![]() If ID bit can be toggled, the CPU support cpuid instruction. A hacked BIOS could report a distinct processor from what is really installed. Once 486 or higher CPU is detected, we check ID bit of EFLAGS. BIOS hacking is not especially difficult (it requires a bit of reverse-engineering, but there is nothing really protected there). More realistically, the BIOS itself could be altered: it is stored in Flash, not ROM, hence it can be changed with a software-only one-time operation. ![]() ![]() Once installed, cpuid is a treasure trove of details about ones underlying CPU. On my Fedora 19 system I was able to install the package with the following command: sudo yum install cpuid. On a theoretical point of view, since the BIOS is the first thing which runs in the machine, there is little that can be done to fool it about the processor (unless adding an extra hardware piece between the processor and the motherboard, which looks very expensive and thus useless if the goal is to sell overpriced Celeron). Theres a tool called cpuid that one can use to query for much more detailed information than is typically present in lshw or /proc/cpuinfo. That being said, if the sales guy just admits having swindled dozens of customers, then how what he says can really be considered as trustworthy ? ![]() So your sales guy may have sold many Celeron "posing" as dual core processors because they are dual core processors, so such posing is trivial. cache size : 1024 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 2 core id : 0 cpu cores : 1. In particular, a number of dual core processors have been sold under the name "Celeron" (which, in Intel-speak, means "cheaper and reduced", but not necessarily "mono-core"). cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendorid : GenuineIntel cpu family : 15. "Celeron" is a brand name which Intel has applied to dozens of distinct processor designs. ![]()
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