I7 intel cpu showing 7 cores?

[ikester7579]

At my church we have a custom computer set up to do video editing. It has a ASUS p6t mobo, and a ATI 7800 graphics card. And a I7 4 core cpu. And runs windows 7 and is a 64 bit OS. When I go into the hardware manager and click on cpu, it shows 7 drivers as if there are 7 cores. My only conclusion is that some how the cores in the video card are being recognized as cpu cores. Which would explain the extra drivers that show up. But I want to make sure of this is okay and also make sure that this is supposed to be this way or is this something that needs to be fixed?

Also if I go into the task manager and click on affinity it also shows 7 cores.

[shepherdsword]

At my church we have a custom computer set up to do video editing. It has a ASUS p6t mobo, and a ATI 7800 graphics card. And a I7 4 core cpu. And runs windows 7 and is a 64 bit OS. When I go into the hardware manager and click on cpu, it shows 7 drivers as if there are 7 cores. My only conclusion is that some how the cores in the video card are being recognized as cpu cores. Which would explain the extra drivers that show up. But I want to make sure of this is okay and also make sure that this is supposed to be this way or is this something that needs to be fixed?

Also if I go into the task manager and click on affinity it also shows 7 cores.

Device manager reads info from the reg key HKLM\Hardware. If a driver makes several entries into this key then DM will show multiple entries. I wouldn't worry about it unless there is a yellow ! beside one of them.That is unlikely since those are usually caused by legacy hardware interrupts and DMA channels. Win 7 orchestrates all of those pretty much to perfection.

So my opinion? Fogetta bout it!

[Reynolds357]

At my church we have a custom computer set up to do video editing. It has a ASUS p6t mobo, and a ATI 7800 graphics card. And a I7 4 core cpu. And runs windows 7 and is a 64 bit OS. When I go into the hardware manager and click on cpu, it shows 7 drivers as if there are 7 cores. My only conclusion is that some how the cores in the video card are being recognized as cpu cores. Which would explain the extra drivers that show up. But I want to make sure of this is okay and also make sure that this is supposed to be this way or is this something that needs to be fixed?

Also if I go into the task manager and click on affinity it also shows 7 cores.

I am not up on computers as much as I used to by, but I think you are looking at threading instead of cores. The i7 is a quad core, but it can handle many more threads than 4 using hyperthreading.

[Beckrl]

I am not up on computers as much as I used to by, but I think you are looking at threading instead of cores. The i7 is a quad core, but it can handle many more threads than 4 using hyperthreading.

Yeah you would be correct the i7 has 4 cores and adds virtual cores. So there's no problem.

[ikester7579]

Yeah you would be correct the i7 has 4 cores and adds virtual cores. So there's no problem.

So under cpu in device manager it going to show thread drivers instead of core drivers? I did not realize that threads require drivers.

[shepherdsword]

So under cpu in device manager it going to show thread drivers instead of core drivers? I did not realize that threads require drivers.

They don't but there will be an entry in HKLM\Hardware for each one.This is because each thread needs a connecting DLL file(API-MS-Win-Core-ProcessThreads-L1-1-0.dll)The plug and play bios's will request an I/O for each thread and this results in multiple entries in the reg key.The chipset driver is only installed once but the entry in HKLM\Hardware connects each process thread in the hardware abstraction layer to the kernel( windows has no real kernel in the unix sense so it is kernel32.dll) In windows 7 kernel32.dll statically links to these files:


API-MS-Win-Core-RtlSupport-L1-1-0.dll
ntdll.dll
KERNELBASE.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-ProcessThreads-L1-1-0.dll **(here is where the multiple entries in the reg key and device manager come into play)**
API-MS-Win-Core-Heap-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-Memory-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-Handle-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-Synch-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-File-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-IO-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-ThreadPool-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-LibraryLoader-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-NamedPipe-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-Misc-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-SysInfo-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-Localization-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-ProcessEnvironment-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-String-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-Debug-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-ErrorHandling-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-Fibers-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-Util-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Core-Profile-L1-1-0.dll
API-MS-Win-Security-Base-L1-1-0.dll

This forms a "kernel" so to speak that allows the OS to connect to everything. All you really need to know is that you're all good.

[Beckrl]

So under cpu in device manager it going to show thread drivers instead of core drivers? I did not realize that threads require drivers.

Yes it's just as shepherdsword said even the hyperthreads gets I/O and is registered in the device manager. It's not so much that they require a driver, but that each thread has to be registered and given a place (I/O). It's the same way with virtual drives. A quick way to check how many cores is to open the task manager and under performance tab you can visually see the performance of each core.

[ikester7579]

okay thanks, I personally think it's done to confuse those of us who don't keep up on cutting edge technology. However I did read up on how the I7 works it's quite different and somewhat confusing.

I know people frown on this but I overclock the pc's I own to get the most out of them and have gotten pretty good at it. I tested the I7 to see if that was a possibility since they wanted more speed without having to spend a 1,000 dollars to get it. But bumping it up just a little made it lock up so I gave up on that. We settle for a fast video card for the rendering in adobe premiere.

It's very confusing though trying to make sure that the mercury engine is hardware enabled to use the GPU's on the card. I have not found anywhere in the adobe program I can look just to be sure. Only that I can select it in the nvidia control center and tell the card to use all the GPUs with this program. From what I have read if I use an approved card, which we did, it's supposed to be automatic. But we did not see an improvement so it makes me wonder if the card was recognized. But I did find that there is a hack to force it to accept certain cards. It only requires that you add the "exact name" of your video card to a list that's in a txt file and the program will use it. So I guess I need to make sure this card is on that list.

