Windows XP Multi Core config - Does your OEM do it for you?

Is your OEM notebook or desktop correctly configured in Windows XP to support Dual Cores (regardless if its Intel or AMD based)??
Last Updated: 05-18-2007

It is confirmed that Sager (as well as many other OEMs) DOES NOT configure this hotfix for their Dual Core notebooks (and desktops from other OEMs). Sager's response. -Special thanks to Kilim.

Make sure that the pre-installed OS (Windows XP w/ Service Pack 2) was correctly modified to fully support your dual core CPU. I say this because I have done scouting around retail stores (BestBuy, Fry's, CircuitCity, etc) with notebooks and desktops.... turns out that 100% of all of the dual core systems that I looked at was NOT properly modified to fully support the dual cores within. Tsk Tsk.

From Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909944

The performance of your multitasking and games (ex. BF2, Oblivion, etc) would be a lil F'ed Up if the dual cores are not both being utilized because the setting for your Windows isnt set correctly. This hotfix is for those that want the most out of their Dual Cores. If you are just a casual PC user, this hotfix might not do anything for you. But if you multitask and game, you definitely see an increase in performance. As well as if you do Professional Audio editing and Video editing, this will also help you greatly.

Therefore (here's how to check -OR- do it yourself):
Required:
- Windows XP (Home, Pro, MCE) with Service Pack 2 (even when using Apple Bootcamp, NOT Virtual PC)
- Any system (desktop or notebook [even Apple's MacBook's]) with multi-cores, multi-processors, multi-logical processors (Hyper-Threading)
---- Intel: Pentium 4 w/ HT, Pentium D, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Multi Core Xeons
---- AMD: Athlon 64 X2, Turion 64 X2, Multi Core Opterons



1) (for Intel CPUs) Check to see if the mandatory Windows XP Hotfix Patch: KB896256 (NOT automatically downloaded with Windows Update) is installed.
if not download KB896256 XP patch and install it.

1) (for AMD CPUs) Check to see if the mandatory Windows XP Hotfix Patch: KB896256 (NOT automatically downloaded with Windows Update) and the AMD CPU drivers are installed.
if not download KB896256 XP patch, AMD CPU Driver and install them. (for AMD Dual Core Optimizer info read Note 2)
Note 1: Only install the AMD Driver if you have an AMD CPU.
Note 2: The AMD Dual-Core Optimizer was AMD's answer to Microsoft's Multi-Core fix... originally, to get the hotfix, one would have to email Microsoft to get it... screw that. Therefore, AMD released their Optimizer to give the public (with AMD CPUs) a way to utilize both cores. If you install the AMD Optimizer and it works without problems, then you would NOT have to install the the WinXP hotfix.
BSOD's (Blue Screens of Death).... If you own a Clevo D900K (A.K.A. Sager 9750, Alienware Aurora m7700, etc) notebook, DO NOT install the AMD Dual Core Optimizer... incompatible. So if you experience BSODs (on any computer) from the AMD Optimizer, then go into Safe Mode and uninstall it. You will still have optimized dual core as long as you do the rest of the guide.

UPDATE: Windows XP Hotfix KB896256 Version 4 (From Microsoft)
All languages available.

(Other Languages) Windows XP Hotfix Patch: KB896256 (from LaptopVideo2go):

Code:

**(COPY and PASTE the link onto your browser)**
[B]German (DEU)[/B] - http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/ms_kbs/windowsxp-kb896256-v3-x86-deu.exe
[B]English (ENU)[/B]- http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/ms_kbs/windowsxp-kb896256-v3-x86-enu.exe
[B]Spanish (ESN)[/B]- http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/ms_kbs/windowsxp-kb896256-v3-x86-esn.exe
[B]Portuguese (PTB)[/B]- http://www.fileplanet.com/172060/170000/fileinfo/Windows-XP-KB896256-Brazilian-Patch
[B]French (FRA)[/B] - http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/ms_kbs/windowsxp-kb896256-v3-x86-fra.exe
[B]Italian (ITA)[/B]- http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/ms_kbs/windowsxp-kb896256-v3-x86-ita.exe
[B]Dutch (DUT)[/B]  - http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/ms_kbs/windowsxp-kb896256-v3-x86-dut.exe
[B]Turkish (TRK)[/B]- http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/ms_kbs/windowsxp-kb896256-v3-x86-trk.exe

Note: This is just to save time. It is okay to restart after installing this hotfix.

