Windows XP and X2 processors

[CFster]

Can regular 32bit XP take advantage of X2 processors in regular everyday tasks?

How do you know if both cores are being utilized?

 

[drwngflies]

Yes, they work well with both single core appls and multi core appls.
As for knowing what core is handling what process, I use Process Explorer:
http://www.sysinternals.com/ProcessesAndThreadsUtilities.html
Select: System Info> and show one graph per CPU
http://img488.imageshack.us/my.php?image=prox3qk.jpg]

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[CFster]

Interesting. I downloaded it and found that it's splits a lot of tasks between the cores on the fly - effectively doubling the speed if you're running multiple tasks?

Is there a way to assign a process to a particular core?

 

[CFster]

Ah, I see - right click and choose "Set Affinity" on a process in Windows Task Manager. You can then choose the processor. But you have to do it every time you start the program. Is there some kind of command line variable that allows you to do it every time?

 

[drwngflies]

It;s not a wise practice to set afffinity for Windows components, prior to it's startup, can cause more trouble than the time spent setting them after it loads, than it's worth.
(sorry run-on sentence, but you get my point)
Best to let Windows finish, then set affinity. I'm sure there are ways to config them, but I haven't researched it.
I only have 30 running processes, at start, so it doesn't take long.

 

[evilharp]

Originally posted by: CFster
Ah, I see - right click and choose "Set Affinity" on a process in Windows Task Manager. You can then choose the processor. But you have to do it every time you start the program. Is there some kind of command line variable that allows you to do it every time?

There are 3rd party apps that allow this (Rope, Runfirst, etc...).