HOW TO FULLY UTILIZE ALL MY PROCESSORS IN MY SERVER We have a dell server with 2 QUAD CORE PROCESSORS in it. There is a message in the windows event viewer saying that both the processors are not in the same revision level. When I called the dell and they just asked me to update all the latest bios,motherboard,disk and other firmwares. But even after that it shows this message in event viewer. 1) How do I make sure that I am fully utilizing all the cores/processors in my server ? Thanks in advance
Hello, Well, it depends not only on your machine and drivers. It also depends on programs you are running on your server. Most programs are not designed for multicore systems. They don't support multithreading. You can check if it supports multithreading: Just launch one which should load your CPU up to 100%. Then take a look in Task Manager.. -> Performance. All cores should be used up to 100%. If it peaks at 50% -> it's single-threaded. I can hardly count useful multi threaded applications on my fingers. That's a reality
You'll have to give it a load that will utilize that type of power. I believe the latest version of Prime 95 is now multi-core compatible, so I would download that and run the blended torture test. What kind of stuff are you using this server for? If the programs aren't multi-threaded, or you're not heavily multitasking, etc., you won't realize the benefits of multi core technology. As far as the revision level, multi-processor technology doesn't require that the CPU's be of the same revision. The specifics can vary, but typically, processors within one stepping revision of another should work just fine. A BIOS update can help add new microcode for faster/newer chips, but it won't address the different steppings. It's not a huge deal, so unless you see that there is a stability or performance issue stemming directly from different steppings in use, I wouldn't worry.
