How to disable hyper-threading on an ICONIA W510 or W511?

rfraikin

The ICONIA W510 or W511 have two physical processors.

 

Hyper-threading has been enabled to split them into two logical processors each, making a total of 4 logical CPU.

 

Not a good idea as far as I am concerned.
For example, batch processing a number of jpg pictures with Irfanview is very slow, using only 25% of the available CPU because it runs on a single logical processor.

I can accept that mono thread applications cannot benefit of the 2 physical CPU, but why restrict them to 1/2 CPU?

 

Normally, an hyper-threading enable/disable option should be available in the BIOS, but on the W510/W511, there is no decent BIOS since it has been replaced by UEFI, with a very limited of options.

Honestly, I did not aski to the ACER support, because I am very disappointed by the answers received so far, rather looking to escape the warranty than trying to help the customer.

 

Examples:

- "how can I boot another OS, like LINUX or DOS from a USB drive?"
=> Reply from the support: "you can't, and in case you succeed, this voids the warranty!"

 

- "My keyboard has lost a a key, would it be possible to procure a replacement key even "white" (unmarked)"

=> Reply from the support: "We do not have replacement keys, you should procure a full keyboard and this is not covered by the warranty."
Practically, this means procuring a 100€ keyboard/docking with batteries set to replace a 10cents plastic key.

Unbelievable!

 

The W511 is probably the first and last ACER device that I will ever buy, not due to the quality of the HW, but due to their disappointing support service.

IronFly

as far as i know, you can do it only on BIOS; one thing you can try is to set affinity.

not the same thing but sort of:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/24086-processor-affinity-set-applications-windows-8-a.html

rfraikin

Thanks but affinity will not help as the physical processor will still remain split so that a mono-thread application can only use 50% of this processor (= 25% of the tablet capacity).

Probably no solution due to this very limited ACER BIOS/UEFI.

IronFly

Yep, as i told you not a real solution.

billsey

You might think seriously about using a different program than Irfanview if it's single threaded. Most graphics applications do their callculations in parallel these days...