Wintdows nt max cpus: More CPUs in NT 3.x Workstation

The 64 Core Threshold – Processor Groups on Windows

TL;DR – Microsoft hacked in support for more than 64 logical CPU cores by adding ‘processor groups’. Unless an application is written to take advantage of multiple processor groups (group aware), its threads will be scheduled to only a single processor group. See our new groupextend project to enable group unaware apps to make full use of the CPU by scheduling threads to supplemental processor groups, a feature now also available in Process Lasso.

UPDATE – There have been improvements to processor group support in Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022. Application threads are now scheduled across all processor groups without any group awareness required by the application. Read more at MSDN.

UPDATE 2 – CPU Sets are now supported by Process Lasso, and they allow spanning of multiple processor groups. We suggest experimenting with them if you need to assign a process specific CPU cores from multiple groups.

As systems with more than 64 logical CPU cores become common, it is important to understand some fundamental limitations of Windows. When Windows NT was conceived, a 64-bit bitmask was used to represent CPU affinities throughout the system. This seemed like plenty of bit space for the single-core CPUs in use at the time. Now we’ve breached the limits of that bitmask (64 cores). To address this …

Windows 2008 R2 introduced processor groups to allow for more than 64 logical CPU cores. Each group has, at most, 64 cores. Existing APIs and system functions could then continue to accept 64-bit CPU affinity bitmasks since they are implicitly be operating on a single processor group. This means that, without programmatic adaptation, each process is limited to a single processor group of no more than 64 logical cores.

The process (application) CPU affinities you see in Process Lasso are therefore specific to the default processor group of the application. This is simply the nature of OS. So if you have a 96 logical core system, you will see application CPU affinities of up to 48 logical cores. If an application is on the first group, that CPU affinity will represent the first 48 logical cores. If an application is on the second group, the CPU affinity will represent the second 48 logical cores.

Process Lasso CPU Affinities with Processor Groups

The default processor group is assigned in a round-robin manner, typically per-session since CPU affinities are inherited, so that the session load ends up roughly split between the processor groups. Once an application starts, its default (primary) processor group can not be changed.

However, individual threads within an application can be manually assigned to a group other than the application’s default group. SetThreadGroupAffinity and other thread APIs supports specification of the processor group. In this way, an application’s threads can be run on more than one processor group, but they must be manually assigned. Ideally, this is implemented by the application developer, as awareness of what threads are doing and where they should be placed is important.

Once a thread is assigned to a group other than the application’s default, the application becomes a multi-group. However, new threads will continue to use the default group assigned when the application started.

When an application’s threads span multiple processor groups, there can be confusion around the application’s CPU affinity mask since it only applies to the default processor group assigned when the application started.

Often processor groups are composed of less than 64 cores, as they can not span NUMA nodes, and must be equally divided. It would be bizarre to have processor groups of different sizes, causing applications to get more or less cores depending on the processor group they were assigned.

Therefore, on a system with 72 logical CPU cores, divided into two NUMA nodes, two processor groups are created, each having 36 logical CPU cores.

This creates an interesting scenario where a Windows system with up to 64 cores may allow an application access to more cores than does a system with greater than 64 cores.

To demonstrate the impact, we are imagining an application unaware of processor groups, named aptly UnawareOfGroupsApp.exe.

72 TOTAL CPU CORES
Group #0: 36 CPU cores
Group #1: 36 CPU cores
UnawareOfGroupsApp.exe has default access to 36 CPU cores
48 TOTAL CPU CORES
Group #0: 48 CPU cores
UnawareOfGroupsApp.exe has default access to 48 CPU cores

As you can see, our group unaware application has access to 48 CPU cores on a 48 core system, but only 36 on a 72 core system!

If this scenario presents a problem, your options are as follows:

1. Disable Hyper-Threading/SMT to reduce the logical core count to 64 or less, incurring the overall reduction in computational capacity. That would allow group unaware processes to use more cores since the singular processor group includes all available cores.
2. Contact the app developer to have them modify it to be group aware.
3. Contact Bitsum to see what we can do for you. We can adapt group unaware applications. Update: See groupextend tool below.

Given this design, users should check check your applications’ group support before upgrading your hardware, and try to choose hardware with CPU core counts that are a multiple of 64 since that will result in maximum size processor groups.

References:
MSDN: Processor Groups

UPDATE Feb 6, 2020: You may be interested in groupextend, a novel new F/OSS app and Process Lasso feature to enable processor group unaware applications to use the entire CPU. Contact us for more information.

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Next generation Intel and AMD processors will not support Windows 7 and 8/8.

1 / Sudo Null IT News later, heavy artillery of near-viral techniques began. In early January, Microsoft announced that the new Intel Kaby Lake processors, Qualcomm 8996 and AMD Bristol Ridge will only be supported by the Windows 10 operating system. Processor manufacturers have now confirmed this information.

«After the next generation chips are released, they will only run on the latest Windows platform,» a Microsoft spokesperson said. «This allows us to focus on the deep integration of Windows and new chips, ensuring maximum reliability and compatibility with previous generations of processors.» So those users who hoped to assemble a powerful machine based on new processors and work with a familiar OS, most likely, will not be able to do this.

Microsoft’s policy suggests that the latest generations of processors should support only one Windows — «top ten». As for AMD and Intel, these companies do not have much choice. They can either work with Microsoft on its terms or refuse to cooperate. Microsoft partners chose the first option. These companies responded to Pcworld’s request by confirming their intention to submit to the will of the corporation.