2) go to Start Menu > Run. Type REGEDIT and press enter.

The registry location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager should have a key named Throttle there, if not make it by right clicking, point at New > Key... name it Throttle.

3) (Still in registry) Inside Throttle key: should be a DWORD called PerfEnablePackageIdle with the value of 1.
If NOT there,
- right click on Throttle folder,
-- point to New > DWORD... name it PerfEnablePackageIdle.
- then double click PerfEnablePackageIdle
-- change the value to 1


4) Quit Registry.

5) (Optional - read notes first) Now look at your boot.ini to make sure that the command /usepmtimer is there, by right clicking on My Computer go to Properties, click on the ADVANCE tab, then under Startup and Recovery click on Settings, then click on EDIT....make sure your boot.ini has the /usepmtimer in there (located in the last line), if NOT [make a backup of the Boot.ini first] then just copy and paste /usepmtimer in there. (NOT the entire boot.ini example)

Note 1: If you have an AMD dual core and installed the AMD drivers, the /usepmtimer would be inserted into your boot.ini for you.
Note 2: Currently, some new Intel CPUs (ex. Core 2 Duo's) do not need this BOOT.ini command.
Note 3: World of Warcraft [as well as some other applications] has shown some instabilities with this BOOT.ini command, so remove it if you experience any issues.

BOOT.INI example DO NOT COPY ALL OF THIS

Code:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect [B]/usepmtimer[/B]

Go to File and then Save (to save the changes to your BOOT.ini).

Restart your computer.
That's it!

NOTE: The BOOT.ini that I have given was meant for an example only. I would not recommend you to copy all of it and overwrite your own, unless if you are specifically using XP Pro SP2 on the first partition of the harddrive. Everyone else (XP Home, MCE2005, OEM pre-installed it onto different partition, etc.) should just add the /usepmtimer only.

FYI: The /usepmtimer in the BOOT.ini is a "switch" that forces the system to use a steady clock in place of the CPU frequency... for certain timing functions. Thats as basic as you can explain it. So by doing this, the switch gives the system a steady clock to use in place of the CPU frequency.
_____________________________________________________________________________

To test your newly optimized Dual Core system:

I would recommend to compare the before and after scores (from the hotfix) of the following popular benchmarks:

:wink: PCMark05 (recommended) -

some parts are multi-threaded, measure the performance of your PC and determine its strengths and weaknesses

:wink: 3DMark06 (highly recommended) -

multi-thread supported, great to test dual core CPU scores and videocards

3DMark05 -

single-threaded, less up-to-date than the 2006 version, but still used out there for comparisons. (not that great to reflect optimization difference)

:wink: wPrime (highly recommended) -

multi-thread supported, great to test dual core CPU scores... its a multithreaded SuperPI
NBR wPrime Hall of Fame

SuperPI -

single-threaded, tests the CPU performance in calculating a specific number of digits of Pi, commonly used in Overclocking to test stability and speed of the system

NOTE: For examples of scores (before & after), check out Kilim's Core Duo notebook review, as well as the others in this forum.

Check out this chart of FPS for BF2 (Battlefied 2) before and after the hotfix.
From Kilim's Sager 5760 (Clevo M570U) Review:

For Oblivion:

The results speak for themselves... just for the skeptics.

Enjoy!!!

Post your results here if you want, but as the majority that have done the hotfix correctly, a performance increase was the result without any problems.


Hope this helps, game on people,

-Gophn

 

Great post Gophn, If windows is purchased, Sager will configure for optimal performance as you have detailed.

Great way to double check you are utilizing your cores!

 

Good to know that at least one OEM out there is not just installing Windows from an image.

-Gophn

 

Would someone explain the advantages of setting PerfEnablePackageIdle to 0 vs 1? So 1 enables the "new performance state policy behavior" but what does that mean? I was unable to find anything useful via google, just similar posts.

I would like to know what the new policy is and if I should be using it.

