I have a new Computer with Sandy Bridge CPU, which supports the new AVX instruction set, and Win 7 Ultimate x64 - which is supposedly capable of supporting AVX (i.e., 256-bit SIMD instructions/context-switch saving of YMM registers). The question is: is there any easy way to check whether this is enabled (non-programatically)?
Edit: If it is not enabled, what is the procedure to enable AVX support by the OS?
2 Answers
According to Microsoft this will only be supported under Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (slightly offtopic but factual) which is due out this month. I can't find any detail as to enabling/disabling it - I assume it'll be on by default and your code needs to be written to use it. Maybe somebody else will have some insight on this?
1To enable or disable AVX instructions you can use this commands:
Enable AVX: bcdedit /set xsavedisable 0
Disable AVX: bcdedit /set xsavedisable 1
Open your command prompt and type it, then hit the enter button.