«We reiterate our intention to work with Microsoft and our partners to comply with changes in Microsoft policy,» an Intel spokesman said. He also stated that the company will not be releasing a Windows 7/8 version of the 7th generation Intel Core processor processor drivers.

AMD spokespersons said something similar: «AMD’s processor roadmap is in line with Microsoft’s software strategy.» In June, the company released the Bristol Ridge chip, which is also the seventh generation processor. And the first member of the Zen family of microprocessors will appear in powerful desktops early next year. This processor was named Summit Ridge. AMD does not list support for Windows 7/8 for these processors.

It is not clear what will happen if you try to run older versions of Windows on a PC or laptop with the latest processor. According to experts, previous versions of Windows will work without an official driver, but the work will be unstable — glitches and failures are possible. Some of the specific functions that are supported by new generation processors will not work at all. In this regard, OS freezes, unauthorized reboots and “falls” of the operating system at the most unexpected moments are possible.

A number of experts disagree with this statement. For example, Dean McCarron of Mercury Research believes that there will be no problems with new processors. “Most likely, third-party companies will release their own drivers, which will allow you to work without any problems,” he says. McCarron says that for the average user, minor problems can be invisible. There was a glitch, and that’s fine.

Corporate users are quite another matter. Third party chipset drivers do not guarantee reliable operation of the computer system. Here, the slightest failure can result in millions of losses. Therefore, such users will probably have to either risk money and the stability of their services, or agree to the terms of Microsoft and update the OS. And this, in turn, creates additional problems for companies whose software platforms can be «sharpened» for older versions of Windows. The transition to Windows 10 for such companies is also associated with time and financial costs.

True, corporate users with computer systems based on the sixth generation Skylake platform will be provided with updates to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Support is limited to 18 months. Systems that will receive the update include Dell Latitude 12, Latitude 13 7000 Ultrabook and XPS 13, HP EliteBook Folio, EliteBook 1040 G3, and Lenovo ThinkPad T460s, X1 Carbon, and P70.

As you can see, Microsoft is making significant efforts to convince users of its software platform to upgrade to a new version of the OS. And the fact that the company was able to agree with processor manufacturers on cooperation speaks volumes. Probably, in the near future, Microsoft will still be able to persuade users (both corporate and ordinary) to update their operating system.

Growth in market share for Windows 10 and other versions of Windows over the past three months:

	NetMarketshare				StatCounter
	Windows 7	Windows 10	Windows XP	Windows 8.1	Windows 7	Windows 10	Windows XP	Windows 8.1
June	49.05	19.14	9.78	8.01	42	21.9	6.5	8.67
July	47.01	21.13	10. 34	7.8	40.67	23.53	6.36	8.4
August	47.25	22.99	9.36	7.92	39.88	24.43	5.83	8.38

Windows 10 may be delivered as an Operations Service as a Service. Now, according to employees of the corporation, the development of new versions of the Windows operating system is not underway. It was almost always like this before. For example, during the development of Windows 8, work was simultaneously carried out on Windows 10. Now, Microsoft divisions are only working to improve Windows 10, releasing regular improvements and updates. Large amounts of new features are added in the form of major updates. For example, a significant update to Windows 10 is the Anniversary Update. Most likely, this principle of operation will continue further, with the addition of new modules to an existing OS. If this is indeed the case, it becomes clear why Microsoft is so concerned about getting users to upgrade to Windows 10.0005

System requirements for Premiere Pro

Provides technical specifications for previous releases of Premiere Pro.

System requirements of the latest release

Premiere Pro system requirements

• Premiere Pro 23.0 (October 2022), 22.6 (August), 22.5 (June), (May), and 22.3.1 (April) releases.
• 22.2 (February release), 22.1.2, 22.1.1 (December releases), and Premiere Pro 22.0 (October 2021 release)
• Premiere Pro 15.4.1 (August 2021) and 15.4 (July 2021) releases
• Issues September 2020 (14.4), August 2020 (14.3.2), July 2020 (14.3.1), June 2020 (14.3), May 2020 (14. 2), April 2020 .(14.1), March 2020 (14.0.4), February 2020 (14.0.3), January 2020 (14.0.1) and November (14.0)

Premiere Pro 23.0 (October 2022), 22.6 (August), 22.5 (June), (May), and 22.3.1 (April) editions

Windows

Note.

Internet connection and registration required to activate software, validate subscriptions, and access online services.

Product activation requires an Internet connection, an Adobe ID, and acceptance of the license agreement. This product may integrate with or provide access to select online server services from Adobe and third parties. Use of Adobe services is available only to users aged 13 and over and requires agreement to additional terms of use and Adobe’s privacy policy. Apps and services may not be available in all countries or languages, and may be subject to change or discontinuation without notice. Additional service or subscription fees may apply.

Note.

Internet connection and registration required to activate software, validate subscriptions, and access online services.

Product activation requires an Internet connection, an Adobe ID, and acceptance of the license agreement. This product may integrate with or provide access to select online server services from Adobe and third parties. Use of Adobe services is available only to users aged 13 and over and requires agreement to additional terms of use and Adobe’s privacy policy. Apps and services may not be available in all countries or languages, and may be subject to change or discontinuation without notice. Additional service or subscription fees may apply.

How do I check if my system meets Premiere Pro requirements?

Watch the video.

Watch time: 45 seconds

System requirements for video hardware acceleration

System Requirements VR

Note.

Requirements vary by VR system. Only the basic requirements are listed here.

For a detailed description of the requirements for different types of headphones, as well as information on setting up an immersive environment for Premiere Pro, see Immersive video in Premiere Pro.