 

I have a few questions.
I had ny 5760 shipped without any OS as I have Windows XP MCE 2005 to use at home.

So for the newer Intel Yonah CPU, just do the same above procedures minus the AMD Driver right?
Or will us Intel Core Duo users will have to do soemthing different?
Just wanted to confirm.

How do I check the registry for step 2?
ANd where do I find boot.ini?
And does this work for Windows XP MCE 2005?

<Edit>
I just checked the Microsoft site and saw this info about it:
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?id=896256

I don't see Windows XP MCE 2005 in the Applies to part of it.
I am kinda iffy as I am not sure exactly what to do

I also just sent Sager an email asking about it so hopefully can fig it out soon.

 

Kilim,

All Windows XP versions (Home, Pro, MCE) should all be the same procedure to config for multi core support. Make sure that the XP version has Service Pack 2 before doing the multi core config. You shouldn't worry, Ive done it on a MCE2005 (which already has SP2) system already, works fine.

As for step 2, to check registry, go to Start Menu > Run. Type REGEDIT and press enter. And then follow the navigation of the procedure.

Hope that helps,

-Gophn

 

MCE is just XP Home with additional media extensions. Anything that applies to XP home will apply to MCE.

 

OK great.
I already have ALL the updates for XP MCE 2005 including SP2..

SO all I have to do is do the steps you have above minus the AMD Driver right and I should be good to go?
Just want to be 110% sure before I do soemthing I am not familiar with


I wonder if this will change any of the Benchmark tests I have already done.
Hopefully it will improve it a few percentages
Sad thing is I am already in the writing stage of my review lol.

 

if anything, your CPU scores would be better

 

Well, I am almost done doing this Hotfix to my 5760.
I am sure Sager didn't do it for me as I installed the OS myself

Guess I will redo all my benchmarks to it while I am doing my HW on my workstation.
Will holler again later when I am all done with it

 

I would like to know the answer to this also.

Wwhat would be better and the differences between PerfEnablePackageIdle 0 vs PerfEnablePackageIdle 1?
And by default we should have PerfEnablePackageIdle 0?
I tought it was suppose to be set at 1 not 0?

 

Ok, so I bit the bullet and tested PerfEnablePackageIdle 1.
From what I read, this setting sacrifices battery power to get better performance.
Considering that I will be plugged in most of the time, I changed it to 1 from 0.

I 1st ran PCMark05 with PerfEnablePackageIdle 0 and I got a score that was 300pts less than prior to the hotfix.
So instead of running my other benchmarks I changed the settings and reboot the system.

I then did PCMark05, 3DMark05 and 3DMark06 with PerfEnablePackageIdle 1 and I notice a slight performance increase with the numbers produced in this setting.

Will add my new scores with old scores in my review when I am done with my Game benchmarks and writing it up.

 

awesome Kilim, looking forward to your findings.

-Gophn

 

I just need to finish my F.E.A.R., Oblivion and BF2 benchmarks and take some pictures then write up the review.
Will do the Game Benchmarks at work tonite after I finish my paper for my summer class.
Planning to have the whole review finished by this weekend the latest.
Really want to show what I have done so far

I did find the start up of my 5760 to be much faster now that I set it up with PerfEnablePackageIdle 1 after the hotfix.
Its weird that those registry options wasn't included after you reboot after the hotfix was installed.
Its suppose to add it themselves.
Good thing they included that workaround in case they don't auto add in registry.

I think from bootup to having everything run takes less than a minute.
Haven't fully timed it yet but I did notice it start-up much faster.

I also have a Logitech G15 Keyboard on my desktop PC.
I connect it to my 5760 when I am at home and its nice to see the 2 cores performance in the G15's LCD SCreen.

 

UPDATE: On Sager's response to the Hotfix

I emailed Sager yesterday about this hotfix and this is what they told me after asking the following:

 

Hi Kilim,

What version of the nvidia drivers are you using?

I just received my 5760 yesterday. Upon installing Oblivion, I find that it crashes frequently (usually upon or immediately after displaying a dialog). It didn't do this on my desktop or my other laptop. My O/S (Win XP Pro) was pre-installed by Sager.

