QUAD core CPU showing 3 cores?

[ItsAlpey]

It's come to my attention while looking through the control panel that I only have 3 cores being shown.

I've been into the BIOS, CPU-Z and CPUCoreParking and all shows I only have 3 cores.

Unusure what's going on here so ty in advance for the help.

CPU - i5 3570K
Mobo - Intel DH61WW

[Edit] Also went into msconfig - boot - advanced and it also shows 3 cores only.

 

[photonboy]

First, I don't recommend CPUCoreParking at all. There may be small gains to be had with this older generation and some games but I would instead just change the Min in Power Options to 100% which basically solves the problem (I've experimented with my i7-3770K and core parking too).

*Your BIOS should have the option to disable cores so are all four enabled there or not?

If your BIOS indicates only three cores then it's one of two things:
a) CPU, or
b) Motherboard

It's not a Windows issue since Windows isn't even loaded yet a problem exists.

 

[mgallo848]

Very possible one of the cores died. This happened to me around 2011 when I decided to have a few beers and overclock my i5 2500k to 5ghz and not watch the temps.

Was your CPU overclocked?

 

[ItsAlpey]

First, I don't recommend CPUCoreParking at all. There may be small gains to be had with this older generation and some games but I would instead just change the Min in Power Options to 100% which basically solves the problem (I've experimented with my i7-3770K and core parking too).

*Your BIOS should have the option to disable cores so are all four enabled there or not?

The minimum state is set to 100% yes.

My BIOS only shows 3 cores active, and its a prebuilt HP system mobo so there's very limited to what I can actually change (can't OC or even disable cores I don't think), there is an option to set how many Active cores there is, but that only shows 3 too.

 

[ItsAlpey]

Very possible one of the cores died. This happened to me around 2011 when I decided to have a few beers and overclock my i5 2500k to 5ghz and not watch the temps.

Was your CPU overclocked?

That's unlucky!

I've never OC'd my processor nor do I believe it ever has been. My mobo is from a prebuilt HP system and it doesn't even have overclocking abilities.

 

[mgallo848]

First, I don't recommend CPUCoreParking at all. There may be small gains to be had with this older generation and some games but I would instead just change the Min in Power Options to 100% which basically solves the problem (I've experimented with my i7-3770K and core parking too).

*Your BIOS should have the option to disable cores so are all four enabled there or not?

The minimum state is set to 100% yes.

My BIOS only shows 3 cores active, and its a prebuilt HP system mobo so there's very limited to what I can actually change (can't OC or even disable cores I don't think), there is an option to set how many Active cores there is, but that only shows 3 too.

Very likely one of the cores dies then.

Have you ever replaced the thermal paste? If you didn't then the paste may have dried out causing the CPU to overheat

 

[ItsAlpey]

First, I don't recommend CPUCoreParking at all. There may be small gains to be had with this older generation and some games but I would instead just change the Min in Power Options to 100% which basically solves the problem (I've experimented with my i7-3770K and core parking too).

*Your BIOS should have the option to disable cores so are all four enabled there or not?

The minimum state is set to 100% yes.

My BIOS only shows 3 cores active, and its a prebuilt HP system mobo so there's very limited to what I can actually change (can't OC or even disable cores I don't think), there is an option to set how many Active cores there is, but that only shows 3 too.

Very likely one of the cores dies then.

Have you ever replaced the thermal paste? If you didn't then the paste may have dried out causing the CPU to overheat

I changed the thermal paste around 18 months ago. I always monitor my temps and it the cpu runs around 70 max.

 

[mgallo848]

It sounds like you didn't do anything wrong then. It is a 7 yr old PC part and it's possible 1 core died.

 

[ItsAlpey]

It sounds like you didn't do anything wrong then. It is a 7 yr old PC part and it's possible 1 core died.

Ahh that's unfortunate. 🙁

Thank you for the help.