Dual core/multiple processors not recognised by system

Hello everyone, could someone point me in the right direction here. I remember when running vista a rumour that when vista was installed on systems it didnt recognise dual or multiple processors on the boot.ini tab in the msconfig boot advanced options. I have checked this with windows seven and again the same has happened. i enter the msconfig. select boot.ini tab. click on advanced options and see that only 1 processor is recognised. My system has a dual core processor so have changed this value to 2 and applied settings. I have noticed an even quicker startup time and when i run multiple programs ie Photoshop and itunes there is no system slow down. Has anybody else expierienced this, does anybody know if this would affect quad core processors. any feedback would be appriciated. Thanks

woah slow down there Too fast! and welcome to sevenforums,

the advanced boot.ini tab is only used if you need to turn cores off for whatever reason. by default, all your processors/cores will be used. you say that only one was recognised before you changed it to two - was the box also ticked at that time?

you can always see how many cores windows is using, by starting up taskmanger (ctrl-alt-del or ctrl-shift-esc) then check the performance tab.

i've got a dual-core processor, and both were enabled and used by default - are you sure about these performance gains?

Hi Mickey, Yes after installing windows seven from vista i looked at msconfig. the box wasnt ticked and i could only see the value of one processor showing. I ticked the box and changed the value to 2 and saved the setting.

Yes on task manager it shows i have two processors running. I wouldnt say that the start up time is substantial but i have noticed a slight performance increase, may it be slightly marginal. This has been noticed when multitasking.

Wonder why windows didnt recognise the processor values in the first place? strange! Maybe my system needs an upgrade as it is 4 years old now. My system rating is 4.9 on windows, which is the same as what vista rated it.

As for the rumour about the boot tab and performance gain. It was from a computer tech advisor 3 years ago after i installed vista on my machine. There was also a clip on you tube about it also. whether it is true or not im not sure.

i'm sure it's not true - one of those cyberspace legends.

as you say the box wasn't ticked, so the setting wasn't actually in use.

but don't let me stop you believing you now have a faster system. :)

hi mickey, i looked on you tube and found a link to something like what the tech told me. have a look see what you think.

look on you tube and search for Speed up Vista- Part 9 (Advanced Boot Options).

What you are experiencing is the placebo effect.

i'm sure someone at microsoft would have realised by now that they've been severely limiting the power of their users' machines for the last few years.

i least, i hope so.

I agree mickey,

Too fast, you can do a simple test by using a multi-core CPU benchmark before and after toggling the msconfig setting. (something like super_pi_mod or Cinebench)

I think you will find that it didn't actually improve anything after all.

mickey megabyte said:

woah slow down there Too fast! and welcome to sevenforums,

the advanced boot.ini tab is only used if you need to turn cores off for whatever reason. by default, all your processors/cores will be used. you say that only one was recognised before you changed it to two - was the box also ticked at that time?

you can always see how many cores windows is using, by starting up taskmanger (ctrl-alt-del or ctrl-shift-esc) then check the performance tab.

i've got a dual-core processor, and both were enabled and used by default - are you sure about these performance gains?

Weird.............
I have 8-cores and I thought they were all being utilised.....
I went to MS-Config and advance boot options and the Multi Core box was unticked.........
Ticked it and selected 8 Cores, restarted. My PC is suddenly a hell of a lot faster!

ZeshanA