[shepherdsword]

okay thanks, I personally think it's done to confuse those of us who don't keep up on cutting edge technology. However I did read up on how the I7 works it's quite different and somewhat confusing.

I know people frown on this but I overclock the pc's I own to get the most out of them and have gotten pretty good at it. I tested the I7 to see if that was a possibility since they wanted more speed without having to spend a 1,000 dollars to get it. But bumping it up just a little made it lock up so I gave up on that. We settle for a fast video card for the rendering in adobe premiere.

It's very confusing though trying to make sure that the mercury engine is hardware enabled to use the GPU's on the card. I have not found anywhere in the adobe program I can look just to be sure. Only that I can select it in the nvidia control center and tell the card to use all the GPUs with this program. From what I have read if I use an approved card, which we did, it's supposed to be automatic. But we did not see an improvement so it makes me wonder if the card was recognized. But I did find that there is a hack to force it to accept certain cards. It only requires that you add the "exact name" of your video card to a list that's in a txt file and the program will use it. So I guess I need to make sure this card is on that list.

I don't recommend overclocking. Chips are rated at the speed at which they run stable 99.99% of the time. However,if you can't resist here is a contraption that allows incredible overclocking speeds:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ech,103-2.html

Tom also has a forum for overclockers where you can get hints,tips and issue resolution:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-29.html

[ikester7579]

I don't recommend overclocking. Chips are rated at the speed at which they run stable 99.99% of the time. However,if you can't resist here is a contraption that allows incredible overclocking speeds:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ech,103-2.html

Tom also has a forum for overclockers where you can get hints,tips and issue resolution:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-29.html

I'm not that much of a overclocking geek. It's just that some cpu's are really under rated in the speed they can achieve and still be stable. Like the 2.8 intel dual core I have in my computer. It will take 333 instead of 266 fsb. And when I used ddr3 in my mobo that takes ddr2 or ddr3 the memory speed was able to go 1333 fsb with no problems. All this makes the cpu run @ 3.5 instead of 2.8 and a faster bus to boot. I use a heat pipe cpu cooler with a fan and special grease. As we speak the temps are only 90 degrees F. And the speed of the fan is set to quite so it does this on a slow running fan as well.

What makes it run cool with just air cooling more than anything is the grease I found. I sell synthetic greases for cars, race cars, and heavy equipment. I got curious about the racing grease because of it high temps and ability to transfer heat so well off of bearings. So I put some on the CPU. On the first computer it dropped the temps on the cpu from being 140-160 to 105. And this one went lower than that and usually stays under 100F even under load. That was working better than the artic silver grease I used to use. I even did a test where I removed the fan from the cooler and the temps did not go over 140F, That grease is really something. To bad I cannot get the company interested in selling it as cpu grease. They seem to think there's no money in it when in actuality with computers getting faster and run hotter this grease would be a must to keep coolers small.

[Guilo]

can you run http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html and send a screenshot of the output of this app as well as a screenshot of what you are referring to.

[shepherdsword]

I'm not that much of a overclocking geek. It's just that some cpu's are really under rated in the speed they can achieve and still be stable. Like the 2.8 intel dual core I have in my computer. It will take 333 instead of 266 fsb. And when I used ddr3 in my mobo that takes ddr2 or ddr3 the memory speed was able to go 1333 fsb with no problems. All this makes the cpu run @ 3.5 instead of 2.8 and a faster bus to boot. I use a heat pipe cpu cooler with a fan and special grease. As we speak the temps are only 90 degrees F. And the speed of the fan is set to quite so it does this on a slow running fan as well.

What makes it run cool with just air cooling more than anything is the grease I found. I sell synthetic greases for cars, race cars, and heavy equipment. I got curious about the racing grease because of it high temps and ability to transfer heat so well off of bearings. So I put some on the CPU. On the first computer it dropped the temps on the cpu from being 140-160 to 105. And this one went lower than that and usually stays under 100F even under load. That was working better than the artic silver grease I used to use. I even did a test where I removed the fan from the cooler and the temps did not go over 140F, That grease is really something. To bad I cannot get the company interested in selling it as cpu grease. They seem to think there's no money in it when in actuality with computers getting faster and run hotter this grease would be a must to keep coolers small.

That grease sounds interesting. Got a link for a seller of it?

[ikester7579]

can you run http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html and send a screenshot of the output of this app as well as a screenshot of what you are referring to.

Acpu.jpg
Acpu1.jpg

The cpu is rated 2.8 @ 266 fsb.
It runs at 3.5 @ 333 fsb

The rest is in the 2 pics. The one core that say 100F is a broken temp sensor. it never changes.

The cpu cooler I use is a 3 heat pipes made by Cooler Master and is air driven. Fan is set to quite mode and turns so slow I can see each blade. if I turn it to performance the temps go even lower. But I'm trying to save electricity so I keep it on quite mode.

[Beckrl]

Acpu.jpg
Acpu1.jpg

The cpu is rated 2.8 @ 266 fsb.
It runs at 3.5 @ 333 fsb

The rest is in the 2 pics. The one core that say 100F is a broken temp sensor. it never changes.

The cpu cooler I use is a 3 heat pipes made by Cooler Master and is air driven. Fan is set to quite mode and turns so slow I can see each blade. if I turn it to performance the temps go even lower. But I'm trying to save electricity so I keep it on quite mode.

Good stuff espeically the grease. I'm not big on overclocking, but I would agree there are some that would preform better being overclocked.