Nice guide! I just upgraded from a 3200+ to a X2 4200+. I already noticed a performance boost, but after the guide it seemed to be even snappier Thanks!

Thanks just tried the Intel one, will get back with information on the possible performance increase!

Anyone else tried this on a Intel Pentium D??




But then why are people getting performance increases??

Yeah i use the patch by microsoft and i get a better performance on just my intel p4 ht

This guide is not for XP 64-bit btw. The update doesn't apply (and there isn't a 64-bit version, I checked) and the reg entries aren't there in the 64-bit version too. Just wanted to let you all know Thanks for the guide tho, I did hear it's done wonders for my friends.

This is apparently a more up to date one:

From Microsoft

Before I try this will I see any performance increase with a P4-670 3.8G HT processor?

well ive done the AMD side of things and cant say ive noticed anything major, always good to have though

apparently people are noticing a difference... i can't say because i have a core 2

Thanks!

Let me try your boot.ini options!

e4300, and it made my bootup time cut in half.

any chance of an x64 version?

This is what I read of the MS website, here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256



That red word leads me to think that there isn't any performance to be gained by doing these steps.

anyone using the windows one on amd?

how do you uninstall it?

since x64 windows xp is based on server 2003, imma say it's already optimized for dual core

does any of thi stuff work under vista? or is vista set up for dualcore already

no vista is ready for dual core

I just did this and in cod4 and css video stress tests theree was no difference at all..im on AMD X2 4800+

Course Windows Vista is fully optimised for dual-core processors.

Will This actually help or is it a waste?

i dl'ed the ms fix and i got an error. I have a p4 w/HT, created the registry key and modified the boot.ini
i'm actually gonna restart right now to see if there's a difference.
when i built my bro's AM2 Rig, i believe i installed the AMD drivers, the Windows fix, AND the dual core optimizer (one game even required it). so i dont believe its harmful. every game runs fine on it, except he's having issues with steam games (online only). Wish i knew why.

is there a similar tweak for Vista, or is Vista already "optimized" for dual core

Does this fix appy to Windows Server 2003 also?

nope, windows server 2003 is optimized for dual core!

So would I need Windows XP 64Bit edition for this or no? It's not a problem, just curious.

Just to let you know I've been using Win XP 64bit and applied the amd optimizer and it did help dramatically, mainly for gaming issues where you would get stutters. So trust me it does work for 64bit XP.

Not sure about the registry tweak, but AMD Optimizer does help out a lot.

Does Windows XP Service Pack 3 bring this update?

not that i have seen in any of the notes of sp3

It seems that the SP3 includes Patch KB896256 - at least the Patch complains, that the Service Pack is newer than the update itself.

I don't know if i'm feeling any difference but i used the AMD steps.

Applied the tweaks, system boots up almost twice as fast now.. infact it beats my network init, which it all used to do it at the same time.. now it's system boot up, everything loads, and then the network inits, and it loads in between 5 - 10 seconds. -Don't know if it's actually 5-10 seconds, it seems a lot less, I didn't exactly count it-

Athlon X2 4200 2.2Ghz - Dual Core


Holy crap, another good test, download a 1080p .mov, any, doesnt matter which. Play it, notice the performance, apply said fixes, AMD or Intel, play same video, take note of the performance. I can now play 1080p .mov files like they're nothing. I'm not sure if it was the AMD drivers, since the only ones I installed for my CPU was off of WinUpdate, or the AMD Optimizer, or the registry tweak, but something did the trick.

Well, I'm running SP3 and applied the tweaks suggested here - my computer hasn't exploded yet (running a Turion x2 @ 2ghz), and it might just be me but it seems like it's made a slight improvement. That's probably just me imagining things, though.

Either way, thanks for the guide.

rajputwarrior,
Thank you for this guide, did the job for my lappy

does this work for the PHENOM core?

Step 1, from reading this topic is only if your Explorer is crashing, right? I've left it out, because it's from 2006 and I don't want older files coming into my SP3 setup.
The registry and boot.ini I've changed. Hopefully this actually works (if it doesn't, then as long as it doesn't screw anything up).

NEAT guide... I'm pretty sure I noticed a slight improvement.

Thanks for the guide.

none of my programs can use both cores fully at the same time I will explain the problem and then if someone can please tell me if I need to optimise XP, it is SP3.

If I am using an app or game that maxes my cpu (core 2 duo) then both cpus will run at about 50% each alternating up and down but total usage between them adds to 100%. If I goto task manager and set cpu affinity for the app/game to 1 cpu only then that 1 cpu then goes to 100% normally and the other cpu idle. But if I switch it back to both cpus then they both goto about 50% each. I am baffled by this as I have some apps that saturate cpu and they only using half the power in my system, any idea why this happens?

Only apps written for multiple cores can max out mulitple cores. These tweaks work because they help divide the workload up more evenly across mulitple cores. Whereas XP on it's own, tends to send all of the work to a single core.

Pretty sure it was AMD Optimizer. I too have installed it and it seems to have noticeably improved overall performance. AMD's best software.

I have SP3 installed and the patch says I can't use it because its older then what I have.

Is there still a way to install this or is it already installed?
using Intel btw

Service Pack 3 includes this patch and other dual core optimizations.

Can I presume that quad-core is a no-no with XP?

you can use this guide for quad cores