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How to find out how many cores are in the processor of a computer (laptop)

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Hello.

Tell me how to find out exactly how many cores are in the processor on my laptop. It's just that when I bought it, they said that it was a dual-core processor, and when I opened the device manager, I saw that I had four cores. How so?

(Intel Core i3 processor by the way)

Good day!

Indeed, there is often confusion with these kernels. But most of all "kills" that sellers who are not honest in their hands often play on this, selling a dual-core processor as a quad-core (the thing is that Intel processors (including Intel Core i3, i5, i7) use special. Hyper Threading Technology (HT)).

Later in the article I will show several ways how you can accurately find out the number of cores (and not get confused about it 👌), and what is the difference between "real" cores and these "virtual" ones.

So...

So how many cores does the processor have

Method 1: special. utilities

One of the most accurate and reliable ways to find out information about your processor (without disassembling the computer) is to use the help of specials. utilities: AIDA 64, CPU-Z, Speccy, etc. Note that if you buy a computer from your hands (for a tangible amount for yourself), I highly recommend looking at the characteristics of the device just in such programs (Windows properties can be relatively easily forged / edited) ...

By the way, I have a separate article on my blog dedicated to such utilities (see the link below).

 To help! The best utilities for determining the characteristics of a computer - //ocomp.info/harakteristiki-kompyutera.html

For example, I am impressed by the CPU-Z program (since you just need to run it, you don't even need to install it 👏). Pay attention to the screenshot below: in the main window of CPU-Z you can immediately find out all the main characteristics of the processor (Cores are the cores, there are 2 of them behind my work laptop).

The number of cores (Cores) in the CPU-Z utility

Identical information can be found in another fairly convenient utility - Speccy. In it you need to open the tab "CPU" (see screenshot below).

Speccy - tab CPU (processor)

Method 2: using msinfo32

In Windows, you can find out a lot of information about your computer even without extraneous utilities (however, as I said above, they may not always be reliable *).

To open a window "System Information" : press the key combination Win + R , enter the command msinfo32 and press OK ... See example below.

msinfo32 - View computer information

Next, hover the mouse cursor over the line with the processor model and the pop-up hint will show how many cores and logical processors (example in the screenshot below).

msinfo32 - CPU model / Clickable

Method 3: through Windows properties and official. products webpage

  1. open the Windows Control Panel (how to open it) tab "System and Security / System" (see screenshot below). You can use the "hot" combination Win + Pause.

    System and security - system (see properties)

  2. then find out the model of your processor (down to the letter. In my case, it is Intel Core i5-7200U). See example below.

    We look at the processor model

  3. go to the official website of your CPU manufacturer; Just in case, I will give a couple of links: Intel - //ark.intel.com/ru#@Processors; AMD - //www.amd.com/ru/products/processors-laptop
  4. in the search line of the official. site, enter your model;

    Enter in the search bar

  5. and, in fact, there should be a specification: in it you can find out not only about cores and threads, but also other useful information (for example, critical temperature, processor frequency, etc.).

    Specification from Intel website (Intel Core i5-7200U)

Method 4: task manager

Note! If your OS is Windows 7, then I do not recommend this method to you! The point is that this OS does not distinguish logical processors (or threads) from cores (or cores), as Windows 10 (8) does. Thus, you can easily be mistaken ...

To call the Task Manager - press the key combination Ctrl + Shift + Esc (or Ctrl + Alt + Del). Then open the tab "Performance" - the number of cores will be shown at the bottom of the window (they are highlighted in red in the screenshot below).

Task Manager - Performance Tab

Comment!

By the way, such a difference in cores and logical processors from Intel creates a lot of confusion among users (and even helps not honest sellers to pass off dual-core processors as quad-core processors).

And it's all about specials. Intel technology -Hyper Threading... I will consider below in more detail what this means ...

*

What does it mean: cores - 2, logical processors - 4

The number of cores and logical processors is taken as an example. In your case, it may be somewhat different, for example, cores - 4, logical processors - 8 ...

This means that the processor is dual-core (and not quad-core, as many believe). It's just that each core is "divided" into two virtual ones (they are called threads). This is a special technology from Intel - Hyper-Threading (by the way, not all lines of Intel processors support it).

AMD processors have the same number of physical and logical cores. Therefore, there is no such confusion with them.

By default, usually, Hyper Threading technology is enabled (the parameter is set in BIOS / UEFI, often abbreviated as "HT", see the screenshot below).

BIOS - Disable HT Technology

An article on how to enter BIOS (UEFI) - //ocomp.info/kak-voyti-v-bios.html

Thanks to this technology, the processor should work a little faster in streaming applications, for example, it is noticeable when encoding video (how can you increase the encoding speed up to 15 ÷ 30% !?).

In general, the unit of growth from this technology depends on the application and its optimization. Some games do not get any gain from it at all, while others - very significantly! Many users simply arrange a test - turning this technology on / off and comparing the performance with and without it.

To help!

How to perform a stress test of the processor and the system as a whole, does it hold the frequencies, is there overheating - //ocomp.info/kak-vyipolnit-stress-test-videokartyi-noutbuka-v-aida-64.html

*

On this I am finishing my "educational program" ...

All the best!

👣

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