Multitasking helped by Win64 for Smithfield 820

Hey-

I can't figure this out, do I really need to upgrade to XP Pro 64 to take advantage of my new Smithfield 820? Mostly I am wondering if I need to use it to run most of the background tasks and current threads using the different cores.

Thanks

Jake

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JakeDeez

Hey-

I can't figure this out, do I really need to upgrade to XP Pro 64 to take advantage of my new Smithfield 820? Mostly I am wondering if I need to use it to run most of the background tasks and current threads using the different cores.

Thanks

Jake

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It can definately be improved. I've had a few instances where my computer hung for 10 seconds or so when I clicked on a realtime task with affinity set to CPU2. The first CPU was not even being touched.

Eric

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ewitte

It can definately be improved. I've had a few instances where my computer hung for 10 seconds or so when I clicked on a realtime task with affinity set to CPU2. The first CPU was not even being touched.

Eric

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But I mean, will xp pro 64 help with that? Or do you already have it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JakeDeez

Hey-

I can't figure this out, do I really need to upgrade to XP Pro 64 to take advantage of my new Smithfield 820? Mostly I am wondering if I need to use it to run most of the background tasks and current threads using the different cores.

Thanks

Jake

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The OS will handle the threads for you. As long as Windows is seeing the multiple cores, then you have nothing to worry about.

The 64-bit architecture and dual-core architecture are two separate features of that CPU. The dual core will work in anything but XP Home (for now), but you need a 64-bit OS to take advantage of the larger addressable space and to run 64-bit apps.

So the short answer is: Upgrade to x64 if you want, but you don't have to. You should be plenty happy with XP Pro and that processor.