AMD or Intel

_Flaviu

Is there any reliable location in windows registry that tell if the architecture of the machine is AMD or Intel ? If there is, where is this location ? I know this location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor\0

and Identifier key, but my machine is Intel ... and I don't know what would be this value on AMD case ... is this a reliable location ? P.S. Also, I know that I could find here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment

PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE has AMD64 value, even if I have Intel machine ...

David Crow

Can you do something like:

SYSTEM_INFO si;
GetSystemInfo(&si);
TRACE(_T("%u\n"), si.wProcessorArchitecture);

"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson

"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons

"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles

_Flaviu

Thank you, but the request is to get this value from registry, not from API.

Lost User

Take a look at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor.

Lost User

The information can also be found by the following powershell command:

PS C:\Users\rjmac> Get-WmiObject Win32_Processor

Caption : Intel64 Family 6 Model 142 Stepping 9
DeviceID : CPU0
Manufacturer : GenuineIntel
MaxClockSpeed : 2701
Name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz
SocketDesignation : U3E1

_Flaviu

Yes, I could do that even with cmd, but I need to do this task with my code (VC++).

Lost User

Then I guess the registry key that you already referred is what you need to look at.

_Flaviu

Then someone who has AMD processor could take a look on that location and tell me what value has PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER key (on location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment) :)

Lost User

You could always try and find someone where you are who has an AMD system.

_Flaviu

Maybe it is just a feeling, but is hard to find on someone who has AMD processor.

Lost User

What problem are you actually trying to solve?

_Flaviu

To know what is there, in PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE and PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment when machine has AMD processor.

David Crow

What if the underlying API retrieved the information from the registry?

"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson

"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons

"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles

Lost User

Yes, but what problem are you actually trying to solve?

_Flaviu

To know from registry if the machine has AMD or Intel processor. I guess is possible that.

_Flaviu

That is why I guess I can get this information directly from registry, not from API. It is a presume though ...

Lost User

OK, last try: what actual problem are you trying to resolve? Knowing whether it is AMD or Intel will not make any difference to the execution of your application, so I can only assume that you have found some other issue which you are keeping secret from us.

Lost User

You can find the vendor identifier with [CPUID](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/intrinsics/cpuid-cpuidex?view=vs-2019). The same mechanism can be used to find out what features the CPU supports, which is normally more useful than merely knowing the vendor, obviously it depends on what you want.

_Flaviu

Richard, I am sorry if I was evasive ... Thank you for your patience. I am working on some code which execute some depending of what kind of processor:

BOOL bIsIntel = FALSE;
SYSTEM_INFO si;
GetSystemInfo(&si);
bIsIntel = (si.wProcessorArchitecture == xxx);
if(bIsIntel)
{
// execute some code (I cannot write here what kind of code)
}
else
{
// execute else code
}

Furthermore, the code is critical as speed of execution. So, I noticed that GetSystemInfo is taking a time, specially on older machines. So, I intend to retrieve from registry if the machine is AMD or Intel. That is all. I am not hiding anything. If I omitting anything, please tell me, and I will write here. P.S. I don't have any AMD machine, or my colleagues ... if I would, I had tested myself.

Lost User

_Flaviu wrote:

I noticed that GetSystemInfo is taking a time

That is most likely because it has to go to the registry to get the information. You have placed that code in the wrong place. It should be called once at the beginning of the program to set a global or class variable that can then be tested at processor speed. However, the chances of you being able to adjust the speed of your code at the point you show is not very likely. The compiler will optimise any code as much as possible, and whichever processor executes that code will further optimise it through the use of its own pipelining mechanism. Your time would be better spent working on real problems.