Need some help unlocking HT on Dell Optiplex GX270

S

Saist

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 7, 2004
Messages
305
As the title states, I'm dealing a Dell Optiplex GX270 computer.

The computer is running the Intel P4 2.8ghz. According to CPU-Z

Number of CPUs 1
Code Name Northwood
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Family / Model / Stepping F 2 9
Extended Family / Model 0 0
Brand ID 9
Package mPGA-478
Core Stepping D1
Technology 0.13 µ
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, SSE, SSE2
CPU Clock Speed 2793.0 MHz
Clock multiplier x 14.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 199.5 MHz
Bus Speed 798.0 MHz
L1 Data Cache 8 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kµops, 8-way set associative
L2 Cache 512 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 2793.0 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 256 bits

********

It's an HT capable chip. The OS appears to be the default Win2k Service Pack 4 install straight from Dell.

However, as CPU-Z also notes, only one processor is working.

The Bios of the motherboard is as follows

BIOS vendor Dell Computer Corporation
BIOS revision A04
BIOS release date 05/17/2004
Chipset Intel i865P/PE/G/i848P rev. A2
Southbridge Intel 82801EB (ICH5) rev. A2
FSB Select 800 MHz


****

I've updated it to the latest version, but only one processor is enabled in the OS. Now I've made sure that I've enabled HT in the BIOS itself, both in the A02, and A04 versions.

Now, I know for a fact that Win2K supports SMP as I have my Own P4 running on Radeon 9100 IGP with HT enabled, and I've run Windows update to get everything there. I

I've updated the Intel chipset drivers as well..

And the OS still only supports 1 Processor.

Okay, I know HT isn't all that performance enhancing, and this isn't exactly a computer going for gaming (not using IEG-II anyways), but it's driving me up the wall as I know that the chipset, processor, and BIOS support HT, but that I can't get it working.

Anyone here have some ideas?

( and yes, I know, DON'T BUY DELL. I didn't have a say in this PC purchase)
 
Need the complete readout from my computer but I think you may have a corporate version of win2k, which I can't remember if it supports multiple processors or not.

Wheras if it is Win2k pro or server then you shouldn't be having any problems.

My suggestion is get WinXP Pro, then you'll know its not your OS. Barring that, though CPU-Z should have shown Hyperthreading if it was indeed supported by the chip and allowed by the BIOS, so I'd do a bit more research there as well.
 
Dell seems to ship the Optiplex 270's (and possibly other machines) with HT turned off by default. Why they do this is anyones guess. Sometimes just turning HT on and booting into the OS will get it to show 2 processors, but often that is not the case. You may have to manually enable multiprocessor support in Windows.

To do so open Device Manager> expand Computer> Right click on PC and then select Update Driver, when given the option what to install choose ACPI Multiprocessor PC.
 
Leave it disabled if your running Win2k. It does not support HT, and if you do enable it, it can and will lead to system instability. If you want to use HT, get WinXP.

As it should be common knowledge by now, HT is not SMP. Therefore, just because the OS can handle SMP, doesn't mean it will handle HT. Dell probably disabled HT because you did not order the PC with XP.
 
Dell has shipped WinXP machines to my work with HT disabled, even after we specifically told them to turn it on. Seems to be a bad habit of theirs. Win2k may not officially support HT but it does work, and from my experience of several Win2k machines it has worked flawlessly. I can't argue with the suggestion to get XP though, that will help you get official HT support as well as be a worthy OS upgrade from Win2k.
 
tenken said:
Dell has shipped WinXP machines to my work with HT disabled, even after we specifically told them to turn it on. Seems to be a bad habit of theirs. Win2k may not officially support HT but it does work, and from my experience of several Win2k machines it has worked flawlessly. I can't argue with the suggestion to get XP though, that will help you get official HT support as well as be a worthy OS upgrade from Win2k.
Click to expand...
I think the real problem w/ win 2k is that it think the virtual CPU is a hardware CPU if you have dual xeons, you cant have HT on or else Win2k think you have 4 hardware CPUs. XP on the otherhand knows the difference between hardware and logical CPUs so a dual Xeon w/HT on will work because it knows that there are only two physical CPUs.
 
djnes said:
To end this meaningless debate yet again, here is the link from Intel themselves. As stated before, 2000 does NOT support HT.

http://www.intel.com/support/platform/ht/os.htm?iid=ipp_htm+os&
Click to expand...
No. Windows 2000 does support HT, Intel just doesn't recommend it.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babe...http://www.computerbase.de/article.php?id=229 Article on testing HT in Win2K. Performance of HT in Win2K can be worse than without in single threaded apps, which is probably why Intel doesn't recommend it.

