Activity Monitor CPU usage seems strange with the new Sandy Bridge processors.
The i7 model has 4 cores but Activity Monitor doesn't show any of this - and the shown CPU usage does not seem to match reality.
At least that's what I see on my MacBook Pro with the 2.3 GHz Intel i7 processor and OSX 10.6.7
Does anyone see anything different?
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7), 2.3 GHz i7 Processor
Click CMD 2 to start the floating CPU window that shows the Cores and Hyperthreads.
Yes.
I have an 2.3 GHz i7 with the same problem. Activity monitor shows 8 cores in an account I did not migrate. However, with an account I migrated from a core duo, Activity Monitor is insane. It showed one core in the CPU History window. It showed 2 cores in the floating CPU window horizontally, and 8 cores in vertical. The CPU Usage window shows 8.
MIgration Assistant failed to move my account from the Core Duo Mac. So I migrated with UNIX rsync command. Maybe it moved an Activity Monitor configuration file from my Core Duo. THERE IS A BUG IN ACTIVITY MONITOR which is apparent when using a migrated account.
I got a fix! I downloaded iStat Menus, installed, and ran. Then I started Activity Monitor from one of its drop down menus. Activity Monitor started and the CPU History showed 8 cores!!! Just use the free 14 day trial instead of buying. It seems to have fixed whatever had Activity Monitor configured wrong on my account which had migrated files.
http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/
My horizontal Floating CPU Window on Activity Monitor showing displaying only two cores was a user error, revealed by dragging it away from the corner of the screen which hid the other six.
Activity monitor and sandy bridge
