I will indeed. I am looking forward to my new laptop though. It has a triple core processor.
To my knowledge I believe that triple core processors are quad cores with a disabled core no?
I also heard that you can reactivate that hidden core. If it is possible do you know how to?
They are indeed four core processors with a disabled core, but as long as things remain as they did when tri-core processors hit the market I do not suggest enabling the extra core.
If you don't know how complex integrated circuits are made here is a simple run down:
For example take the i7-900 series of processors. They all are made from the same base design. When Intel states that it uses 45 nanometer technology it means that 45 nm is the size of each individual transitor on the chip. When the transistors and what have you are etched into the large silicone wafer they aren't all perfectly made. 45 nm is insanely small and any environmental contamination (e.g. dust) can have a significant impact on how the growing process turns out. This is why they use air filtered clean rooms to manufacture chips. So as each batch comes out of the "oven" they are tested. Chips that excel and have very high performance are sold as the
i7-980X while a lower yield chip might be sold as the
i7-950. Any chip that doesn't meet a minimum performance specification is scrapped or otherwise dealt with in a different manner.
Not every chips functions perfectly and this is where the tri-core came into play. If a batch of quad-core chips had a few units that had a faulty core they could disable it and sell it as a tri-core model. You're not getting a garbage bargain bin chip, it will still work since they have performance standards to enforce. The core may work if you enable it, it may not work and cause problems. Some people have no trouble unlocking their cores and get like 90% of the performance of the fully functioning quad core model, some aren't so lucky. The point is, the core was disabled for a reason.
To answer your real question: you can usually enable the core using a setting in the BIOS. If you really feel the need to unlock it just google how to unlock your CPU's model on that motherboard and whatnot.
