View Full Version : Dual core CPU's and XP Home
Kevinator
05-09-2005, 07:34 PM
Seeing how dual core cpu's are two cpu's in one... and XP Home only supports 1 CPU, has anybody heard anything about Microsoft addressing this, so dual cores will be supported?
I would imagine most of the gamers have the home edition and therefore, unless something changes, they will get hosed and not be able to take advantage of the second core. That would anger a lot of people (including me) seeing how dual core cpu's are the way of the future.
Thoughts? News?
DudeMiester
05-09-2005, 09:28 PM
I think most people have pro. Everyone I know does at least.
DudeMiester said:
I think most people have pro. Everyone I know does at least.
I would like to get XP Pro, but for what I do, I have no use for it. Now dual core CPUs I have a use for, but that would be the only reason to get XP Pro. Stick with XP Home?
Kevinator
05-09-2005, 11:13 PM
DudeMiester,
I think most people have pro. Everyone I know does at least.
I would be surprised if Pro sold more than Home. I wonder if there is a site that tracks info like this. In any case, if Microsoft's answer is to get the professional version, they are going to make a LOT of people angry.
Pro and Home are built from the same OS, they just stripped some features and called it the Home version. There is no reason they couldn't release a service pack or some kind of update that would make use of dual CPU's.
After all, there are dual core CPU's aimed at businesses and then there are dual CPU's for end users such as AMD's X2 series.
In the same respect, XP home is meant for end users and Pro for businesses. It would be very poor maketing on Microsoft's part to force people to use and operating system that they meant for business users in order to take advantage of an end user dual core CPU. What then would the point of Microsoft's end user OS (XP Home)? An end user OS that couldn't run an end user dual core CPU? I hope they are smarter than the "go Pro" answer.
Kevinator
05-09-2005, 11:23 PM
jeffbthomson,
I would like to get XP Pro, but for what I do, I have no use for it.
That's exactly why I have the Home version. I may be an IT Professional to earn a living, but at home, I mainly use my computer for gaming, which leaves no need for the extra features that Pro has.
I use XP Pro at work, but that's because we are in an enterprise networked environment.
Stick with XP Home?
I would, at least until you hear from a credible source that Home will not support dual core CPU's, which as I explained in my post to DudeMeister would make no marketing sense on Microsoft's part.
shiranui
05-09-2005, 11:26 PM
upgrading from home to prof is not that expensive.
Kevinator
05-09-2005, 11:30 PM
shiranui,
upgrading from home to prof is not that expensive.
I'll wait until I hear the news first. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
The 64 bit of Windows XP is only available for Pro, but I sure hope they don't limit dual cores to XP Pro like you said. That would cut off sales of dual core CPUs, because if someone wants to use one, they'd have to get XP Pro. Or, they could go Linux, which is another option, if MS decided to implement dual core support only in XP Pro.
LeadBullet
05-10-2005, 01:27 AM
Most likely I'd think they'd just patch XP Home to take advantage of dual CPU machines after they'd been mainstream long enough. Or maybe they'll figure that by the time the average home user has a dual core CPU, they'll have launched their new OS already. But its not like multi CPU was the only feature difference between Home and Pro.
Though, is a dual core CPU recognized and operated as two CPUs? I thought it was just a single CPU with two cores just to increase speed but otherwise was just used as a single one?
With Dual cores comming, and soon to be commonplace, I can see the base MS OS supoprting "two" cpus. Pro will support more, say 4 procs (or two dual cores, for example), and up from there with the server OSs.
Kevinator
05-10-2005, 07:38 PM
Leadbullet,
But its not like multi CPU was the only feature difference between Home and Pro.
I know, but, being a gamer, Home is perfect for me. And it will continue to be perfect if they patch Home to support dual cores. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Though, is a dual core CPU recognized and operated as two CPUs? I thought it was just a single CPU with two cores just to increase speed but otherwise was just used as a single one?
I don't know 100%, but yes, I believe it will register as two. I have a P4 3.0 Ghz Northwood, which supports hyperthreading. Even though it's a virtual 2nd CPU, XP Home see's it as two CPU's. It lists 2 CPU's in my system information and the task manager, under the performance tab, shows two seperate windows monitoring my CPU"s".
So if a virtual CPU is recognized by Home as an additional CPU, I would image a two real cores would be recognized as two CPU's as well.
I guess MS will do the same as with hyperthreading: The licensing will be for socket count, not processor count. So, if you only have a socket, you can have your 2 processors, if there are more than 1, the rest leaves unused.
8IronBob
05-11-2005, 06:10 PM
The Media Center Edition of Windows XP seems to take advantage of HT Technology quite well. Especially if you have more than one TV Tuner card, and you plan to record one show and watch another, which can require a lot from a CPU, and usually having a good hard drive for storing that MPEG-2, and having a good amount of RAM to be able to watch TV without that herky-jerky effect, too. Especially good if you plan on switching between applications between watching TV and surfing the Internet, or downloading new TV schedules, music, or movies at the same time. MCE 2005 and dual-core chips are a big combination, that's what Bill Gates had in mind for now, up until his 64-bit version of Windows comes about.
Tedades
05-11-2005, 06:22 PM
Most people I know have the Pro, but most people I know are IT involed in some kind...
LeadBullet
05-11-2005, 06:57 PM
Kevinator said:
Leadbullet,
But its not like multi CPU was the only feature difference between Home and Pro.
I know, but, being a gamer, Home is perfect for me. And it will continue to be perfect if they patch Home to support dual cores. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
That was my point though. When I said that multi CPU wasnt the only difference, I meant even if they gave Home multi CPU support, its wouldn't be making Pro useless. So thats why I don't see any reason to not allow XP Home to have support.
Kevinator
05-11-2005, 07:46 PM
Leadbullet,
That was my point though. When I said that multi CPU wasnt the only difference, I meant even if they gave Home multi CPU support, its wouldn't be making Pro useless. So thats why I don't see any reason to not allow XP Home to have support.
I'm sorry if I somehow implied that giving Home multi CPU support would make Pro useless. I just meant that Home is perfect, and will remain perfect as long as they implement dual CPU support, for me because I'm a gamer. Having Pro doesn't give gamers any advantage over those who use Home (with the exception of the rare game that actually supports mulltithreading).
Being in the IT dept, I certainly see the benefits of Pro over Home (I use Pro at work). But in my off time... I browse and game, which is perfect for the Home edition.
Misel
05-17-2005, 04:43 PM
Spyd said:
I guess MS will do the same as with hyperthreading: The licensing will be for socket count, not processor count. So, if you only have a socket, you can have your 2 processors, if there are more than 1, the rest leaves unused.
yup. I could only quote German a news-site which wrote that MS goes over to socket count.
As far as I know XP Home already supports HyperThreading. So it shouldn't be much different with a dual core CPU.
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