Can windows XP Pro Handle Quad Cores?

[whataboutbob]

I just got a new server with dual dual Core Xeons and got to thinking of the new quad core that will be out later this year.

Im plaining to update my PC soon and I was going to hold off for the quad core. Then this question came to mind "Can windows XP handle quad core cpus?"

I havent been able to find any info on this and wonder if its actually going to be a problem. Does anyone know if Windows will see these processors as 1 physical processor or 4. If its 4 then it will only use 2 because Windows XP maximum is 2 processors.

 

[BaronMatrix]

I just got a new server with dual dual Core Xeons and got to thinking of the new quad core that will be out later this year.

Im plaining to update my PC soon and I was going to hold off for the quad core. Then this question came to mind "Can windows XP handle quad core cpus?"

I havent been able to find any info on this and wonder if its actually going to be a problem. Does anyone know if Windows will see these processors as 1 physical processor or 4. If its 4 then it will only use 2 because Windows XP maximum is 2 processors.

Yes it will MS licenses by the socket not the core. They may need to release a ptch to see all four cores in XP, but the licencsing won't change. Actually come to think of it there are 2xx systems running XP Pro with wksta apps. gain it's by the socket.

Since XPSP2 and Server 2003 R2 are the same kernel, they will run the same amount of sockets. MS just adds a few registry entries to disable more than the allotted.(IMHO)

 

[1Tanker]

Since XPSP2 and Server 2003 R2 are the same kernel, they will run the same amount of sockets. MS just adds a few registry entries to disable more than the allotted.(IMHO)

So...long answer-short...You don't know. You're just guessing.

 

[mesarectifier]

We've seen shots of Task Manager before with quad core CPUs showing up with 4 CPU graphs, so I'd imagine that XP Pro will be able to handle it without patch. Although they may have patched that particular system, at least we know that it will be compatible with a patch at most. So short of the long is, yes, it is compatible.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

The answer is yes, as long as your Licensefor XP pro is a 2cpu License.

Here is a quick source.

http://searchwincomputing.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid68_gci1189223,00.html

 

[sojrner]

yes it works fine.

Look at any reviews of the p4 EE dual cores. They have hyperthreading and show up as 4 cores in winXP. (2 cores w/ 2 logicals... but xp knows no difference) No tweaks, no special license needed. There are dual core patches that fix some of xp's load balancing on multi-core systems but it deals w/ them just fine.

I have personally run server2003 on dual-dualCore xeons on 2 different servers (two different licenses w/ 2 different companies), and run many linux revs on them as well.

No major OS out now locks out multi-cores for the end-user, and quad are no different than dual in this respect. (volume business licenses are different, which may account for some of the confusion)

 

[whataboutbob]

Thanks guys for the input. I dont think Im going to get the new Conroe chip thats comming out.

This is going to be a costly upgrade, I have to update mobo, ram, cpu, and video.

Current systems is a 3.4 northwood chip.