Quad core processing?

eddywatson · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:49

Hello
this might sound a bit silly but I am a total PC n00b...

As some of you may of read over the last 2 week I am looking for a very powerful laptop that can handle top end design packages such as Adobe Photoshop & Adobe Premiere etc...

The laptop spec I was working on would have:
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB
16GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)

So for example if I made a video within premiere and wanted to render it/finalize it and i clicked on "go" would the processor if needed to use the 4 cores... would do so?

I only ask because last year in PC-World I heard a "tech guy" say to a customer that the pc he was showing him would need to be setup so that all 4 cores would work and be able to be used if n when needed.

So all I would like to know is... if you get a quad core processor... would all 4 cores work... if and when needed? and no other setup/options would need to be edited so that it goes from 2 to 4?

Like I said I know it sounds silly but I didnt see the point of getting a quad core if its only setup so 2 cores are used and to get the other 2 to work you need to "turn them on" in some kind of settings etc

Thank you for your time
P.S - Sorry if this is in the wrong section

Minstadave · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:51

It'll just work.

Attu90 · 21 Apr 2014 at 16:25

PC-World I heard a "tech guy"

There is the problem

kefan77 · 21 Apr 2014 at 16:29

the 2 posts above cover it all.

Doomedspeed · 21 Apr 2014 at 16:36

He may have been revering to hyperthreading. In mobile CPU's I think some i5's are dual cores with hyperthreading.

For packages such as that its be cheaper and faster on a desktop, just saying, if that solution is viable.

badcompany · 21 Apr 2014 at 16:49

Attu90 said:
There is the problem

i used to enjoy eavesdropping their sales patter to the old grannies I used to see in there. Shockingly funny.

jamiehavok · 21 Apr 2014 at 17:11

Doomedspeed said:
He may have been revering to hyperthreading. In mobile CPU's I think some i5's are dual cores with hyperthreading.

For packages such as that its be cheaper and faster on a desktop, just saying, if that solution is viable.

i think all mobile i5s are dual cores with hyperthreading. You still dont need to set it up though!

ukbilleh · 21 Apr 2014 at 22:02

Minstadave said:
It'll just work.

this... don't worry about it too much. If the program you are using is built to utilize all 4 cores then it will if not then it won't

some programs allow you to specify how many cores to use (such as vm software) however I doubt you will see options like this in the software you will be using

Steveocee · 22 Apr 2014 at 09:53

I think the tech guy was trying to be a bit too clever about his explanation.

In short, windows will take what it needs form your PC as and when it needs it, it won't automatically go full bore all the time.

biuro74 · 22 Apr 2014 at 22:17

Someone told something to someone else...

Probably "tech guy" meant Boot configuration which is relevant for booting only:

For peace of mind, type "msconfig" @ START menu and set it up like above and your system will be optimized for quad core ;-)

booting. Everything else depends rather on software you use. Adobe premiere should use full range of your cores.

BinnsY · 22 Apr 2014 at 22:23

biuro74 said:
Someone told something to someone else...
Probably "tech guy" meant Boot configuration which is relevant for booting only:

If I remember correctly even this is irrelevant. That seting simply tells windows the maximum number of processors to use during boot up. If you leave it unticked it just uses as many as it can find.

To the OP as others have said it will just work. It's possible some programmes may not utilise every core in every situation, but most software these days will run on four cores without issue so you wont need to do anything.