Confussed about core/thread support

Just build a new PC Just looking before I leap...new PC final thoughts.& want to get the most out of it. I have transferred Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit & do have an 64-bit video editing software & would like to take advantage of all 4 cores & threads.

From reading this, Windows 7 editions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia my understanding is Home Premium supports one CPU while Professional & Ultimate support up to 2 CPUs. There's no mention of cores or threads.

If I had dual quad CPUs I could see the need for Win 7 Professional ($89 upgrade) but maybe I'm misinterpreting. Does Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit utilize all 4 cores & threads or do I need an upgrade?

If your PC has one processor, no matter how many cores in that one processor then it has only one processor.

The Limit is for the number of physical CPUs not cores.

To put it differently, Pro or higher is needed to support two CPU sockets.

I'm running Win7 X64 Home Premium with an I7-970. It has 6 physical cores and supports hyperthreading, so it shows up in Win7 with 12 CPUs. (Don't ask what benefit I receive from that.)

Thanks. That helps.

There are motherboards (server boards only I believe these days and some have more than just 2) that have two CPU sockets...has nothing to do with CPU core/thread counts. A regular home PC will have one CPU socket.

Yep, always consider sockets, not cores or threads. That's the easiest way to avoid confusion.