[SOLVED] My FX6300 shows 3 cores but 6 logical processors? Not sure what this means but it says it's a 6 core processor.

[NuxYo]

So if It says I have a 6 core processor, should I just go to msconfig and enable all 6 cores? Or would that screw up my pc?

 

[DSzymborski]

Where does it say three cores? In what screen of what software?

In any case, cores and the FX chips are complicated. It really depends on your definition. The FX cores aren't truly independent cores. The 6300 has three modules, each with two cores that have some independent resources but share some others (floating point, cache).

They're closer to cores than Intel's hyperthreading, but depending on your parameters, you can argue that it is or isn't a six-core CPU. And software will identify things differently; what matters is how the application is actually using the resources, not what a screen with text describing your CPU says.

 

[NuxYo]

In Task Manager, in the performance section it says the cpu has 3 cores and 6 core processors. So would I be able to change it to 6 for the number of processors in the boot section of msconfig? And if I did would that show up as 6 cores and 12 core processors? Or would it still be the same?

 

[DSzymborski]

In Task Manager, in the performance section it says the cpu has 3 cores and 6 core processors. So would I be able to change it to 6 for the number of processors in the boot section of msconfig? And if I did would that show up as 6 cores and 12 core processors? Or would it still be the same?

You'll never have 12 threads available.

All you can do is change how it's displayed. It changes nothing about performance. You just see different text. It's like putting a Ferrari badge on your Mazda. It'll say Ferrari, but it'll perform like the Mazda, not a Ferrari (I'm not trying to pick on Mazda, I drive one).

https://www.nextofwindows.com/windo...lay-all-cpu-cores-performance-in-task-manager

 

[Bob.B]

In Task Manager, in the performance section it says the cpu has 3 cores and 6 core processors. So would I be able to change it to 6 for the number of processors in the boot section of msconfig? And if I did would that show up as 6 cores and 12 core processors? Or would it still be the same?

Msconfig is a troubleshooting tool to make things smaller.
You can't make things bigger than they actually are.

Normal entry in msconfig is to uncheck the processor and memory box.
That should give you the max size of both.

 

[drea.drechsler]

So if It says I have a 6 core processor, should I just go to msconfig and enable all 6 cores? Or would that screw up my pc?

It goes back to the debate of whether FX processors have true, full cores. Bulldozer and Excavator architecture uses some shared resources for each 'module' consisting of two cores. That lead some utilities, and purists, to halve the core count but show full thread count as though it's a multi-threaded CPU. Except it's not as it never had SMT and all such semantics games does is confuse people. Either way you look at it (6 cores...or 3 core/6 thread) is overly simplistic.

It (FX-6300) is really a 6 "weak core" CPU that's capable of extremely high clock speed operation that overcomes it's IPC deficiencies. At 4.7-4.9 Ghz it was very competitive with contemporary processors in all but advanced math instructions. The problem was it's power draw as the cheap motherboards people put this cheap CPU on didn't have power delivery it needed. So it would throttle incessantly if they tried clocking it that high and they considered it a poor CPU.

I'd go into MSConfig and simply uncheck the box for the number of processors. It will settle on the correct amount that way and provide full support for each thread with the scheduler.

 

[USAFRet]

So would I be able to change it to 6 for the number of processors in the boot section of msconfig?

NO.
Leave that section Unchecked. That is the default, and brings the entire CPU into play. Any other choice either does nothing, or reduces the number of 'cores/processors'.