How to check how many cores your processor has
Quick answer
On Windows, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, go to Performance > CPU, and read the Cores and Logical processors numbers. On a Mac, open System Information and look for Total Number of Cores under Hardware.
Task Manager isn’t just for closing frozen apps. It also shows the exact layout of your processor in two clicks.
On Windows: Task Manager
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
- Click Performance (the chart icon on the left in Windows 11).
- Select CPU.
- Below the graph, read Cores and Logical processors.
Another way: Press Windows + R, type msinfo32 and press Enter. The Processor line lists the model, cores and logical processors in one sentence.
On a Mac
- Hold Option and click the Apple menu, then choose System Information.
- Select Hardware at the top of the sidebar.
- Read Total Number of Cores. On Apple silicon Macs, it shows the split between performance and efficiency cores, such as “10 (4 performance and 6 efficiency)”.
Cores vs threads: what’s the difference?
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Core | A physical processing unit inside the chip. More cores let the computer do more things at once. |
| Thread / logical processor | A stream of work a core can handle. With Hyper-Threading (Intel) or SMT (AMD), one core runs two threads. |
That’s why a processor might show 8 cores and 16 logical processors. Some recent chips mix fast and efficient cores, and not all of them run two threads, so the numbers don’t always double.
How many cores do you need?
- Browsing, email, video calls: 4 cores is plenty.
- Gaming: 6 to 8 cores covers most current games.
- Video editing, 3D, programming large projects: 8 or more helps.
Clock speed and chip generation matter just as much as core count, so a newer 6-core chip can beat an older 8-core one. If a component is acting up, updating its drivers is a good first step.
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