I am sure there are other sites dedicate to XP but I haven't found this simple question online yet:


Will Windows XP HOME edition support the new quad-core (Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB) chips (I don't have an AMD example)?

When I say "support", I mean support each core (4) as 4 chips and hence I could have 4 instances of RAH running. I know Windows XP, by default, will support the chip simply because it has at least 1 core and of course because it's Intel (and designed for pcs).

I remember a long time ago that XP *Pro* supported 2 physical chips and I believe that was it...if you wanted more than 2 *physical* chips, you needed to dump XP and go with another flavor of Windows or a non-Microsoft OS altogether). I thought that Home only supported 1 physical chip and maybe had a restriction on how many cores. Obviously the dual-core chips run just dandy.

So does anyone know? The quad-core based machines are getting pretty cheap and I'd like to configure one with XP Home (for various reasons why not XP Pro). But I don't want to get a quad-core if all 4 cores will not be utilized.

Thanks!

-Eric

I can't vouch for the source, but here is a link to an article that exactly addresses your question.

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Rosie, Rosie, she's our gal,
If she can't do it, no one shall!

XP Home supports 1 chip, XP Pro supports 2 chips. As far as I know, the number of cores is unlimited.

In any case, I have several XP Home machines with quad core chips running all 4 cores.

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Reno, NV
Team: SETI.USA

I concur with zombie67

Windows XP and Quad Core CPU

XP Home supports as many cores as you squeeze into one socket.
XP Pro supports as many cores as you can squeeze into two sockets.

Thus... a quad core CPU will work on both XP Home & XP Pro.

I am sure there are other sites dedicate to XP but I haven't found this simple question online yet:


Will Windows XP HOME edition support the new quad-core (Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB) chips (I don't have an AMD example)?

When I say "support", I mean support each core (4) as 4 chips and hence I could have 4 instances of RAH running. I know Windows XP, by default, will support the chip simply because it has at least 1 core and of course because it's Intel (and designed for pcs).

I remember a long time ago that XP *Pro* supported 2 physical chips and I believe that was it...if you wanted more than 2 *physical* chips, you needed to dump XP and go with another flavor of Windows or a non-Microsoft OS altogether). I thought that Home only supported 1 physical chip and maybe had a restriction on how many cores. Obviously the dual-core chips run just dandy.

So does anyone know? The quad-core based machines are getting pretty cheap and I'd like to configure one with XP Home (for various reasons why not XP Pro). But I don't want to get a quad-core if all 4 cores will not be utilized.

Thanks!

-Eric

With R@H, you will only run one instance of BOINC but BOINC will launch 4 work units on a quad core system. I am running XP Home with 2GB of RAM and crunch 4 work units all the time. My RAC is as high as 2,100 on the quad core system.

One really nice thing about the Quad Cores from intel like the Q6600 is the ability to over-clock this chip. I have the 2.4GHz version running at 3.2GHz 24x7x365. If you decide to do something like that, just make sure you have enough fans in the system. If you plan to build your own system, get a large CPU fan. If you are going to buy a pre-built system, spring for the extra case fan.

Good Luck and thanks for crunching R@H.

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Thx!

Paul