Physical Processors

does anyone know how many physical processors Win 7 will be able to support?

If Win.7 is the same as it has been for past versions of Windows, the answer is "two."

To elaborate, the Home Basic and Starter editions support 1 physical processor, with an unlimited amount of cores. All other editions support 2 physical processors.

Remember, it's processor, then core. A processor consists of cores.

So basically if anyone wants to use a skulltrail or similar motherboard that has more than one cpu socket you can't use home basic or starter....either way it would be weird to spend more money on a dual socket motherboard + money on a second processor and then cut down on the cost of your OS

TechOutsider said:

To elaborate, the Home Basic and Starter editions support 1 physical processor, with an unlimited amount of cores. All other editions support 2 physical processors.

Remember, it's processor, then core. A processor consists of cores.

Just want to say... your right when you say..processor then cores.. but That is not what it says in the system specs when you look it up...
if you have a dual core 1 processor system it says 2 processors. If you have a 2 processor 2 core system it says 4 cores.. and if you have a 2 processor 4 core system it says 8 cores. And if you have 1 freaken intel i7 quad core with hyperthreading it says you have 8 cores!

So when dealing with the way the system specs read it always associates processor with cores! meaning no matter how many cores you have they will be called processors in Windows!


Not to mention I am dealing with this issue right now just like I did with my system when vista came out and so far it appears that even ultimate is not seeing both my processors. It is only seeing 1 processor and 2 cores. But it says that there are two processors. and so did my my system when I had a 4200 AMD dual core. seems confusing because they will not follow processors,then cores. Microsoft calls all the cores processors!

abeeftech, I'm just thinking of something.
You say that Windows 7 says you have "two processors". In other words, it says that you have two physical processors thus 4 cores.

Also, just a test.
Run a benchmark on Vista. Note the results and run the same on 7 and compare. If the results are somewhat near from each other, then, Windows 7 and Windows Vista both sees that you have two physical dual core CPUs and that only the way they name them change.

Also, anothe test :
1. In the Start Orb menu, in the search field, search MSCONFIG and open it.
2. In the START tab, click on "Advanced Options"
3. Check the box "Number of processors"and check the dropdown box. What's the higest number that shows up?