Digital BW, The Print

Tuesday, September 9, 2003, 3:40:15 PM, you wrote:

DRS> TB,

DRS> In order for any application that runs under windows (like Photoshop) to
DRS> take advantage of a second processor in that system, the application in
DRS> question must have been designed in the first place to support
DRS> multiprocessors (ie, a multi-thread application). As far as I know,
DRS> Photoshop (at least on the PC platform) is not a multi-thread application,
DRS> and can therefore not take advantage of a second processor, even of one is
DRS> present in the system.

There are several parts of Photoshop that are multithreaded.
Particularly the filters. Another reason to want more than one CPU is
that even if a certain application is single threaded, the other
processes can run on different CPUs. This is not just a case where you
would want to run two things at once. Even if you are not running
anything, the system already has 20 or so processes running in the
background. Think of it as one CPU for what you are doing and another
for the rest of the system.

DRS> Also, with earlier versions of Windows 2000 that I have worked with, if one
DRS> starts out with a single processor system, and at some later date, a second
DRS> processor is added, one must RE-INSTALL the OS in order for the operating
DRS> system to recognize the presents of the second processor. I don't know about
DRS> you, but re-installing Windows 2000 is not my idea of a fun day at the
DRS> beach. Having said this, I'm not sure if the current versions of WIndows
DRS> 2000 have this feature. Might check the Microsoft knowledge base to make
DRS> sure.

You are correct. I don't know if that changed in XP though.