My system is the 5760 with 2 gig RAM and the Go 7900 GTX card.

I have nvidia driver v6.14.10.8246 installed currently.

Have you had any issues with Oblivion?

Cheers,

Eugene.

 

Have you applied the Hotfix stated in this thread?
As can be seen on my post above, it looks like Sager does not apply this hotfix if they install the OS for you.

I have Windows XP MCE 2005 and I installed it myself.
Prior to installing the hotfix, I have not experienced any problems at all.
I still have to see how my games are affected with the hotfix though which I hope I have time to test tonite.

I use the Nvidia Driver that came with my 5760 in the Drivers CD they sent with.
I currently have Forceware 84.26 that came with the Drivers CD.
I think this may actually be the latest driver for this specific vid card.
The nVidia site states the go7800GTX has FW 83.40 and the regular Geforce has FW 84.21

You sure you reading the version next to the ForceWare version?
I read it wrong once and thought the Video BIOS Version was the ForceWare version somehow lol.

I am going to try to find sometime at work tonite to do some game benchmarks for my games to see how the hotfix affected them.
Like I said in my post above, I did notice a very slight increase in the scores I got from the System Benchmarks I ran after the hotfix.

 

Eugene,

I actually am playing Oblivion. It does have random crashes that gets very annoying because I do not know what the problem really is yet. I have latest drivers and DirectX as well, still crashes.

If you look around the web, thousands of people are having random crashes with the game. From what Ive gathered from the forums and tweak guides:
1) you should look towards the codecs installed on your system because that seems to be the most likely culrpit
2) you could force default video settings in the game, which works for me after CTD's, it runs for a longer period of time before the next crash.
3) disable resource hogs (ex. Antivirus, Spyware scanners, etc)

Hope this helps, if anyone else out there has any suggestions, please post it.

-Gophn

 

I just finished all my game and system benchmarks and noticed improvments on each tests with the hotfix and PerfEnablePackageIdle 1.
Like I stated before, it does not look like a significant increase at all.

I also have the latest patch for Oblivion and on each 60s FRAPS benchmark I did for each settings I did not crash.
Will have to play Oblivion later after I add my mods into it and finish my HW.

 

good to hear Kilim, hope everything goes well.

-Gophn

 

Confirmed with other sites, and friends Dual Core systems

PerfEnablePackageIdle should be set to value of 1

..for best performance.

-Gophn

P.S. Thanks Kilim for your your results as well.

 

dose this only work for a sager?

 

This is currently a soemwhat un-official official fix by Microsoft for Dual Core machines as can be seen here: http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?id=896256
I belive it was 1st introduced when AMD released Dual Core 1st and should work for any Dual Core machines.

PS:
Gophn I already have my review posted in the front page of this site.
You can use the benchmarks I have submitted to show the performance difference for this Hotfix.
You can find my 5760 review here: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3017&review=Sager+5760

 

still deciding if i should use this fix or not. i havent noticed any types of problems, but i notied the fix increases performance (IE- 3DMark scroes). but if its just a fix for dual core processors, how can it increase things that deal with the graphics card?

 

3DMark isn't just a graphics test, part of it deals with CPU power, also. So any increase in CPU performance will make a difference in 3dmark.

 

That mostly applies to 3DMark06 rather than previous versions; the CPU tests in '05 were useless because the processor would never be subject to those type of tests in real life applications. '06 does a good job of mimicking current and upcoming games.

 

Yes.. but the older versions still "tested" the CPU, and added those results to your score. Even if those tests were not reflective of real world situations, they are still there. Thus, any improvement in CPU performance will result in a higher score.

 

All I knew is before I started was I wanted the highest scores on those benchmarks and the lowest when I do SuperPi lol.

Yes, I am a Noob in training

 

the CPU power will definitely affect your 3dMark scores, especially in 3dmark06.

for proof, my notebook (Sager 9750 or Clevo D900K) has a 7800 Go GTX:
1) initially i had a AMD Athlon 64 3500+, and my 3DMark06 score was 3500
2) i recently just put in a Dual Core Opteron 165, and my 3DMark06 score was increased to 4000.

Then I OC'ed the video card to get a 3DMark06 score past 4500.

