I'm sure it would support two cores... the problem with any of version of windows (so far) has always been going from one core to two cores without reinstalling windows. It has never been a straight forward process. Typically the os needs to be 'repaired' (ie:half-reinstalled) with an installer CD... as opposed to the restore cd we all have from HP.

I suppose you could install a OEM version of WHS on your newly dueled out MMS. What dual core Athlon did you end up using? I am curious which wattage it is? I am wondering how the heat will disperse when you get it up and running and put the sucker back together. Those dual core Athlon's can run pretty hot and the MMS is a tight little case.

Upgrade my ram and cpu (LE-1640) at the same time. Actually quite easy.

So where can I find the updated drivers for the CPU and Ethernet port?

Anything else I should update?

the lower end dual core brisbanes have the same TDP as the upper end single core sparta (edit: whoops the 1640 is an orleans) that everyone's been using. the 90nm orleans chip that comes from the factory is substantially lower, although i don't know what this means for idle power (anyone with both processors and a power consumption measurement device want to have a go?)

It's a BE-2400. Same TDP as the LE models that are so popular (45Watt).

Ultimately I intend to run solaris on the MSS...

That said, I was hoping on finding a straight forward upgrade path for the benefit of all... I was a little disappointed that changing the Computer type in the device manager didn't do the trick because that's something people could do without the VGA cable...

IMO the only solutions left now are repairing WHS with an installation CD... or worse a full reinstall - but at that point why reinstall WHS when you could install the full blown Windows Server 2003 (... or linux, or bsd, or solaris etc etc)...

If anyone has any ideas for more universally available solutions to get it working please don't hesitate to share -- I'll be sure to try it out.

Its not SUPPORTING two cores that I am questioning, but does WHS can actually USE two cores. The only time that I am sure Vista and XP USES two cores is when there are a lot of windows open at once or that an APPLICATION is using both of the cores. I have a meter on the sidebar so I know when the 2nd core is being used in Vista. The 2nd core was not used when I was transferring files to the server over the network for instance. Since the server really is a glorified network streaming device, unless you had several streams going out at once, I doubt a 2nd core would even tick over AT ALL! Whats the use then of having two cores if only one is being used?

_________________
John E Pombrio
Do not meddle in the affair of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

My guess is WHS will use both cores (unless they've intentionally crippled it not to) - it's based on Windows Server 2003 which has native support so I would say it will either use both like 2003 or not at all.

So my prediction is it would at least support two cores since they give you that for Vista and XP and will give you that support like WS 2003 rather then XP

Windows has been distributing processes & threads over the # of processors available for a long time now -- so there would be the benefit of the added resources of a second processor. Even though most programs people use on a daily basis aren't really optimized for multi-cpu systems you still benefit from the added processor anytime when more than one program (or operating system component) is running.

You're right that as a pure file server those added resources are not really needed and the benefit would be negligible -- It all depends on what you're planning to do with the machine. Indeed, looking at the performance numbers over at SmallNetBuilder for the MSS. The MSS trounces most NAS's with just the stock processor.

For those streaming applications that need to process the video into a compatible format before sending the video to the player for example would benefit from the added resources.

Myself, as already stated, intend to run solaris on the machine... and in my case when using compression on the zfs filesystem, solaris benefits from the second processor because its filesystem compression code is now multi-threaded (it wasn't always).

I've been evaluating a WHS trial version running as a single processor virtual machine for a few weeks now. After seeing this thread I thought I would bump up the processor count to see how the WHS software handled it and I would like to report that it came through with flying colors.

The details: The host is a quad core Xeon running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V RC0. I bumped the processor count for the VM from 1 to 4 and started the WHS VM. WHS booted normally and after logging in the first time I got a popup saying new hardward was found, recognized and installed. I then rebooted and the next time I logged in all 4 CPUs showed on the Task Manger Performance tab.

Granted this was not done on a MediaSmart Server but it does show that the WHS software itself has no problems with multiple processors.

Can you confirm what the Computer Type was in the Device Manager before you increased the # of CPUs?

I have several PCs that all have dual core procesors. They all have VISTA now but they used to have XP. With XP and VISTA both cores are used alot in my machines. They are both being used on a regular basis.

_________________
3TB MSS EX490(upgraded CPU-E6300(2.8Ghz dual core Pentium)),
4GB memory
57TB unRAID1a--49TB unRAID2--76TB unRAID3

It sure has been a long time since that was really the case though... Windows NT was like that for sure...I remember having to either reinstall or hack the install. But Windows 2000 and beyond has had the ability to just plug in a second processor (it was always the first jump that was difficult if you had dual processor with NT putting a third in was no big deal).

So there could still be something about the BIOS and chipset that is keeping it from full recognize that dual-core processor. Or HP has purposely crippled their WHS install which we know could be the case since that have disabled other things like shadow copy.

We may not know until someone trys to install another OS.

UPS just delivered my new RAM and Processor (AMD A64 LE1620 2.4G)

Wish me luck!

If it is a BIOS related issue, I am already working towards a solution... There are other MB's based on this chipset that have full CPU support. FYI: The mediasmart is based off of AMD's "churchill" platform which has a gigabyte board as the reference design.

This website have LE-1640 http://www.directron.com/adh1640dhbox.html
i think newegg.com is out of f them

_________________
MSS 4TB,2GB, 3800+,CFI port Multiplier 2TB ,APC
MV2120 1TB,D-Link DNS-323 1TB