CPU & GPU

CPU cores and Hyper-threading #

Many CPUs from Intel include a technology called Hyper-threading which allows two threads to run simultaneously on each core. macOS presents this as 2 virtual cores per actual core, meaning a 4 core CPU will appear as 8 cores. It is normal for some Macs to appear to have twice as many cores in iStat and other system monitoring apps. iStat Menus can combine virtual cores using Hide Hyper-Threading Cores under the CPU & GPU tab.

Active GPU #

The CPU & GPU menu item can display which GPU is active. This is handy, because some Macs have more than one GPU. The active GPU represented by a single letter — if an “N” is displayed, that means the Nvidia GPU is being used. Here’s a full list of the possibilities (what’s shown will depend on your Mac model):

• I = Intel or integrated.
• D = Discrete.
• A = AMD.
• N = Nvidia.

We include integrated and discrete as well as AMD and Nvidia, because in some cases, the integrated and discrete GPU comes from the same manufacturer.