Why do I see 8 cores on 1 quad core processor

The i7 family is a Quad-core processor that has 8 threads. Normal quad-cores have 4 threads, and since hyper-threading is enabled, your computer recognizes those 8 threads as processors.

Hyperthreading is a form of simultaneous multi-threading that takes advantage of super scalar architecture. Multiple instructions operating on separate data in parallel. They appear to the OS as two processors, thus the OS can schedule two processes at once. In addition two or more processes can use the same resources. If one process fails then the resources can be readily re-allocated. The OS must support simultaneous multi-threading (SMT).

More good information is at:

What Does “Dual Core” & “Quad Core” Mean? [MakeUseOf Explains]
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-does-dual-core-and-quad-core-mean-makeuseof-explains/

Hi John,

thankx for the info. The problem is that this is a server processor (see attachment right pane. I have an application which cannot run on more than 4 cores, since I am not able to point out 4 cores to the application I need to make sure that Windows does not see more that 4 cores.

Do you have any idea how to fix this?

Disable HT?
Any way to appoint 4 cores to the app?

Thankx guys!

I disabled the option: logical processor in the BIOS, which I guess stands for HT. Now in Windows I can see 4 cores, which makes the APP working now, great!

Thankx again