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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 ???

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marked as duplicate by Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Heptite, Indrek, Kevin Panko, gronostaj Apr 9 at 22:05


The first screenshot clearly indicate it's a dual core with HT –  Ramhound Apr 8 at 18:41
@Ramhound: Are you getting that from the model number (which doesn't necessarily equate to the active configuration)? Or am I missing something in the first screenshot? Pretty sure the repeated 2.5GHz means nothing, one is part of the model number text and the other is detected clock speed. –  Ben Voigt Apr 9 at 0:30
Yes; I looked up the CPU on the Intel website, just like everyone else did –  Ramhound Apr 9 at 11:10
@Ramhound If you need to consult the Intel website to look up the processor capabilities, then the screenshot does not, in fact, clearly indicate the answer. –  coneslayer Apr 9 at 19:11
Well, your computer has at least 2 cores, so it's dual-core, and it has exactly 4 cores, so it's quad-core. (I know this isn't the answer, but I just couldn't resist) –  trysis Apr 10 at 3:30

3 Answers 3

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.

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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:


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

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