So if you have a Multi Core system (regardless of brand), this configuration is guaranteed to increase the performance.

Game On People,
-Gophn

 

so, is it worth it to do that fix for performance?

 

I kept the Hotfix in my 5760 at this time and have not seen any issues to date.
If anything I have seen my 5760 start-up faster and slightly improve the performance of my games and programs.

Please note that I have not done any Overclocking of my system and do not plan to.

 

YES, if you have a dual core system, this hotfix will only help your system.... even Micrsoft tells you that the hotfix is needed to multicore systems to perform correctly without issues.

 

well, i just installed it, but i see no gain so far. i ran super pi to see if that score got any better, and its the exact same score i had before. but now i noticed that i can hear my fan. before it was extremely hard to hear, now its loud and easily heard

 

i have done the fix but my boot.ini doesnt show the /usepmtimer

 

i think u gotta add that part. i know i had to

 

Correct, you have to add that part and DO NOT need to make a exact copy of the lines before it.
Someone copied the whole lines before "/usepmtimer" and it him have to reinstall his whole system again.
I just had someone reply to my review thread about his system getting corrupted when he followed your instructions according to this post here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1450556&postcount=28

Some people have the lines in their boot.ini different from what is shown in the OP, I know mine was different also.
All I did was put the /usepmtimer at the very end of those lines in the boot.ini.

I just PMed Gophn so maybe he can change the step 5 wordings so some people don't get confused by it.
Step 5 of his OP should have said soemthing like this:

5) Now look at your boot.ini to make sure that the command /usepmtimer is there, by right clicking on My Computer go to Properties, click on the ADVANCE tab, then under Startup and Recovery click on Settings, then click on EDIT

Add the /usepmtimer at the end of your boot.ini file so it could look somethign like the example below:
(If your boot.ini file looks different, don't worry as long as you just ONLY add /usepmtimer at the very end of the file)

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer​

 

the wording is fixed up better now i hope.

Thanks for the heads up Kilim.

-Gophn

P.S. Awesome review from Kilim, definitely worth reading.

 

holy crap, when did this thread reach 1000 views ?!?

i made this post in haste and didnt realize that it was a hot topic... although it does contain important info.

Is it possible for this post to become a Sticky?
how about it Chaz???


Game on people,

-Gophn

 

SInce i'm just now getting my 9750, will I need to do all this for optimum perfornace too, or should it all be done already?

 

Dimmu,

I believe that it was said (in an early post within this thread) that Sager will configure your notebook for maximum performance if you are ordering the Windows XP (Home, Pro, MCE) through them.

In any case, its good to check.... this thread should help you with that.

Hope your notebook is all good,

-Gophn

 

We only have one sticky at the moment, so I suppose we could make this a sticky. Would anyone else like to see this become one?

 

Gophn, I emailed Sager about this and they stated to me that they do NOT do this Hotfix on their machines.

I already posted about Sager's response about thsi Hotfix in my post on the 2nd page of this thread here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1438195&postcount=15


So I guess this would be a nice post to have sticked as it looks like Sager does not officially do this to their machines.
But we have seen the small improvements it can do if applied properly.

 

I agree, it should be made a sticky.

 

Wish granted.

 

over 2000 views now.

Thanks Chaz, you're the man. It wouldnt have happened unless if it were a Sticky.

Game On People,
-Gophn

 

Would this fix work for the Clevo M570U also?

 

it works for all dual core systems (regardless of brand, desktop, or notebook) that are running Windows XP (32-bit).

-Gophn

 

I'm just wondering if anyone else tried the Windows xp Multicore fix sticked on this forum and saw a really large jump in performance like I did?

Heres my 3dmark 05 results with and without the fix, both using the 93.11 drivers from LaptopVideo2Go.com:

Without:

3dmark05 Score: 7529
CPUmark Score: 4972

With:

3dmark05 Score: 8381
CPUmark Score: 5720

 

That's a pretty big increase. Great stuff.
Thanks for sharing ,it reminded me to think about that if I decide to get a small light cheap dual core notebook along with my soon to be had 17"gaming rig.

 

invulse, your thread has been merged with this one because it deals with the same topic.