How can I force SQL Server to use more CPU

I have an data transformation query which takes a long time to run on my development machine (Core i7 920 running at 3.9GHz, and with 12GB of RAM under Windows Server 2003 x86 an开发者_Python百科d with 2 Velociraptors 300GB iN RAID0).

When I look at the task manager, the CPU stays around 26%, with the third (out of 4) core being the most active.

As this is not a production environment, is there any way to tell SQL Server 2008 that I am alright with it using more of my CPU or is it because my query can not be parallelized for some reason? If, shouldn't SQL Server be smart enough to cut the query in smaller chunks and run it across several threads so each core can get it?

Thanks.

Optimize your query. Chances are that the issue is with it and not SQL Server.

It already knows that it's okay unless you specifically limited it to use only a certain number of CPUs either through configuration or through setting the MAXDOP parameter.

It sounds like you may be constrained by your hard drives or memory more than anything.

Note that because you are running an x86 version of windows (and by extension sql server), you may be RAM limited to around 3GB. And even with the PAE (physical addressing extensions) turned on, it's going to be a world of difference slower than if you have an x64 OS and SQL Server to begin with.

In other words, you might consider reinstalling the machine from the ground up to take advantage of all the x64 goodness you have.