Inaccurate CPU Reading [SOLVED]

[d00med]

The CPU monitor in Mint 10 shows that I have two cores, but I'm using an Intel Atom N475, which is a single core.



The percentages seem rather high for being on idle, also, for a 1.83 GHz processor. I have a system lockup about once or twice a week, which I think is due to an overtaxed CPU, and this is only when having a few windows open. Regardless, the meter doesn't seem to be reporting my CPU accurately.

I read on the CPU's spec sheet that the instruction set is 64 bits. Could I benefit from switching to a 64 bit version of Linux? Could the fact that I'm using a 32 bit OS be giving me the wrong CPU reading in the system monitor?

[Aging Technogeek]

What you have is a single core CPU with hyperthreading. This is standard for Intel Atom CPUs. It makes the CPU look like a dual core to the system. See this topic in Wikipedia for more info on hyperthreading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading

The CPU will work the same in a 64 bit system as in a 32 bit system. In fact, it will work harder in 64 bits due to the longer memory address and data word lengths. 64 bit systems typically use 25-30 % more memory to perform the same tasks as 32 bit systems.

[d00med]

Interesting. I'm relieved I don't need to wipe my netbook and install Mint 64.