David Flynn04 August 2009, 2:49 PM
Intel and Microsoft work together to fine-tune Windows 7 so it can take advantage of multicore and multithreading processors.
With the majority of desktops and laptops now sporting dual-core (and in some cases quad-core) processors, Microsoft has geared its next-gen operating system to suit.
Windows 7, it says, will tap into multi-core processors – and the multi-threading capabilities of each individual core – for significantly faster application performance.
Helping to hit that target is Intel, which revealed it has worked with Microsoft on a range of areas which will dovetail the OS with the capabilities of Intel’s silicon.
“We saw unique opportunities to optimise Windows 7 for Intel processor technology, to deliver PCs that are more powerful and easier to use” writes Intel manager Joakim Lialias on Microsoft’s new
Windows Partner Blog.
“Our technical collaboration focused on multiple areas, including performance and responsiveness; energy efficiency/power management/battery life; and graphics and multimedia.”
Lialias describes how a new OS feature called ‘SMT parking’ optimises process scheduling for hyper-threading, “enabling better performance on hyper-threaded, multi-core Intel processors.”
Heavy-hitting tasks such as video encoding and image filtering will split processes into multiple threads and potentially across multiple cores, if need be. This is also expected to improve the responsiveness of systems during multi-tasking, which has become the
mode de jour for almost every computer user.
Intel and Microsoft have also worked together on improvements at the driver and BIOS level to boost the startup, sleep, resume and shutdown times for Windows 7.
“Another key part of the performance and responsiveness was our collaboration to optimise Intel Solid State Drive technology for Windows 7” Lialias writes, describing how Intel’s new
X18-M and X25-M SSD modules will receive a 7-friendly firmware update before the OS ships on October 22nd.
Intel is also expected to release updated drivers graphics to support the multicore-friendly DirectX 11 graphics engine, which Microsoft is baking into the OS.