer, right-click a server and select Properties.
Click the Advanced node.
Under Parallelism, change the CostThresholdForParallelism option to the desired value. Type or select a value from 0 to 32767.
Use the cost threshold for parallelism option to specify the threshold at which SQL Server creates and executes parallel plans for queries. The cost refers to an estimated elapsed time in seconds required to execute the serial plan on a specific hardware configuration. Only set cost threshold for parallelism on symmetric multiprocessors (SMP).