Why is my laptop both dual core and quad core at the same time

Question

I bought an Alienwaremx14 with the following specifications , it is clearly stated here that my CPU is dual core

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However when i open Window task manager , I was shocked to find out I had four CPU processors running , it now is a quad core CPU

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I am confused over whether my computer is quad core or dual core or both , what is happening ???

score 46 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

What you are seeing is a feature of your CPU called Hyper-Threading, which appears as additional logical processors to the OS.

From Intel's Ark page about that CPU:

Cores - 2
Threads - 4
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology - Yes

From there as well:

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

A related SU question worth checking out on the subject: Hyper-Threading and Dual-Core, What's the Difference?

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 08 '14 at 17:06

11

It's because your CPU supports hyperthreading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading

http://ark.intel.com/products/67355/Intel-Core-i5-3210M-Processor-(3M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz-rPGA

answered Apr 08 '14 at 17:06

jjlin

16,120

Frank Thomas · Answer 3 · 2014-04-08T18:06:05.023

8

your Chip has Hyperthreading, which allows it to run two threads on each core semi-synchronously. This capability presents itself to the OS as additional cores.

edited Apr 08 '14 at 18:06

answered Apr 08 '14 at 17:07

Frank Thomas

37,476

Why is my laptop both dual core and quad core at the same time

3 Answers3