what is a dual core and how do i activate it?

[FullMetal312]

well you can say that i'm a complete idiot at computers. what is a dual core and how do i activate it? im having like 10+ fps with dynarec activated. my main question is how do i increase the speed?

My com has 1GB ram and geforce mx 440 graphic card.

 

[solidesnake]

What is your CPU?

 

[Agozer]

You can only activate dual core support in Dolphin if you have a 64-bit dual core processor and the 64-bit version of Dolphin.

 

[FullMetal312]

my cpu is

Microsoft Windos XP Professional ver. 2002 service pack 2

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.53GHz
2.53GHz, 1.25GB of ram.

im not sure if i haf dual core though. where do i download 64bit dolphin?

 

[antidote]

A dual core processor DOES NOT MEAN 64 BITS!!!! It is entirely possible to have a dual core processor (Or a hyper threaded core) and not have a 64 bit processor. All dual core means is that you have two or more symmetrical cores in a single processor housing (the die is the actual processor not the chunky plastic/ceramic casing) it is also possible to have a 64 bit processor that is only a single core. In order to use a dual core processor you must have an operating system that supports multiple processors (Windows XP home is not one of them)

EDIT:
also
P4's are not Dual core.

 

[Toasty]

@FullMetal312: In other words, you're already achieving the best speed that you currently can.

 

[nmn]

@antidote: well that's normally true, but I'd assume he meant that only the 64-bit CPU emulator supports acceleration of dual cores.

Yeah, You can't do anything with a P4 to make things faster. The most you can do is Dynamic Recompilation, which you can tell won't go very far when your computer's just too slow. (A P4 will not emulate GameCube. Or at least not yet.)

 

[antidote]

No, it doesn't matter what the Emulator supports it could support 18 cores and it still doesn't matter, the Operating System MUST support Multiple processors other wise a "64 bit" emulator is just a useless peice of trash wasting valuable HDD space. If you can't find a windows OS that supports Multiple processors and programs executed in long mode (which IS the definition of 64bit) suchas XP Pro or Vista(Blegh) cheap then don't even bother downloading a 64 bit program because it won't work or look for a linux distro and compile the source for the emulator you want IF it supports Linux.

Any way it's not the Program that supports multi processors anyway it's just programmed to support running in long mode. As i said it's the OS nothing else. if the kernel can't recognise more than one processor (or 64 bit) it simply isn't going to work.

EDIT:
Wait, I just realized something your a Mupen64 developer nmn, you should know this it's fairly basic DynaRec isn't going to do jack squat for pseudo 64 bit environments or dual core because it always comes down to the operating systems limitations. If it doesn't support graphics rendering with out a specialized plugin it's not going to work is it? as it was DOS couldn't do anything remotely graphical without OpenGL then Microsoft hopped on the bandwagon with GDI and then DirectX years afterwards, however dual core and 64 bit environments fall under a different category it MUST be in the Kernel's source code otherwise it will never be possible to run a 64 bit application with out serious coding and an expanse knowledge of ASM (which simply isn't worth the effort)

EDIT2:
If you haven't already please look up registers it's vital information to a programmer.

 

[Toasty]

No, it doesn't matter what the Emulator supports it could support 18 cores and it still doesn't matter, the Operating System MUST support Multiple processors other wise a "64 bit" emulator is just a useless peice of trash wasting valuable HDD space.

64-bit code doesn't require multiple processors to have a performance advantage over 32-bit code. That said, are there any x64 versions of Windows that don't support multiple processors?

 

[nmn]

64-bit code doesn't require multiple processors to have a performance advantage over 32-bit code. That said, are there any x64 versions of Windows that don't support multiple processors?

Nope. There's only two consumer level ones anyways.

edit: Ahh, I understand now. It was a misnomer.
I thought you said it was impossible to accelerate multiple cores without using 64-bit.