FX-8320

[Skreedles]

I just got my gaming computer from NCIX(they built it for me, my design) and I noticed in the task manager that it says there are 8 logical processors and 4 cores, the 8320 is an 8 core processor.

 

Could someone please enlighten me?

[Swegly]

Pretty sure the cores of amd are weaker than intel so 2 cores show up as 1.

[AlwaysFSX]

Pretty sure the cores of amd are weaker than intel so 2 cores show up as 1.

It's the shared resources between the cores I believe. Not that they're weaker.

[Superarragon]

It's technically an 8-core processor, but it's not a true 8-core processor. It has 4 modules and 2 cores in each of them, which is why it shows up as 4 cores.

[Swegly]

It's the shared resources between the cores I believe. Not that they're weaker.

I heard that AMD proccessors have more cores but each core is little weaker than 1 of intel, so 2 cores show up as one. But then again there is still a benefit for having 8 cores for "future proofing"

[AlwaysFSX]

I heard that AMD proccessors have more cores but each core is little weaker than 1 of intel, so 2 cores show up as one. But then again there is still a benefit for having 8 cores for "future proofing"

Two cores on an AMD cpu share resources such as cache between each other. The cores are as strong as an Intel core because they do the exact same task but because they share resources they can't spread the tasks themselves properly to different sets of cores to get something done, slowing the process down if you're going single threaded tasks. It's not that they're weaker.

[Skreedles]

So what would happen if I went into the boot and asked the PC to boot up with 8 cores?

[Kamina]

Ever since the patch for bulldozer in Windows 7, they will now show up as 8 logical and 4 physical. The reason behind this was because of issues with scheduling. 

 

Windows 8 does the same thing. It's likely due to the fact that the 8 core CPU uses 4 modules(2 integer cores per module) which share resources similar to hyperthreading although do it simultaneously rather than one by one per instruction.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2645594 This will make windows see it as 4 physical and 8 logical. As long as 8 logical show up and are being used, you're fine. There is nothing to worry about because it was intentional.

[Skreedles]

Are you saying that there is no problem with the CPU?

[WoodenMarker]

Pretty sure the cores of amd are weaker than intel so 2 cores show up as 1.

I heard that AMD proccessors have more cores but each core is little weaker than 1 of intel, so 2 cores show up as one. But then again there is still a benefit for having 8 cores for "future proofing"

That's not how it works...

It's 8 cores that should show up as 8 threads. What motherboard is being used?

[Skreedles]

That's not how it works...

It's 8 cores that should show up as 8 threads. What motherboard is being used?

Asus m5a97 r2.0

[Crypt]

So what would happen if I went into the boot and asked the PC to boot up with 8 cores?

It will probably only mention threads in the BIOS

[Swegly]

That's not how it works...

It's 8 cores that should show up as 8 threads. What motherboard is being used?

Like I stated, "Im pretty sure.." That tells him to take it with a grain of salt.

[Kamina]

Are you saying that there is no problem with the CPU?

I edited my post but yeah your CPU is fine. 

 

Even benchmarks now see what windows sees 

[Skreedles]

Another question, I got 8gb of ram for the computer and in the task manager it says 8 gb of ram 7.9 available. Why isn't 8 available?

[hiyayhi]

It's technically an 8-core processor, but it's not a true 8-core processor. It has 4 modules and 2 cores in each of them, which is why it shows up as 4 cores.

^^

This.

 

The way that the most recent AMD processors are designed they are built with modules that consist of 2 "cores" it is easy to explain with a picture: Here you can see the modules of cores.

One thing to note is that because they are physically there unlike in the intel processors which use hyper threading it produces better multicore performance but would still not be the same as 8 full cores from intel. I like to call the modules 1 & 1/2 cores rather than 2 cores.

[Kamina]

Another question, I got 8gb of ram for the computer and in the task manager it says 8 gb of ram 7.9 available. Why isn't 8 available?

Probably because of hardware reserved.

[Skreedles]

Probably because of hardware reserved.

I looked at it and it said that some was reserved in case it needed to be given to the OS.

^^

This.

The way that the most recent AMD processors are designed they are built with modules that consist of 2 "cores" it is easy to explain with a picture: Here you can see the modules of cores.

One thing to note is that because they are physically there unlike in the intel processors which use hyper threading it produces better multicore performance but would still not be the same as 8 full cores from intel. I like to call the modules 1 & 1/2 cores rather than 2 cores.

So what you're saying is it's okay that it only says there are 4 cores in the task manager?

[Kamina]

I looked at it and it said that some was reserved in case it needed to be given to the OS.

The resource monitor will actually give the total.

[Skreedles]

The resource monitor will actually give the total.

Okay, thank you I found that.

[hiyayhi]

So what you're saying is it's okay that it only says there are 4 cores in the task manager?

Yes that is fine, as long as it is showing 8 threads it is fine.