CPU shows up as two CPUs in Windows 2000 - IBM eServer xSeries

Resolving The Problem

The IBM eServer xSeries 235, 255, 335, 345, 360, and 440 all incorporate the latest Intel Xeon processors which use a new technology called Hyperthreading. This allows one physical CPU to run multiple threads simultaneously, acting as 2 CPU's. For more details, please read the following excerpt from Intel.

"Intel® Corporation introduced its Hyper-Threading Technology at the Fall 2001 Intel Developer Forum. Hyper-Threading Technology will enable the world's first simultaneous multi-threaded (SMT) processor. Today's processor exploits Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP), but mutually exclusive hardware resources exist. However, by developing an architecture state for two processors which share a single physical processor's resources, two programs or threads can execute simultaneously. Thus, one physical processor looks like two logical processors to the OS and applications.

Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology delivers two logical processors that can execute different tasks simultaneously using shared hardware resources. As a result, an average improvement of ~40% in CPU resource utilization yields higher processing throughput. By allowing the processor to use on-die resources that would otherwise have been idle, Hyper-Threading Technology provides a performance boost on multi-threading and multi-tasking operations
for future Intel® NetBurst™ micro-architecture family processors.

• Improved overall system performance
• Increased number of users a platform can support
• Improved reaction and response time because tasks can be run on separate threads
• Increased number of transactions that can be executed
• Compatible with existing IA-32 software

This technology is largely invisible to the platform. In fact, many applications are already multi-threaded and only small changes are needed to make them Hyper-Threading Technology optimized. Today's MP aware software is compatible with Hyper-Threading enabled platforms, but further performance gains can be realized by specifically tuning software for Hyper-Threading Technology. Intel is working with OSVs and ISVs to tune their multi-threaded code in preparation for future versions of Intel® NetBurst™ micro-architecture processors with Hyper-Threading technology. These include:

• Database - Relational/On-Disk
• Security - Encryption, PKI
• Enterprise Resource Planning / Customer Resource Management
• Internet Infrastructure
• Middleware / EAI
• Database - In Memory
• Supply Chain Management
• Business Intelligence
• Voice / Computer Telephony Integration
• e-ISV (built on Java / app servers - no code changes required)"

For more detailed information about Hyper-Threading Technology, go to the Intel website at http://www.intel.com.

*Above information is from the Intel website.