The original poster should probably use another OS if he wants HT.
 
Has anyone bothered trying HT on non-Intel chips.

I get the same performance boost under Win2k with Radeon 9100 IGP with HT enabled that people using WinXp get on i865 and i875.

So this either tells me that Intel is incompetant, or that Intel is incompetant.

Take your pick.

Okay, so enabling HT on Intel based systems in Win2k Pro will hurt performance.

k.
 
Saist said:
So this either tells me that Intel is incompetant, or that Intel is incompetant.

Take your pick.
Click to expand...
Intel didn't write Win2K. :p
 
pxc said:
No. Windows 2000 does support HT, Intel just doesn't recommend it.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babe...http://www.computerbase.de/article.php?id=229 Article on testing HT in Win2K. Performance of HT in Win2K can be worse than without in single threaded apps, which is probably why Intel doesn't recommend it.

The original poster should probably use another OS if he wants HT.
Click to expand...


There are a few points in that article that are flat out wrong, leading me to question to reliability of it. Especially since it's been said to me straight from several Intel reps that HT is not supported / isn't utilized (seen) by Windows 2000.

Don't believe everything you read on every little website online.
 
Sorry, didn't bother reading all the other posts since they seem focused on the argument of whether or not W2k supports HT or not.

I have a GX270 for my PC at work also. Same setup (2.8c, HT disabled at first).

What I did to enable it is:

Set HT to enabled in Bios.
Boot into W2k and go to the Hardware devices. Find the device called ACPI Uniprocessor PC (I think it's under "Computer"...forgive me as I'm reciting from memory). Change the driver on that from ACPI Uniprocessor PC to ACPI Multiprocessor PC. Reboot. BAM! HT enabled GX270 with Windows 2000.

I've been running it for 3 months that way and I do all kinds of stuff on there especially with VB. - Never had a single issue arrise from incompatability. It's been rock solid the entire time. I also ran it for about 1 month with HT disabled, and after enabling it via the method above, it's been much more responsive since I multitask heavily at work.

I can give screenshots if necessary :)
 
djnes said:
I'll still go with Intel, since it is their technology.
Click to expand...
:LOL: Intel says they recommend turning off HT with Windows 2000. You say that Windows 2000 doesn't support it. Intel is right and the 2 links I gave support Intel's reasoning. You have given nothing but your own misunderstood opinion. /argument
 
pxc said:
:LOL: Intel says they recommend turning off HT with Windows 2000. You say that Windows 2000 doesn't support it. Intel is right and the 2 links I gave support Intel's reasoning. You have given nothing but your own misunderstood opinion. /argument
Click to expand...


Well excuse me for the semantics. In my position, when dealing with corporations on projects, when I feature is recommended to be disabled....it's called "unsupported" and isn't used. When your told to disable something under Windows 2000, in the IT world you consider it unsupported and not feasible.
 
djnes said:
There are a few points in that article that are flat out wrong, leading me to question to reliability of it. Especially since it's been said to me straight from several Intel reps that HT is not supported / isn't utilized (seen) by Windows 2000.

Don't believe everything you read on every little website online.
Click to expand...

That's not true. I built a 2.4c machine for a customer with Win2K, and both processors show up, and act as if they were seperate to an extent. Whenever theres a load on the machine both CPU Usage History graphs show theres work being done, but are identical which would mean that it thinks there are two processors, but they do not act like it. In short, Win2K can see HT processors without a problem, actually utilizing it, it does not.

Don't beleive everything a marketing rep tells you. Microsoft scratches Intel's back by making a OS that requires newer hardware, Intel scratches Microsoft's back by making a CPU that needs a newer OS.
 
tdg said:
Don't beleive everything a marketing rep tells you.
Click to expand...

No where did I state it was a marketing rep. I don't deal with any marketing people at all. You don't build solutions by talking to marketing people.
 
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